Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 review: Can a game be good without being fun?

Ninja Theory’s sequel is a short but emotionally gruelling game that left our reviewer exhausted

Published May 22, 2024  •  4 minute read

In Hellblade 2, Norse warrior Senua — still suffering the terrifying psychosis players saw in the original game — is now drawing strength from her voices and visions. Photo by Microsoft

Score: 7.5/10
Platform: Xbox Series S/X
Developer: Ninja Theory
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
Release Date: May 21, 2024
ESRB: M

Ninja Theory’s sequel to its 2017 hit Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice continues the tale of the franchise’s titular protagonist, an 8th century Norse woman who hears voices and sees things no one else can. These are symptoms of what we, today, would call psychosis. People in her time understood it to be a curse.

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The original game won praise for its faithful depiction of mental illness. The developers worked closely with both psychologists and people who suffer psychosis to recreate the experience within the game, and they returned to help with the sequel.

What they’ve created is both disorienting and chilling.

Voices constantly whisper in the player’s ears at varying volumes and from different directions. It’s difficult to tell if what we see is real, whether it’s one of Senua’s visions, or perhaps some strange combination of the two. Seemingly random symbols within the world are invested with meaning and importance, serving as guideposts for Senua’s quest.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 screenshot. Photo by Microsoft

Senua spent the first game coming to terms with her unique experience of the world. She journeyed to Helheim, ostensibly for the sake of finding her dead lover, but really to confront her own demons, control them, and to learn how to live in a parallel reality. The game ended with the sense that Senua would not just survive but that she could become a hero to her people.

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The sequel picks up with her as just that: A warrior saviour.

Or, at least, that’s what she’s trying to be.

In the opening scene we learn Sunua has allowed herself to be captured by a group of slavers that have been targeting her tribe. Her plan is to discover where they come from and end the threat at its source. But when her ship capsizes and she finds herself lost and alone on a stormy foreign shore, she realizes that this land is beset by a monstrous evil of its own, and she’ll need to summon all her strength to face it.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 screenshot. Photo by Microsoft /Microsoft

Senua’s Saga aims for deep immersion and intuitive play. You won’t find a head’s-up display, health bars, or even any menus of skills and objectives. We experience and see what Senua experiences and sees, which means, like her, we’re left to figure stuff out on our own — including the controls.

Working out how to swing a weapon, interact with an object, or even just jog rather than walk can be a little irksome at the beginning, but it’s not too tricky. And playing on easier difficulty settings makes the intense sword-based combat — which is rendered with near photorealism, bloody blows coming with such force that I found myself moving in my chair to help Senua dodge them — much more forgiving. I was able to find my footing in most fights with minimal frustration.

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But combat isn’t all that frequent. The story Ninja Theory is trying to tell is much more about what’s going on in Senua’s head rather than in the real world.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 screenshot. Photo by Microsoft /Microsoft

You’ll spend long stretches simply pushing the left joystick forward to make Senua trudge onward. She is constantly assaulted by voices that, one moment, provide encouragement to propel her onward, then speak her deepest, darkest fears the next. Senua’s journey through desolate landscapes and devastated villages isn’t just about getting from point A to point B, it’s a part of the narrative, a fundamental aspect of the game itself

It’s worth noting that Melina Juergens, the actor behind Senua, gives it her absolute all, delivering a motion — and emotion — capture performance on par with mocap greats like Andy Serkis. She is a fierce firestorm of fear, anguish, courage, and rage for eight straight hours. It’s exhausting just to watch.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 screenshot. Photo by Microsoft /Microsoft

And there’s the rub: Senua’s Saga isn’t really a fun game. I didn’t have a “good time” playing.

Instead, it’s a piece of art. A thing that makes you think, feel, and perhaps even learn; something that you appreciate rather than enjoy. Ninja Theory’s storytelling chops, technical acumen, and creative energy are on full display, and I respected and admired what I experienced.

That said, I didn’t feel an urge to endure more than I had to. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 is an emotionally gruelling game, an unrelenting assault on the senses filled with brutal depictions of psychological and physical suffering. It makes for gripping storytelling, but it also left me drained.

I think I need to go play some Pac-man.

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