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DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
I've done the draugur village bit and fuck me. The combat with the mirror is far from action game but it still manages to be pretty intense. It must just be the whole audio visual, animations etc.
Gonna get high and play it tonight. Might be a bit much.
The walking bits are pure gears of war/uncharted/last of us...he'll any modern third person slow walk while guy infront talks at you over your shoulder.
One thing is for absolute certain. The graphics are leagues ahead of anything before it. The direction. When the volcano type thing happened I was genuinely in belief that it was cg when the floor was cracking open with lava. Hit photo mode and I'm like...OK come the fuck on.
Boring walking, insane graphics, serviceable combat that seems to be enthralling to me. Only a couple of hours in though. Looking forward to more.
Gonna get high and play it tonight. Might be a bit much.
The walking bits are pure gears of war/uncharted/last of us...he'll any modern third person slow walk while guy infront talks at you over your shoulder.
One thing is for absolute certain. The graphics are leagues ahead of anything before it. The direction. When the volcano type thing happened I was genuinely in belief that it was cg when the floor was cracking open with lava. Hit photo mode and I'm like...OK come the fuck on.
Boring walking, insane graphics, serviceable combat that seems to be enthralling to me. Only a couple of hours in though. Looking forward to more.
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Reaseru
Member
Finished the game yesterday. Like the first one, it's a heavily linear and scripted experience, but a well written story (kinda expected the length of the playtrough). Or you like this kind of games or you won’t.
Regarding the graphics, it's probably one of the best looking games to date. But also it's also that kind of game that I call "smokes and mirrors" game. Everything in the game's design was made to make it look good, and practically to be played only once or twice. Very linear, very scripted. You always battle against a single enemy at a time, and only when the game let's you fight those.
90% of the scenery is rocks, rocks and more rocks, the trees have practically no foliage, the ones that have are very far away, and the only time you enter in a dense florest, the fog comes in. And no animals whatsoever. All of that helps focusing graphically in the character models.
The best things this game has to offer is clearly the main character, Senua (such a great protagonist, what makes her so appealing is that it shows that she is vulnerable), and the great transitions of LOD and not a single sign of pop-up ingame.
Regarding the graphics, it's probably one of the best looking games to date. But also it's also that kind of game that I call "smokes and mirrors" game. Everything in the game's design was made to make it look good, and practically to be played only once or twice. Very linear, very scripted. You always battle against a single enemy at a time, and only when the game let's you fight those.
90% of the scenery is rocks, rocks and more rocks, the trees have practically no foliage, the ones that have are very far away, and the only time you enter in a dense florest, the fog comes in. And no animals whatsoever. All of that helps focusing graphically in the character models.
The best things this game has to offer is clearly the main character, Senua (such a great protagonist, what makes her so appealing is that it shows that she is vulnerable), and the great transitions of LOD and not a single sign of pop-up ingame.
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TrebleShot
Member
I been playing this over last couple of days,
Its no where near as bad as people say.
I think the combat encounters are pretty good, I like the intensity of it and the one on ones, the animations etc are proper smooth and its very viceral.
I think Ive just done the fire lighting section and I have to admit I was thinking to myself what the hell is this all about but the atmosphere and graphics kind of make that section just about acceptable, still the puzzles and balls in the mirror world thing are pretty frustrating.
I modded it to remove the chromatic aberration and film grain etc, the game doesn't really hold up as well under that scrutiny but its still VERY impressive just not blow you away impressive.
I like the idea of shorter high visual target story games.
It took them far too long to make it and its definitely not the system seller they needed.
Its no where near as bad as people say.
I think the combat encounters are pretty good, I like the intensity of it and the one on ones, the animations etc are proper smooth and its very viceral.
I think Ive just done the fire lighting section and I have to admit I was thinking to myself what the hell is this all about but the atmosphere and graphics kind of make that section just about acceptable, still the puzzles and balls in the mirror world thing are pretty frustrating.
I modded it to remove the chromatic aberration and film grain etc, the game doesn't really hold up as well under that scrutiny but its still VERY impressive just not blow you away impressive.
I like the idea of shorter high visual target story games.
It took them far too long to make it and its definitely not the system seller they needed.
Topher
Identifies as young
No, it isn't. In the games you list, the time you are walking in any given section is much shorter than in HB2. My left thumb was literally sore by the time I finished this game. I've never played a linear game with this much walking/jogging. It's just far too much.
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HeWhoWalks
Gold Member
Indeed. It's the game's biggest flaw. I agree with the reviews that call it more "experience" than game, so as long as you go into it expecting a simple romp with constant showstopping visual moments, you will likely enjoy it for what it is.
