I have a lot of mixed feelings about Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. On the one hand, I admire how developer Ninja Theory leverages some of the most impressive visual and auditory work in all of gaming to enhance its storytelling. But on the other, the Xbox action-adventure game’s combat and narrative beats often feel tedious.
As a result, Senua’s Saga proves to be an uneven experience that doesn’t remotely live up to the remarkable highs of its predecessor, 2017’s Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice . Those shortcomings start with Senua’s Saga ‘s narrative, which lacks the nuance of Senua’s Sacrifice . The first game was rightly praised for its thoughtful, mental health expert-backed exploration of psychosis, as represented through the struggles of a young Pict warrior named Senua.
While the larger Norse mythology-inspired plot saw her venturing to Helheim to rescue the soul of her dead lover, the real focus was emotionally grounded in this woman coming to terms with her mental illness. By the end of the experience, she views the voices in her head not as a curse, but as a part of her, and it makes for a powerful character arc. Senua’s Saga , however, loses that compelling intimacy for the sake of grandiosity.
This time around, Senua travels to Iceland to stop a group of slavers, only to get caught up in a larger conflict with the fearsome giants. On the one hand, it’s a solid premise, picking up on the original game’s hopeful ending to show how Senua, feeling a.
