Hellblade 2 review: a stunning world that’s alive with horror

Traversing the nightmare realms of the human mind has always been central to horror. The stories we tell ourselves about what’s moving in the darkness, the creation of monsters out of unknown sounds — from this emerges our fascination with terror. In Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, players navigate a cold, dark ninth-century Iceland in the often wet shoes of the Pictish warrior Senua on her second adventure in the third-person action-horror franchise. I was very fond of the first Hellblade, which saw Senua journey into Hel to save the soul of her lover. But the sequel pulled me in even further, with some of the most unforgettable and unsettling psychological horror I’ve ever experienced.

Senua, who lives with psychosis that causes her to hear constant voices, is a fierce warrior who has “killed” gods before in her personal quests at redemption. Cast out by her people in the Orkney Islands for being different, or a “witch,” she has taken her battles across the sea to rescue her people from slavers.

She washes up alone on a cold Viking shore and must find her way through a mysterious land. Her aim, vaguely, has to do with getting her people back, if not stopping the slavers who are taking her people. She soon discovers this is a land of literal giants, who remind me slightly of Attack on Titan: their designs are horrific and genuinely terrifying. The giants have all but destroyed the land, but Senua, being who she is, finds a way to stop them.

Let me be clear: this is the best-looking game I’ve ever played. Senua’s face is so detailed, I struggled to discern the real-time gameplay from the cutscenes; the environmental details are so intricate, it was like looking at photos. With fantastical lighting, inversions of the world as Senua is sucked into various states of mind, and stunning cinematic direction, there was no moment when I was not ogling my TV.

Perhaps more important, however, is the sound design and direction. The voices in Senua’s head portray themselves as furies, gods, and spirits, alternating between berating and encouraging. In terms of game design, they help the player navigate the world — telling you to look in this direction, highlighting when an enemy is about to hit, and so on. Add to this beautiful and horrific soundscapes, with chanting voices or drone-like sounds puncturing the environment.  

The world is alive with horror, as it was difficult to discern what was “real” and what was Senua’s psychosis. This is illustrated in combat: Senua is an incredible warrior but the game bookmarks combat. What I mean is that, when a battle happens, you are locked on to a single enemy where you must parry, block, and strike. Senua has an ability called “focus” that builds up with successful blocks and strikes, which is effectively bullet time with swords. Combat is exhausting and the one weak spot of the game, as I always felt she was not responsive to my blocks and parries, resulting in constant strikes from enemies. Senua has no health bar and it is rather hard to die, but the combat proved frustrating even if it was incredible to witness: it’s brutal and dynamic, with fights happening around Senua, enemies crashing into her organically, and kills blending smoothly into cutscenes.

Unlike the first game, Senua has companions whom I genuinely grew to like: a spiritual leader; a reformed slaver; and the daughter of a betrayed chief. Villages are filled with people, with one sequence showing off a small battalion fighting alongside Senua. However, Senua remains inherently alone, and the journey is a lonely one — despite the voices constantly in your head. Senua solves environmental puzzles to navigate the world, which, like the first game, did get a little repetitive. These involve her having to match shapes that unlock doors. However, there was at least more diversity to the puzzles this time to keep things interesting, aside from the boring shape minigame.  

The game is short, and I finished it in about 10 hours. But it packs a number of gorgeous scenes and scenarios into that brief span, from battling a monster in a volcano pit to the rhythm of metal music to navigating a Silent Hill-esque forest. This was an exhausting, beautiful experience that shattered me often, built me back up, and constantly challenged what it meant to manage one’s darkness. Senua is a broken person, but because of that, she fits into this broken world.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is available now on Xbox and PC.