izigame.me

This is the most beautiful game I have played currently. And that's it. The game gives you demo aftertaste. Comparing to the original Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Hellblade 2 looses points on everything but graphic.
What was good:
- Graphics. The world and environment is fantastically beautiful and real.
- Character animation and acting. Melina Juergens did incredible job bringing Senua to live. Watching interaction between her and Aldís Amah Hamilton 's characters is like watching a real movie.
- Atmosphere. Sometimes the atmosphere was almost as good as in the original game.
What was not that good:
Plot:
The ideas covered in Hellblade 2 are pretty interesting, but the story does not feel complete. It feels like a drafts thrown all together. Unlike the first part, ending feels blurry in a bad way. The feeling was: "Um. So what?"
Collectibles:
Besides the lorestones you can gather hidden trees. Both lorestones and the trees provide some piece of lore; however they give quite little of it in unpretty boring manner. There is no bonus lore when you get all of them. Yes, you get new narrators, but Hellblade 2 does not feel as a game you want to go through again and again.
Combat:
Combat in Senua's Sacrifice was pretty simple: light attack, heavy attack, dodge, block, parry, kick. However, it was not annoying and was even engaging (thanks to atmosphere and music). In Hellblade 2 kick was removed, and the character does not feel very responsive. Often block or dodge does not hit or hit too early (that might be on me though). Fights are just annoying.
Boss fights:
there are no boss fights. There are a couple of interesting events with giants, but no interesting boss design.
Music:
Hellblade 2 does not have a single track that you would remember. Neither during the game not in the titles.
Gameplay and Atmosphere:
New puzzles are just boring.
Atmosphere in Hellblade 2 sometimes is good, but it feels like it used all the same tricks as in part one but scaled down.
Conclusion:
I love Senua's Sacrifice. I played through it twice and will definitely play again later. Hellblade 2 was a bitter disappointment. I would not recommend you to buy this game for the full price. But I definitely recommend the first part!