Madserb2023
Member
Hellblade 2 is graphically next level. At first, it was the incredible geometric detail that impressed but later especially in the long cave section, arguably the lighting is even more impressive. It's not a case of the lighting being better than what was seen last Gen, rather it's more like comparing light in real life to a video game. It looked like you were in a real cave. It's worth playing just to see it. If I'm completely honest, I enjoyed the game for what it was, but its not what I wanted.
Topher
Identifies as young
Personally I'd describe it as a collection of "experiences". Some were actually really good. But the walking intermissions really ruined a lot of the immersion for me. I see a lot of folks complaining about the torch section. I really didn't mind those. I liked the entire premise behind finding a way of defeating the giants. There was a story there for each one and I thought that wasn't bad. Problem is it took so long to even get to that point and that is where the "experience" really took form for me.
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DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
I'm not that far. But I believe you. I only meant its similar style to those bits. They happen often in those games but then you are back up to speed shortly after. Hellblade feels like a game that is just the slow walking into an arena fight, but with insane production values.
HeWhoWalks
Gold Member
They all have insane production values. It's just that it sticks out more in Hellblade because there's less going on at any given minute than the games you mentioned and it is much shorter than those as well.
Moochi
Member
There's so little going on in Hellblade 2's the environments. It all looks like the UE5 reveal trailer. A bunch randomly thrown together rocks with nice detail except when the stage turns traversable and all of the sudden there are straight line ledges everywhere that scream "This is a videogame!" The characters are very highly-detailed, but I just played Immortals of Aveneum and I don't think they look much better than those models. I've played it for two hours and I'm bored now.
Arsic
Loves his juicy stink trail scent
Unsure if I posted my impressions yet in this thread or not but I played a little over a hour and uninstalled.
It’s boring as fuck shit all and needed to be a much greater leap from the first. The first made sense at the time of release but with a 6 year development cycle and Microsoft money, this is NOT what fans of the first should’ve got. Especially considering DMC had such fantastic combat and enemies, yet this is horse shit for retards to whack buttons to.
Played on max settings with dlss quality and 4K to net 45fps. Felt smooth most of the time.
I don’t think anything I saw in the first hour though lived up to even the visual hype. Only one moment with a close up to her eye balls felt next level. Environments and clouds looked on par with other visual banger games I’ve seen up to now. Plus the insane use of film grain makes it hard to know how detailed this game actually is.
4/10.
It’s boring as fuck shit all and needed to be a much greater leap from the first. The first made sense at the time of release but with a 6 year development cycle and Microsoft money, this is NOT what fans of the first should’ve got. Especially considering DMC had such fantastic combat and enemies, yet this is horse shit for retards to whack buttons to.
Played on max settings with dlss quality and 4K to net 45fps. Felt smooth most of the time.
I don’t think anything I saw in the first hour though lived up to even the visual hype. Only one moment with a close up to her eye balls felt next level. Environments and clouds looked on par with other visual banger games I’ve seen up to now. Plus the insane use of film grain makes it hard to know how detailed this game actually is.
4/10.
semiconscious
Member
& i'll have you know that the developers made multiple trips to iceland in order to guarantee that those rocks are 110% authentic!...
BigLee74
Member
You play for an hour, uninstall, then attempt to rate the game.
So 4/10 for one hour, let’s say 7 hours long, what’s that…28/10? What a score. And there was me thinking you didn’t like it.
Rather than try and speak for everybody, I’ll speak for myself. As a fan of the first, I’m pretty much getting what I expected. More of the same, and visually even stronger. I am seeing some very cool and impressive stuff.
On the negative side, the puzzles are very simplistic so far, and there is not enough of them. It’s very linear, and I am never a fan of not being able to step over ankle high rocks that serve as an invisible wall one moment, and hoisting yourself up shoulder level walls the next. I understand the why, it’s a game, you learn the rules, but I like consistency damnit!
The story is picking up, and is certainly interesting enough for me to want to continue.
30 minute sessions are just perfect in my opinion, no need to rush through it. Exactly how I played Ryse! I could see why the limited action and simple mechanics would get too much in longer sittings, so why play it that way then complain about it? Relax and enjoy the ride for what it is! Stretch it out. Go tantric on its ass!
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There's pop-in, it's just mostly relegated to sections with camera fly-bys - gameplay is slow moving enough that it's really hard to spot anything.
That was also oddly - second worst running area of the game for me(worst was the final village with all the dust flying in the air). Not sure if it was volumetrics that killed it or something else...
