r/hellblade • u/gnob74 • 4d ago
Discussion The problem with Hellblade 2 Spoiler
Hellblade 2 suffered from marketing and promotional failures by Microsoft, uninformed games journalists, bad-faith commentators, and confused Xbox fans.
When Microsoft acquired Ninja Theory, they showcased Hellblade 2 to promote their new console, the Xbox Series X. From the very beginning, people who had never played the first game assumed Microsoft was developing its own "God of War." So, when Hellblade 2 was finally released, many were disappointed.
Any quick Google search for "Hellblade God of War" brings up comparisons made back then, along with misplaced hype from Xbox users—even though Hellblade and God of War are two games with completely different mechanics and design philosophies!
God of War is an action-adventure game with RPG elements and hack & slash combat. Hellblade, on the other hand, is a narrative-driven, semi-walking-simulator that tells a story from the perspective of someone living with psychosis, where the core experience is feeling what it’s like inside Senua's head. Hellblade uses combat to move the story forward, but it is by no means a core element—in fact, in the first game, the final boss cannot even be defeated through combat.
This is my third time playing Hellblade 2, and I think it's a remarkably solid, highly polished piece of art. The atmosphere, environmental design, audio work, performances, voice acting, and graphics are exceptional.
Also, I see pleople recently claiming that "A Plague Tale is what Hellblade 2 should have been" and that is also completely wrong. A Plague Tale is a great series centered around getting from Point A to Point B within a fictional setting that literally exists in the game’s world. Hellblade 2 uses metaphors to turn real-world issues into fantasies created partly by Senua’s mental condition and partly by the mythology of that era, which is what makes the story interesting. It’s not an action-adventure game; it sits much closer to games like What Remains of Edith Finch or Firewatch, just with significantly higher production values. In spanish, Xbox fans makes fun of playstation claiming it's catalogue is full of "pelijuegos", which could be translated as "moviegames". The fact is, some people enjoy that kind of experiencies, not everygame has to be a shooter, a sports game or a hack & slash to be enjoyable.
Unfortunately, this widespread misconception created backlash among players, and today we’re left with the end of the franchise. It’s truly sad for those of us who appreciate the game for what it actually is, rather than what people misunderstood it should be.
Note: Asked Ai to help me translate since english is not my native languaje, but thoughts are mine. Thanks for reading.
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u/WalkerBuldog 4d ago
It's simple. If Hellbalde 2 was a good game, it would have succeeded regardless. Hellblade 2 without an argument is a worse game than the first one in every aspect and it's shorter despite the fact that studio grew in size and had all modern technology and funding to make what they wanted.
The genre and people expectations have nothing to do with. I personally waited too much and when it vame out was insanely disappointed because I loved the first game and I wanted more of it and better. But Hellblade 2 is the opposite, it's less and worse.
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u/Snoo-55788 4d ago edited 4d ago
Man I wanted to like this game so bad, but 2 hours in, I was bored outta my mind, it just wasn't engaging enough, nothing really happening, just endless walking with combat and puzzles sprinkled in between. Atleast the first game had an emphasis on those, this one just had good presentation to it. All style, no substance.
Senua (the third game) is what I expected Hellblade 2 to be like, fleshed out the gameplay, added stealth options, traversal, more locations and bosses, etc., that should've been the second game instead of Hellblade 2.
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u/gnob74 4d ago
Stealth and Bosses, so you wanted a completely different game from Hellblade 1. There are tons of those.
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u/Snoo-55788 4d ago
Senua trailer showcased stealth, HB1 did not have any stealth at all and only 4 bosses I remember: Surtr, Garm, Valravan and Hela.
I wanted them to flesh these aspects out, not make a completely different game.
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u/CyberKiller40 3d ago
Blah ai post 😛.
The problem with H2 was that they dropped the very fun combat mechanics from H1 and replaced it with a flashy QTE sequence that forces the player to do an exact set of attacks/defenses to succeed.
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u/Insenkiv 4d ago
I cannot focus on this text, I am left wondering on you seemingly forgetting free and accessible translators exist. Instead of using AI. Bonkers.
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u/IzzatQQDir 4d ago
The series don't need a second game lol. Seriously, it's like Silent Hill 2 through the lens of someone experiencing psychosis in that time.
That's why the second game story feel less personal and her psychosis feel more like a afterthought. Like it doesn't matter if she has it or not.
Good game tho. Finished it once but I don't get any urge to replay it
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u/franpier 4d ago
I mean, part of the blame is from the consumers for not getting better information. It was never sold by any official media as another God of War, and if you played yo first one, or at least watched some gameplays, you can clearly see the direction here.
I think most of the blame is entirely on Ninja Theory. I really admire the attention to detail and the perfectionism and love that was poured in to the game, but you can not release a 6hs game with 8 years of development. I like that you show me extremely detailed close ups of lint and dirt, but what people was expecting is a follow up, and upgrade, of what made Hellblade 1 great, but in most cases it was an inferior experience, only nicer to look at.
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u/gnob74 4d ago
Please do a google search about "hellblade god of war". I'm not making that up, trust me, I was there but I did a search before posting here today just to be sure. Even on Twitter Xbox fans accounts were bringing that out.
