Great action adventure game Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II arriving on PC and Xbox on May 21, 2024. It features a focused story covering a wide range of emotional and social themes that are fascinating as they pop into your mind.
Read more: Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II: The Kotaku Assessment
A challenge for me Senu’s Saga not as successful in his puzzles or combat (though fighting can be fun), but is found more in understanding the ebb and flow of Senua’s journey through Iceland and the people she meets. The density of its text and dialogue is what awaits you before you unpack, not the reaction-based skill trees and timing.
And with a relatively short running time compared to other games, it’s perfect for multiple playthroughs to revisit key moments or understand the significance of how the game begins and ends, and what these are exactly the challenges Senua must overcome in this new chapter.
The bonus narrative is reason enough to play Hellblade II more times
After reaching the end of Senua’s…er, saga, you’ll unlock narration from “The Others,” three NPCs who accompany Senua on her journey. They will narrate parts of the game depending on which chapters you are in, starting with the Viking slaver Thorgestr.
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Hellblade II is a game about many things, but it’s primarily about the characters Senua meets (with Thorgestr perhaps the most changed by his journey with Senua). Getting an insight into how these characters see Senua and their world is a really great way to understand the different nuances and emotional contours of this game.
Astridr, the lonely and fiercely protective leader that Senua meets in the Bardarvik chapter, for example, talks a bit about her family in a way that helps illuminate who she is. Of course, she talks to Senoua a bit about her life before things take a turn for the worse, but hearing it directly from her through narration fleshes out her story even more.
When I played with the “Other” narration (which you can choose either at the start of a new game or any time after the narration is finished in the game’s audio settings), I almost started to wonder if this is the way Senu’s Saga should be. True, the main narrator creates a nice sense of coherence to the first game, but given how much the Furies—the voices Senua hears in her mind—add to the regular gameplay, basically narrating and commenting on what’s going on and hearing the other characters. it really makes the experience a little more dynamic storytelling.
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Also, if you discover all the “loresingr” unlockables, you’ll unlock Druth, Senua’s spirit companion from 2017. Senu’s sacrifice.
Senu’s Saga is a dense story that becomes clearer the second time around
A lot is happening in Senu’s Saga. And on my second playthrough, especially during the opening fight with Thorgestr, I was struck by what Senua sees in him and ultimately decides to do after the fight – especially the similarities between how that fight ends and how the game’s final boss fight ends. . Fast forward to the walk to Freyslaug and there were lines that caught my eye more this time. Here is one in particular:
Thorgestr: Do you see those graves? This is how we honor our dead. There will be no one to bury you.
Senua: You did not worship these graves. What happened?
Thorgestr: I told you… Draugar. They won’t just kill you. It’s far worse. That’s what they do afterwards. They… You still have a chance to save your life if you stop now.
Senua: Is it my life you’re trying to save?
This exchange occurs after Thorgestr says how much he wishes Senua had drowned when the ships crashed and how he plans to kill her when he is free of her. Yet it highlights the fact that there is some part of him that cares for her own safety, speaks to his humanity that is buried beneath his blind devotion to his father and myopic perspectives.
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So many Senu’s Saga it’s about changes in perspective, different ways of looking at “reality” that a line like this carries so much weight given where the story is going. There are many other such examples Saga which become more apparent to me the second playthrough anyway.
If you haven’t already, please consider using subtitles on subsequent playbacks
On a second playthrough, I found the subtitles to be a pretty effective way to focus on what the characters are saying to each other. Senu’s “Furies” are constantly talking, which is distracting. I guess that’s the point, but having actual lines of dialogue to read (the Furies’ lines are shown on their respective sides of the screen to mimic the experience of hearing them on either side of you) can help you focus a bit on exchanges like the one is highlighted above.
Senu’s Saga is a journey of complex emotions and events, many of which take on new tones and meaning when you revisit them. Whatever you want to play Hellblade II again right after hitting the credits or after you let it exist in your mind for a while, the second time is definitely worth the effort if you want to soak up everything this game has to offer.
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