Puzzles were the weakest part by far - the original game actually had some interesting puzzle designs - but this time that was instead relegated to Uncharted sign-posting (chalk-marked rocks) and the 'voices' in your head screaming hints at you all the time. If people complained about Lara or Alloy talking to themselves about solution to a puzzle - I wonder how they feel when there's like... 10 of them doing so simultaneously.
Tbh this has been a growing problem in modern games that push for visually dense rendering for awhile. I remember having issues in TLG with it - where readability of traversability was just - shot - in large part because the giant-pet capabilities are not something you have full grasp on at any point in the game, so it's basically impossible to really 'know' where it could go or not. But it's equally a problem in something like this game - where visuals attempt to be hyper-realistic, but none of character traversal capabilities are physically plausible.
So the way you'd normally 'read' the world doesn't work at all, and game never establishes any rules for it either (even the chalk-marks aren't always reliable for whether you can climb-up on them).
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Topher
Identifies as young
To be fair, the first hour is the worst part of the game by far. It does actually get better. But I get where you are coming from. This game does nothing to grab you early on.
Kssio_Aug
Member
Done! Fantastic game!
Intense from beginning to end, with absolute stunning graphics! The audio is brilliant, and the songs during the action are just perfection.
An 9/10 for me easily, just because puzzles could have been more varied and dynamic.
Can't wait for Hellblade 3!
Intense from beginning to end, with absolute stunning graphics! The audio is brilliant, and the songs during the action are just perfection.
An 9/10 for me easily, just because puzzles could have been more varied and dynamic.
Can't wait for Hellblade 3!
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James Sawyer Ford
Gold Member
Mattyplays hates it and says Ryse and The Order are way better. He’s right.
Some green rats are at least honest
Some green rats are at least honest
Zathalus
Member
Finally got around to playing it over the weekend. Fantastic looking game that is similar to the first one in most aspects. Enjoyment probably depends on how much you liked the first one. Above average to good game with some really great acting and decent enough story that is marred by the rather rudimentary gameplay. Now back to playing Diablo 4 and not posting 50 times in a review thread for a 6 hour game.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Done! Fantastic game!
Intense from beginning to end, with absolute stunning graphics! The audio is brilliant, and the songs during the action are just perfection.
An 9/10 for me easily, just because puzzles could have been more varied and dynamic.
Can't wait for Hellblade 3!
Fantastic game, hell of an experience. Some of the best one on one fights in any game purely from a visceral point of view.
If this game was 20 hour long, it would overstay its welcome. The length is ideal for what's at offer.
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LastBattle
Member
I finished my first play through yesterday. Absolutely amazing, one of a kind experience. I played through the first game a week before the release the HB2 so knew what to expect going in. Senua is such great character. I began a new game+ immediately after finishing to collect the lorestones I missed in the first play through.. The alternative narration is cool and provides a different perspective to Senua’s journey. Think I’m enjoying the second play through even more.
I’d also so say this is the first game since Gears that felt like a true leap in terms of visuals. So beautiful.
I’d also so say this is the first game since Gears that felt like a true leap in terms of visuals. So beautiful.
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Arsic
Loves his juicy stink trail scent
I’ve made peace with myself after last year that I cannot do this “it gets good after X hours” bull shit with games anymore.
We are flooded with games month after month, and my back log is massive like most here.
A hour is plenty for ANY game, yes RPGs included, to grab me. Sometimes even a soundtrack is enough to make me want to go on.
It is what it is. The game got a fair shake. If it’s 5.5 hours to beat and 1 hour is a fifth of the game, then that’s a fair chunk to lure me in.
I’m honest in that I’ve shit talked this game ever since we found out it wasn’t going to be longer than the first or push the gameplay any further back like a year ago. I did give it a chance because sometimes eye candy or story can be enough to lure me in.
I’m glad others are enjoying it. I’d like to see these guys and gals do another game with more gameplay meat on the bone like DMC.
Iced Arcade
Member
Are you even an Xbox thread if you don't have a few dozen James posts shitting it up. Lol
Bernardougf
Member
gow3isben
Member
Connxtion
Member
Finished the game, what a game. The story was ok did what it needed to do, but my god the fighting half way through the game 
the pumping groaning music (don’t know the name ) when the larger fights happen.
Graphics are amazing best game I have ever seen in game.
Just wish it was longer, ended too soon. Even a fight mode with the tunes banging and me trying to survive waves would have been great.
9/10 greate game.
the pumping groaning music (don’t know the name ) when the larger fights happen.Graphics are amazing best game I have ever seen in game.
Just wish it was longer, ended too soon. Even a fight mode with the tunes banging and me trying to survive waves would have been great.
