Hellblade 2 Thoughts And Review From MrMattyPlays - Luke Reacts

[@DakotaRose2546]

One of the positive reviewers on Steam is calling this Hellblade 1.5. Another positive is saying "It would not be fair to compare this sequel and it's predecessor...... " um what?

[@JButterZJ]

well they still can have liked it cant they? i mean the last sentence is a bit weird but hellblade 1.5 isnt a problem imo. i think hellblade 2 is a better game than skyrim and i know many people wont agree but also many people accept boring gameplay and bad games from bethesda and give em an 8, not different for me, cause skyrim always was a 5/6 at best (with mods)

[@DakotaRose2546]

@@JButterZJ absolutely they could have liked it :-) I just thought the wording of the second a tad odd. I've never tried the original Senua so can't comment as to which is better, I've got Elder Scrolls III, IV & V but prefer Elder Scrolls Online.

[@Kolket1389]

@@JButterZJ Bethesda games are 5/10. Hellblade 2 is 0/10

[@TwoHandedChargedBonk]

It reminds me of morons who were saying you can't compare Starfield to BG3. Xbots are a completely different life form compared to a normal human.

[@Kolket1389]

@@TwoHandedChargedBonk Man, I don't care about those console wars, but I just find it hard to believe that someone can actually like a game like Hellblade 2

[@alderoth01]

Man, Xbox being completely silent up until the release said everything you needed to know lol. When I stopped hearing about it I just quit paying for gamepass lol. I knew it wasn't going to be worth it. When they go quiet at microsoft, it's always bad lol.

[@lofi1598]

shut up and play the fucking game if you listen to option in games you will never be happy about any games

[@Kozmo-Kamuy]

If both fan bases hate you you are doing something right

[@dorian-tz5789]

True 😂

[@davidd.6448]

Building a whole personality around a console you own is just so incredibly sad

[@johnwhite2890]

Correct

[@TheodoricFriede]

Id pay... about what I payed for the first Hellblade. Which was about 13 dollars. 50 dollars is like... HELL no...

[@benfrese3573]

gamepass then

[@sumireravenclaw8034]

@@benfrese3573 and that also the reasion why the gaming industry is falling apart and studios getting closed.

[@TheodoricFriede]

@@benfrese3573 gamepass is overrated. Even the couple tines i got it for a buck, it never felt like i was getting my moneys worth.

[@anshukandulna1844]

​​@@sumireravenclaw8034good, after they make atrocities like this what else do they deserve?

[@gameskyjumper1721]

pun intended.

[@anon8373]

I appreciate your honest review. If a game is trash, I want the reviewer to be honest. This is why I prefer reviews from youtuber's over ign.

[@lilzeddy]

Is this game review bombed with nice reviewz??? On steam people praise it but it's short and combats mid I'm so confused 😂

[@lofi1598]

he not honest he salty about xbox the game is great

[@jesusblanco7657]

@@lofi1598it’s his review lol

[@fepethepenguin8287]

​@@lofi1598can u essplane... to not an NPC... what exactly u mean Also... the game meh .even on a 4090

[@lofi1598]

@@fepethepenguin8287 THE GAME IS GREAT

[@dewaalvandercolff251]

Xbox fans just can't except the fact that MS and Xbox just don't know what they're doing anymore. Their focus is Activision and COD now. And it's going to end badly for most of their smaller studio's. Just look at what happened to Tango and other studio's. How MS is still allowed to buy publishers is scary.

[@via_negativa6183]

Microsoft have never know what they were doing in gaming. PC gaming has thrived in spite them not because of them. They did well with the 360 because sony dropped the ball that gen.

[@seanguinn]

I disagree. They’re a billion dollar company. Let’s just wait to see what the next system looks like. Hopefully it’s a PC/Hybrid if they’re smart

[@chibi2239]

And even then, that focus could get derailed too. I mean...the last COD was hilariously rushed with its slap dash story and all. And now it's gonna be exclusive (timed or fully) to a console no one buys, on a service that is actively EATING purchases away from MS. COD, despite its legacy, might not even be the money maker Xbox thinks it is.

[@AussieDadAndrew]

@@seanguinn Are you stupid?

[@jacobpipers]

@@via_negativa6183 ps3 still outsold the xbox in the end

[@WhiteNegative]

I mean if aesthetics and "production" is what youre looking for go watch an arthouse film it will be a lot cheaper

[@waynewayne8419]

Stop yapping, this game is just not for you; Not every game will be for you

[@TheForever206]

@@waynewayne8419 My boy is pressed over a video game 😬

[@yellowbeez93]

And when I watched the arthousefilm i get to control the characters, right?

[@vissermatt1058]

@@yellowbeez93 pressing forward on your remote aint much different then pressing forward on your controller

[@WhiteNegative]

@@yellowbeez93 there was that one tv show where you had to select how the story went. What's the difference between the two? A couple extra buttons to interact with things?

[@joes4987]

I respect that this game has an established fan base, but this is xbox's first release for 2024, just my opinion, but xbox's first release for the year should have been targeted more towards a wider audience? This is a niche title, thats 5 hours long, no physical release, limited marketing, interactive movie. it wasnt the home run that xbox needed at this time. I hope everyone who experiences it enjoys it.

[@SK_Falchion]

Probably the only rational comment ever spoken here.

[@icravedeath.1200]

I like the game and even I was confused at the marketing. Like, why didn't they just market it towards the narrative adventure game crowd and focus on that demographic, this game would be extremely welcome there. Imo they should've delayed it and rethought their marketing.

[@divinitygaming8673]

​@@icravedeath.1200it took them 6 years to release it. Delaying it more wouldn't do them any favours.

