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Senua is back… on PlayStation, that is

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice was a good game back in 2017. It had an unique take on the gameplay and storytelling. Senua as a character was interesting and her whole journey was mesmerising. It had its little flaws here and there, such as the combat was little bit difficult at times. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II was released on the Xbox Series X|S and Windows back in 2024 and it got mixed reviews. In August 2025 it saw release on PS5 consoles and I played it through using PS5 Pro.

Plot

Senua travels to the Iceland as a slave. She let them caught her so she can confront the Northmen who took her villagers as slaves. She seeks to free the slaves and atone for her imagined wrongs, all while grappling with her personal demons and the harsh truths of Viking-era Iceland.

This is how the game begins and as I personally think the game was rather short I’m not gonna dive in every twist and turn of the plot. Overall the story was good even though it had deep impactful message it felt kinda short. I wanted more. I read online many reviewers saying there are some “pacing issues” with the story but I didn’t think there was. It was rather compact and fully-realised.

What gives to the story more impact was how Senua is battling with herself. With her inner demons. Meaning, she hear voices in her head telling her all kinds of insights and opinions.

Gameplay, controls, audio and visuals

The gameplay in Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is very movie-like. Everything in the game has to be learned by yourself. There is zero introduction to anything. This is why I must say that the battling system suffers as I wasn’t sure did I do moves right or wrong, or did I just won the combat by being good or just mere luck. And the combat feels very “heavy”, with this I mean I could feel the tiredness of Senua and how heavy it is actually to swing the sword. Yes, it surely brings more realness to the game, but I must say the combat felt difficult at times. (There are some settings for the combat to make it easier if you find yourself stuck). With the game not explaining anything, I wasn’t even sure why I could find collectables/secrets? Did they add anything to the gameplay? That I didn’t knew.

With the combat out of the way the gameplay itself is very straightforward and simple. What players must do is go onwards and do some enviromental puzzles—which I found quite easy—and occasionally fight some enemies. Then comes the giant killings. Those were the best moments of the gameplay as the game tried something different with it.

Controlling Senua is easy as there aren’t many buttons to press to make her do things. As I already mentioned about the combat I’m not gonna repeat it here. Senua can also focus her gaze to find things hidden in the enviroment and that is also used for some puzzles.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II should be played with using headphones. I used the 3D capable PS5 headphones. With headphones players can surely immerse themselves into the gameplay and the voices Senua hears in her head. The acting and voice acting was rather good and intense.

Graphically Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II looks very impressive. It had this movie-like quality to it. Every facial animation was done well to the character design. But the enviroments felt kinda empty and dull. Well, this was supposed be in the Iceland Viking-era so maybe everything looked like that back then. What annoyed me was the black bars in the game. There was no option to remove them. Players can also choose their upscaler (if using PS5 Pro) PSSR and TSR.

Verdict

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II was a good game, even though the combat felt off. It had beautiful visuals, little handholding, great story and storytelling. But for a 50€ game I played it through just in about 5 hours. Yes, it feels rather short, but there is some replayability value there. I do recommend Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II to anyone who enjoyed the first game.

SCORE:

4/5

“With headphones players can surely immerse themselves into the gameplay and the voices Senua hears in her head”

RELEASE DATE: August 12, 2025
GENRE: Action
DEVELOPER: Ninja Theory
PUBLISHER: Microsoft
PLATFORMS: PS5 (reviewed on PS5 Pro)
Xbox Series X|S
Windows

 

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