Highlights

  • Hellblade 2's opening hours feel like a drawn-out recap of the first game, lacking new plot developments or themes.
  • An efficient recap in the beginning covers all key relationships and events from the first game, so doing more recapping in the early hours makes the sequel's start a bit of a slog.
  • While visually impressive, Hellblade 2 feels like it struggles to move past retelling old events, making its early narrative feel meandering.

Announced all the way back in 2019, Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 has been a prominent part of the Xbox Series X's marketing for five years now, appearing at just about every big annual Xbox Showcase in the process. After each new trailer, fans would excitedly speculate on where Senua's new journey could take her, and how the events of the first game would shape not just her abilities as a warrior, but as a person struggling with psychosis.

Though it comes in at around just 7 hours to complete, the first Hellblade puts protagonist Senua through the wringer, making her travel through the Norse realm of Hel to face off against the god Hela and try to resurrect her dead husband Dillion. By the end of Hellblade, Senua learns to live with the Furies inside her head and sets off on a new adventure. But while Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 is technically that new adventure, it really doesn't feel that way, at least not during its opening few hours.

senua from new hellblade game
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Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 Review

Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 is a feast for the senses, offering a visually impressive cinematic experience with exceptional sound design.

Hellblade 2 Spends Too Much Time Recapping The First Game

Hellblade 2's Initial Recap Is Short and Sweet

Upon starting Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2, players will be presented with a relatively short, but in-depth recap of the events of the first game, the same recap that was originally uploaded on Xbox's official YouTube channel a week ago. Over the course of five minutes, Druth - a key character from the first game - narrates Senua's harrowing journey through Hel, and the horrific events that lead up to that moment, all while the camera pans around various wood-carving interpretations of the story.

This recap effectively covers just about everything that newcomers would need to know going into Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2. All of Senua's key relationships are explained thoroughly, her battle with the gods and giants of Norse mythology are detailed, and her constant battle with her own psychosis is described well. It's an efficient recap, so much so that it unintentionally makes Hellblade 2's opening hour feel like a slog.

Hellblade 2's Opening Hours Feel Like an Extended and Unnecessary Recap

Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 opens on Senua having been willingly captured by the same Northmen who killed her husband and slaughtered her home village. But before she can reach their base of operation, Senua's ship is capsized, and she's forced to fight her way out of the wreckage. It's an exciting start, but one that soon begins to lose its momentum, as Senua starts to experience some all-too-familiar visions.

The first 1-2 hours of Hellblade 2 sees Senua remembering and experiencing much of the first game's events all over again. Players see Senua's mother being burned again, see her husband being tortured, hear her father berating her, and learn all about her village being decimated. While it makes sense that Senua would still have these key moments on her mind - and that her psychosis would always be bringing them back to the surface - it doesn't feel like a great way to start the sequel.

Experiencing all of these key moments from the first Hellblade yet again really drags the sequel's pacing down, as the game isn't really exploring any new themes or plot threads. Players are given very few new narrative hooks to keep them invested during Hellblade 2's opening hour, and that can make the intro feel a bit meandering. This also inadvertently lessens the impact of the ending of the first Hellblade, as Senua seemingly needs to overcome all the same mental hurdles that she already passed in the predecessor. With Hellblade 2 only being around 5-6 hours long, there shouldn't be any room for wasted time.