9/10 greate game.
I havn't played it yet but the trailer used music from Heilung so they maybe worth checking out if you liked what you heard.
Hero of Spielberg
Member
Hmmm, I was holding off playing but seeing some of the comments here and watching a bit of gameplay has piqued my interest.
I'm just sitting here enjoying the love for walking simulators now from certain folks.
What a time to be alive.
Death Stranding 1 (and 2) should get more love.
kungfuian
Member
So to recap-
I like walking simulators and enjoy story and presentation more, or as much as, more gamey games= 9/10
I hate walking simulators and wish all games had a greater focus on actually being games= 5/10
I played it going in knowing what it was= 9/10
I played it going in expecting it to be more 'gamey'= 5/10
I played it from the lens of a graphics whore= 10/10
I played it from the perspective that Microsoft false advertised the game to be more than it is= 5/10
I played it from Youtube and am generally cynical toward Microsoft and their output as a platform holder= 5/10
I played it as a lover and defender of all things X-box= 10/10
I hate how long games take to make and have been shaking my fists at the clouds to make it rain= 5/10
I played it as a lover of grunting sounds and exploring virtual gum hygiene= 10/10
I'm a talentless narcissistic attention seeking man baby online twat and will do anything to get clicks= 5/10
and so on and so on.......
I like walking simulators and enjoy story and presentation more, or as much as, more gamey games= 9/10
I hate walking simulators and wish all games had a greater focus on actually being games= 5/10
I played it going in knowing what it was= 9/10
I played it going in expecting it to be more 'gamey'= 5/10
I played it from the lens of a graphics whore= 10/10
I played it from the perspective that Microsoft false advertised the game to be more than it is= 5/10
I played it from Youtube and am generally cynical toward Microsoft and their output as a platform holder= 5/10
I played it as a lover and defender of all things X-box= 10/10
I hate how long games take to make and have been shaking my fists at the clouds to make it rain= 5/10
I played it as a lover of grunting sounds and exploring virtual gum hygiene= 10/10
I'm a talentless narcissistic attention seeking man baby online twat and will do anything to get clicks= 5/10
and so on and so on.......
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Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
I know how that feels bro.
RoboEight
Member
It's really not that bad and if you have Game Pass what is there to lose? it's not long and it's a pretty decent experience overall for an evening or two. I enjoyed it for what it was and it makes for a good Game Pass game, I'm glad I played it and got to experience it. Watching some of the "making of" videos was neat seeing some of the tech and design elements that went into it and how they accomplished some of the shots used, their approach to building the world was also pretty interesting and I'm always fascinated by photogrammetry.
Vroadstar
Member
Bumblebeetuna
Member
Seems it’s going to hold at 81 or so on MC and strong on OpenCritic. No disagreement from me. It is a good game.
A lot of people have been saying how great an “endless” combat mode would be. Wonder if they add anything.
Finished the game, what a game. The story was ok did what it needed to do, but my god the fighting half way through the game
Graphics are amazing best game I have ever seen in game.
Just wish it was longer, ended too soon. Even a fight mode with the tunes banging and me trying to survive waves would have been great.
9/10 greate game.
A lot of people have been saying how great an “endless” combat mode would be. Wonder if they add anything.
Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
I doubt it. Every fight is fully choreographed like a movie. Its like watching Enter the Dragon and asking for an endless mode.
Gamer_By_Proxy
Member
I finished the game tonight. I’d say 6/10. Not terrible if you liked the first one, but worse. No one should pay more than 1 month of GamePass to play it. $50 is a joke.
DarkBatman
SBI’s Employee of the Year
I had pretty high expectations, but I have to agree with this summary 100%.
For me it was ultimately a visually impressive tech demo, but otherwise it can't match the quality of its predecessor in any respect. I was bored most of the time and was almost grateful that it was over quite quickly. But only because I could play it via Gamepass. If I had paid the asking price of $50, I would have felt enormously ripped off.
FunkMiller
Member
Sorry lads. I’ve dropped it. Just too boring, pretentious and lacking in compelling gameplay. Much better and more fun ways to spend my time.
Bernardougf
Member
Its a product coming from MS to a hungry starving fanbase and is basically free.
Have this game not been from MS and not Free... even at 50 dollars... I would love to see the reaction and reviews.
Imagine if Ryse or The Order... had launched 04 years after the initial respective consoles cicle. Ooooofff...
One thing is for sure... giving your games for "free" or for very cheap sure helps your reviews.. as long as the game is not broken.... in this regard gamepass works
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FingerBang
Member
Is it worth playing it on the Series X or is the PC version vastly superior?