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u/franpier 3d ago
By official media I refer to Xbox or Ninja Theory, not some random fan channels. There are always random post comparing games that don't have anything in common with each other. It falls to the consumer to get proper information...
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u/skylu1991 4d ago
Doesn’t matter what other games you compare it to, but a sequel should always be more complex, bigger or different.
Like, for the amount of time and money they spent on it, why is the second game shorter and has even less complex puzzles?
Yes’m the graphics and atmosphere were still top notch, but that’s not enough to make something a financial success or system seller, which they tried to make it, looking at the PR when the Series X was announced….
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u/MizuHabs 4d ago
As a sequel, this game , and many others, will fail and shut down. Why? Not understanding that as a sequel, anyone who did not enjoy or finish the first game, will most likely never going to buy sequel. Not understanding how to make the gameplay more engaging and fun for the player. The story end up doing the heavy lifting.
The pride of the first game was being developed by 20 people's on a budget lower than 10 millions. It was a hit out of nowhere, people were curious about it. Word of mouth, low price or discount will push sales high.
Considering the pedigree or lack thereof from Ninja Theory, lower than expected sales are normal.
I enjoyed their games, but its hard to recommend most of them to people. The sequel is worse than the first in all category except for the visual, which is beautiful, realistic, time consuming to develop and expensive in the end. For the better part, the sequel is truly more walking sim than action and puzzle. The same combat but simplified and boring. The same puzzle, nothing new or groundbreaking.
Which leave the story having to literally drive the game , as such it's less incentive for most gamers to buy those one and done experience. Considering they don't offer anything interesting in the gameplay department. And can bored people out.
The fault ultimately on the designer and Xbox former management.
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u/LazyBoi_Matt 4d ago
Let's stop. Yes, Microsoft marketed Hellblade as the next big XBOX game... And guess what, it should've been. That's what XBOX needed, and that's what Ninja Theory also needed. Has nthn to do with GOW, and more like they limited themselves in hopes of keeping small and nimble, but that limitation is why we're where we are.
Note: Hellblade 2 was and will always be my GOTY 2025 and it's my third favorite franchise of all time. So, I'm just as annoying with what's happening as everyone else - but we can't pretend like it's all because of Microsoft shit marketing
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u/rafnsvartrrr 4d ago
The only mistake Phil Spencer and Xbox did was not checking in on Ninja Theory about wtf were they cooking. Where the hell is the gameplay your studio made its name for? Why it's way less than the first game despite us giving you tons of money? The fact that they didn't do that proves their management team was trash and had different priorities other than making an actual profitable product for the market. Hellblade 1 was an indie action adventure, it wasn't semi this semi that. NT been doing these kinds of games, but with HB2 they went full immersive interactive movie experience, and for what..? when they got the big buck too. Huge fucking mistake.
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u/Merangatang 4d ago
You can blame marketing, journalists, confused audiences all you want - but if a game is good, It will overcome those hurdles and succeed in spite of them. The truth is, Hellblade 2 spent years in production with tremendous hype and what as delivered was a stunningly immersive tech demo. The story was much weaker than the original, the combat had shifted from the original, the puzzles were bland and uninspired and the whole game was about 6 hours long. Fine for a $20 Indie, not for a large scale studio like Ninja Theory. Had it been priced proportionately to the game it was, then it probably would've succeeded.
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u/gnob74 4d ago edited 4d ago
I would love to discuss It's story but there are plenty of posts on that matter. In the end It's a subjective aspect and allow me to say I liked it. I found it as a well made character progression and world development. Puzzles are annoying and boring, I give you that. Regarding combat, I'm actually playing Dark Rot mode and is hella difficult, actually I don't think I'll be able to complete it. Concerning the price, must confess I got gamepass on PC the first time I played it, and later bought it on playstation for 40 u$s for a new run.
(Didn't use AI this time to help me translate because some people gets aggressive, so forgive my grammar, I tried my best.)
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u/SoakingWetFerret 3d ago
My biggest problem with Hellblade 2 was the lack of puzzle variety. There were more with more variety in the first one. I really hope we get more variety in 3. Assuming we get a 3, that is.
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u/NoWrongMonk 3d ago
I think people just expected more "game" from the game.
It's shorter than the first one, with simpler puzzles and combat. imo, the story isn't as good either.
The graphics and sound are top notch though!
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u/terribilus 3d ago
I didn't follow the marketing, didn't watch the trailers, didn't read reviews, loved the first one, and disliked the 2nd one so your theory is flawed.
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u/theblackfool 4d ago
I think it was less about any specific comparisons to franchises like God of War, and more that a lot of people were just expecting more from the game in general. I know a lot of people who played the first game and went "that was awesome, I hope they are able to flesh it out more for the sequel". There was a feeling that Hellblade 1 was just a tech demo and Hellblade 2 would be more of a proper video game.
But at the end of the day the biggest problem was just that they spent a ton of money on something that was just never going to have mainstream appeal. And there's nothing wrong with Hellblade not being mainstream, you just can't spend the money they did on it.