Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II – monsters and people

The last thing I want to do is to analyze Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II into its components, analyze it, compare it with the previous part or some other games, dig into the gameplay features, scrupulously analyze the flaws and advantages of graphics, plot features or narrative tools, and mention the involvement of doctors and psychotic patients in the game’s creation.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, like Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, you have to live with Senua. Merging with the heroine, trying to feel what she feels. That’s why we’re going to try to tell you about Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II the way the fearless, frightened, lost and found Pictish warrior herself could talk about the game.

What are you doing here, Senua? Why did you come to these harsh and inhospitable lands? What moves you forward? You seem to have come to terms with your loss, learned to live with it, although you continue to carry the burden of all the deaths that have occurred [Because of your fault!] Why do you want new deaths? Will revenge bring back the dead? Will revenge ease your soul [Yes, yes, it will!]? No, most likely not, your dead are with you forever.

Why, why did you decide that you are a savior? What do you have and can you do to help these people if you can’t even help yourself [Helpless! Worthless!]? Do you still see the light in them? Do you want to see it? What do you need these strangers for [Don’t believe them, don’t believe them, they are lying, they will betray you, as they have always betrayed you!]

Are you trying to find something here that will fill the emptiness inside you? Something hidden that will give you strength? But you are powerless and cannot even overcome the voices in your own head [No, it cannot! Yes, it can!]!

But no. You have become stronger. Not smarter, but definitely stronger. You’re no longer a slave to your voices, you can fight back, you can even tame them, and they dutifully help you, show you the way, guide your hand, notice what you don’t notice [Yes, yes, we are very useful!] But they just want to live, because they are just a part of you that you cannot get rid of.

And sometimes they scare you, very scary, they reinforce your fears, whisper in your ear, scare you with what is hiding in the darkness and what it can do to you. [Yes, yes, the night is dark and full of terrors! And soon the night will fall forever!]

This is a harsh land. Harsh, but beautiful. There are not enough colors here, a lot of pale green, ocher-red, gray and black [Darkness, darkness all around you, Senua!], but there are many shades. A land of mosses and lichens, stones and lava, sometimes it can be incredibly, unrealistically beautiful and every stone seems to speak to you.

It can even be cozy and picturesque, only to be transformed into a hurricane of flame and water in a minute. Every stone, every piece of lava, every rock, every patch of fog is unique and unrepeatable and creates a fantastic scene for the last [No, no, not the last! Are you ready to let the darkness into your heart, Senua?

Because here it is, it hasn’t disappeared, you can seemingly touch it. Oily, thick, living darkness. It is inside you, it is in the people around you. Are you ready to fight it, now that you are so weak, and every blow counts. When there are more enemies, when they are stronger and more agile, when they hide in the dark, and you don’t even have a sword to defend yourself? [A warrior without a sword?! Who are you, Senua?!]. It’s okay, it’s okay, the sword will appear from the stones, as it should, but is it your main weapon?!

Will it help you cope with monsters and with people who create monsters? Will he turn you into a monster yourself? [Or have you already become one, Senua?! You bring only death! You are a monster!]

Do these people around you deserve to be saved? They have doomed themselves, and the darkness has long since devoured them from within! Can they be considered your brothers and sisters now? Or is there still hope? [Holy goddess, how naive and childish of you, Senua!]

What will you do next, Senua? Will you become a monster yourself, or can you dispel the darkness in yourself and in them? [How naive! It doesn’t work, it never has! Perhaps revenge was the only true path, but we will never know…]

P.S. As in Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, playing Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is a must. It is really an event, a game that should not be missed. Most likely, Senua’s Saga, like Melina Jurgens and Ninja Theory Studio, will collect a huge harvest of awards at the end of the year.

The game, as in the previous part, has 8-9 hours of gameplay, it is better to play it in one or two sessions. Be sure to wear headphones and use the most powerful video card you can find. Special thanks to Microsoft and Ninja Theory for the Ukrainian localization.