I can't connect my PC to the TV (and the soundbar) at the moment, but was thinking of playing this next
I can't connect my PC to the TV (and the soundbar) at the moment, but was thinking of playing this next
HeWhoWalks
Gold Member
On frame rate alone, PC is far superior. Then there are tweaks you can apply to take things one step further, such removing chromatic aberration/vignetting, the black bars, etc.
balls of snow
Member
Yeah after letting it marinate in my head awhile, i am leaning on a 7 even if I do like the story.
There is just way too much downtime of holding the left stick and watching Senua slowly walk through a desolate environment. I love me the walk and talk, played and replayed many adventure games/ movie games like Until Dawn through the years but this is way way too much walking with nothing much happening.
They also overtuned the voices in the sequel. Where in Hellblade 1 they were sparodically mocking Senua, in the second game they very much like to talk over the spoken dialogue like a godamn yt commentary video. I get thats the point and all but not every second of the game.
Combat is also a regression from the first simply because, there were hardly any? bossfights in it. I watched my own capture of hellblade 1 and the boss fights were definite highlights of the game even with the simple combat mechanics. For as visceral and impactful as the visuals make it to be, not having mechanically interesting fights was a bummer. Why do 1 v 1 if all you do is fighting scrubs.
Nothing much to say about presentation other than it being a mindblowing showcase of what unreal engine can do on this 4 year old hardware. Audiovisual masterclass and saves it from being scored lower for me.
There is just way too much downtime of holding the left stick and watching Senua slowly walk through a desolate environment. I love me the walk and talk, played and replayed many adventure games/ movie games like Until Dawn through the years but this is way way too much walking with nothing much happening.
They also overtuned the voices in the sequel. Where in Hellblade 1 they were sparodically mocking Senua, in the second game they very much like to talk over the spoken dialogue like a godamn yt commentary video. I get thats the point and all but not every second of the game.
Combat is also a regression from the first simply because, there were hardly any? bossfights in it. I watched my own capture of hellblade 1 and the boss fights were definite highlights of the game even with the simple combat mechanics. For as visceral and impactful as the visuals make it to be, not having mechanically interesting fights was a bummer. Why do 1 v 1 if all you do is fighting scrubs.
Nothing much to say about presentation other than it being a mindblowing showcase of what unreal engine can do on this 4 year old hardware. Audiovisual masterclass and saves it from being scored lower for me.
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nowhat
Gold Member
If you're talking about Zero Dawn, I agree (I'm pretty sure Guerrilla themselves realized this towards the end of the development, and added a resource vendor in Meridian as a band-aid), but Forbidden West is much improved (still far from perfect). What many people don't seem to get is that while you need specific parts from specific machines to upgrade gear to the highest levels in FW, it's really not RNG at all. You just have to hit those specific parts (they can be highlighted in your focus to make identifying them easier) and remove them before killing the entire machine. So you'll need a weapon that will do at least some tear damage (the more the better, of course), or you'll just end up destroying the parts.
...or just turn on easy loot in accessibility settings, no one will know, it's an offline single-player game.
Bumblebeetuna
Member
Hungry starving fanbase? Like Steam?
Another zany post trying to play chess with all of the reviews
For some reason GamePass didn’t help other games that scored poorly.. even ones that weren’t “broken” but were just bad games.
How honorable of these supposed shill reviewers to only shill for certain Xbox titles and even then, only score the games people whine about in the low 80’s. We are humbled, supposed shill reviewers.
Freelance Yakuza
Member
Reading Era, it's clear that Xbox fanboys (xbots) are on edge. Any comment that isn't positive about the brand is considered an offense and a direct attack on their right to exist. You can't say that the number of concurrent players is low without someone claiming that you are posting in bad faith or to generate clicks. You can only speak well of everything Microsoft does. It has reached a point where there is a decline in discussions about Xbox games because you can't talk about their problems lol. All the persecution complex involved has gone from depressing to hilarious. You sit back and watch them tear each other apart.
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GHG
Member
Hungry starving fanbase? Like Steam?
Nobody on Steam is starving, so this is the result:
Unless you're going to tell me these are good numbers for a game that is supposed to be "10/10" according to the Xbox fan sites and certain individuals here?
Luipadre
Gold Member
Just crazy to me how this is a 80 while the order is like 63? That game was much better. This is why metascores sucks and means absolutely nothing
FewRope
Member
I was literally banned for two months, TWO MONTHS, for saying I want to play the Gears trilogy on PS5. They have a massive Xbox brainrot as a mod and it shows
What a piece of shit of a website, keep me banned