Highlights

  • Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 raises the bar with cinematic combat that surpasses Uncharted 4's fights.
  • Hellblade 2 features seamless transitions and naturalistic enemy introductions, enhancing the cinematic experience.
  • While lacking in mechanical complexity, Hellblade 2's combat sequences shine through stunning visuals and animations.

Released back in 2016, Uncharted 4 is over eight years old now, and somehow, it remains the gold standard for cinematic action-adventure video games. While there have been plenty of games that eclipse Uncharted 4 in terms of scale, story, and even gameplay, few have been able to capture the same cinema-worthy visuals and set pieces. That is, until Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2.

Released just a week ago, Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 has earned a myriad of praise and criticism since its launch. But while opinions on the long-awaited sequel vary quite wildly from person to person, there's one element of Hellblade 2 that's received universal acclaim, and that's the game's cinematic nature. A key driving force behind the entire 5-6 hour experience, Hellblade 2's cinematic nature is present throughout all parts of the game, including its combat, which often feels like a natural evolution of Uncharted 4's boss fights.

Hellblade Burning Tree
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Hellblade 2 Takes Uncharted 4's Cinematic Combat to The Next Level

While Uncharted 4 featured plenty of gameplay improvements over its predecessors, probably its most impressive addition, and the game's lasting legacy, is just how cinematic the entire experience feels. From gorgeous visuals that still hold up incredibly well today, to breathtaking moments of cinematography, to the seamless way action sequences unfold, Uncharted 4 is the definition of the word cinematic, and that's something Naughty Dog was clearly striving for.

Occasionally during Uncharted 4's main story, players will be thrown into a sort of boss battle against a named foe. At the very start of the game, there's a prison brawl, halfway through the story there's a fight with hired mercenary Nadine Ross, and right at the end of Uncharted 4 there's a climactic sword fight with big bad Rafe Adler aboard a burning pirate ship. Though none of these fights are all that mechanically complex, they end up feeling like some of the game's most cinematic moments thanks to some great performances, character dialogue, and some sudden injections of tension.

Hellblade 2 Raises the Bar for Cinematic Combat

One of the biggest criticisms of the first Hellblade was its lackluster and rather repetitive combat. In a rather controversial move, Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 has chosen not to improve upon its predecessor's combat mechanics, but instead focus on how that combat is implemented. Taking a page out of Uncharted 4's playbook, Hellblade 2 features some of the most cinematic combat sequences in gaming, albeit at the cost of mechanical complexity.

But what elevates Hellblade 2's cinematic combat encounters above Uncharted 4's is the near-seamless transitions that link encounters together. The vast majority of combat encounters in Hellblade 2 are designed to take the player by surprise, only being triggered when the player hits a specific milestone. These encounters usually begin with an enemy grabbing Senua from behind and pushing her into an arena, smoothly transitioning into combat gameplay.

Upon killing their opponent, players will then witness another cinematic transition. These transitions, and the cinematography used to create them, take Hellblade 2's cinematic nature to new heights, with enemies entering the fight in a range of naturalistic ways, such as being thrown into the fight by one of Senua's allies, or dashing in from the shadows to tackle Senua to the ground. Paired with the game's astounding visuals and some incredibly smooth animations, these transitions go a long way in keeping Hellblade 2's combat exciting.