Madness has never been so beautiful: critics have praised the dark action game Senua's Saga: Hellblade II and recommend it to fans of unusual games

Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, a dystopian action game that is a direct sequel to the acclaimed 2017 game, has just been released.

Many gamers were alarmed by the fact that Microsoft and Ninja Theory didn't allow reviewers to publish their impressions of the game in advance. And considering that Hellblade II had an extremely modest marketing campaign - it was even more alarming.

But it turned out that the developers were not worried about the quality of the game, but did not want to prevent spoilers.

Here's What We Know

Senua's Saga: Hellblade II received quite high marks from critics. Reviewers noted that this is an excellent sequel, in which Ninja Theory brought the main advantages of the first part to an even higher level, thanks to which the quality of graphics and visual effects increased many times.

It's impossible to ignore the great acting work of Melina Jurgens and the stunning sound design. As in the last game, Senua's Senua is constantly hearing annoying voices in his head, the positioning of which in the game is done flawlessly. When playing through Senua's Saga: Hellblade II with 3D sound-enabled headphones, the player will hear whispers and voices from all directions and can literally feel what the protagonist is feeling.

Unfortunately, some of the game's flaws have returned from the first instalment. Many reviewers noted, repetitive gameplay, boring puzzles and a simple combat system. But Hellblade II is not really a game, but rather an interactive work explaining what people with mental disorders feel and how you can help them fight against their manifestations. Therefore, gameplay is not crucial in this case.

Overall, Hellblade II is a great sequel that is recommended to fans of the first part, but is unlikely to interest a new audience.

The game has received the following ratings:

• On Metacritic (for Xbox Series and PC) - 81 points;
• on OpenCritic - 84 points with 86% of recommendations.

We offer you to read a detailed review of Senua's Saga: Hellblade II from our author.

The game is available on PC (Steam, Microsoft Store) and Xbox Series and has already appeared in Game Pass.

Source: Metacritic, OpenCritic