[@icravedeath.1200]

@@divinitygaming8673 no it fucking didn't you liar, development started in late 2020. Bleeding edge happened, forget about that?

[@onizagru]

A linear 5 hour game with no replayability... We've lowered our expectations so far that we praise anything for any reason. I've no idea as to why people would consider this a masterpiece, or anything even close to it. I just don't understand the hype.

[@ronthorn3]

I mean, people have different tastes? Not really that crazy. I mean some people strictly play sports games, which bore the shit out of me.

[@jimhendriks7587]

Just xbox players who are used to garbage like redfall and starfield.

[@N00bPr0ducti0n]

@@ronthorn3 i will never understand sports game... just go outside and play sports 🤣

[@onizagru]

@@ronthorn3 Yeah, but at least there's replayability with sports games. I get people have different tastes. But different tastes in quality? Seems financially irresponsible. XD

[@Majorwindy]

I’ve heard the term ‘award bait’, which I think describes this game perfectly. Award bait games are graphically impressive games that focus on story and have easy gameplay. Games journalists tend to love these games. TLOU2 was accused of being award bait, for example. The high review scores from publications doesn’t surprise me at all given that this is the perfect game for them; its award bait.

[@Ocean5ix]

TLOU2 couldn't be more far away from being a award bait. The choices they took with the story pissed like everybody younger than 25yo. That alone speaks for itself. And it's no easier or harder than the average game that comes out.

[@benfrese3573]

To call TLOU2 "award bait" is wild lol - who says that? Any source? Or do you mean yourself when you say "was accuses of"?

[@Majorwindy]

@@Ocean5ix the proof is in the pudding. Look how many awards it won at TGA and other outlets. You’re describing exactly what I said - fans didn’t like it but the reviewers did.

[@Majorwindy]

@@benfrese3573 if you search for TLOU2 award bait, TLOU2 goty bait, or TLOU2 Oscar bait, you can find discussions about this going back years.

[@johnnyjosefsen7644]

It does look and sound like it has weight. But it's kinda shallow at it's core. An episode of Game of Thrones disguised as The Green Knight.

[@paybo3573]

I miss when xbox had amazing games

[@JahonCross]

Just buy the xbox 360 lol

[@dusermiginte4647]

I miss when soyny released games.

[@Mohgenstein]

@@dusermiginte4647they released one last month…

[@MiguelRodriguez-lp9et]

​@@dusermiginte4647 all of the best games released this year have been PS5 exclusives.

[@benfrese3573]

@@dusermiginte4647 Sony without a major release once "i mISS tHeM rEleASiNG gaMEs" lol

[@makani9004]

I was never planning to play this game, really busy, so I watched a couple of streamers I like play it. It was a chore just to watch on a second monitor.

[@lofi1598]

dont llisten to this clown the game is great play it and you will see

[@nutbunny10]

I've been watching an Australian streamer play Elden Ring, and he took a break to play Hellblade 2. I managed to only watch 30 minutes because it was so boring.

[@moulanakratos]

Honestly all Ninja needed to do was expand the gameplay a bit, they already have an amulet attached to her hip..maybe add 2-3 more amulets that you can swap out. Add a few skill points, maybe add throwable weapons... anything to expand the sword combat. Add more puzzle variety, maybe use that "Binaural" audio in some of the puzzles or something. They already added NPCs, add some choices which lead to 2-3 different endings and that's it.

[@agayweirdo5404]

I'm not feeling confident that Ninja Theory is gonna be around in the forseeable future 😨

[@Leonard_Washington76]

That part!

[@DeltaDragon79]

The terminal fan boys are out defending in droves.

[@iluvmusicqwe]

Literally Xbot's

[@dusermiginte4647]

And poonies are in panic, part of panic is HB2 and the fact that Microsoft is buying Valve / Steam.

[@PaulM68322]

​@@dusermiginte4647 Xbox fanboy detected.

[@GM-xk1nw]

​@@PaulM68322same for you

[@Luis-rp2lm]

@@GM-xk1nwfanboy detected

[@RyanLBC]

Luke i remember you mentioned the co founder of ninja theory and one of the main guys behind hellblade leaving the company and how that may be a bad sign before the release of hellblade 2. looks like you might be right on that.

[@fireplacegamingYT]

Really loved the first game and what we saw there, kinda felt like they went all in on the cinematic aspect but maybe not enough in the gameplay and narrative

[@lofi1598]

dont listen to this guy play the game you will see its great

[@bosskey23]

@@lofi1598i like the fact that the game is straight to the point.

[@fireplacegamingYT]

@@lofi1598 I did play it and finish it. It’s truly great you and others had fun with it but in my case, it felt like they diluted some aspects I loved in Senua’s experience in the first game which is why it left a bad taste even when I was amazed at the gorgeous visuals

[@lofi1598]

@@bosskey23 not many gammes like this and this is the best looking game ever made with GTA 6

[@HousedeHouse]

I respect his honesty and candidness, its a shame that being the reviewer/journalist that we claim to want is rewarded with this behavior, it takes enough courage to do this without the worry of backlash from gamers for doing the thing we claim to want.

[@Tomberculosis-q1i]

Naaa brah, if you think this game looking good is enough to justify $70 cad, you need to get back in touch with reality. God of War Ragnarök looks insanely good and has a great story character gameplay and music. Its a option on gamepass but paying upfront is way too much.

[@NukaRage]

Its free for me

[@ISGAMINGFORNERDS]

@@NukaRageyea because you got scam pass

[@12Daniel34]

​@NukaRage "It's free after you pay $15 a month bruh"

[@om_ikis]

Free dlc

[@GregoryAlanBaileygamereviews]

Xbox Lame Pass is not a scam bro

[@MartimusEins]

the thing also with the first one is the voices felt more aggressive(it felt like a pressure) and so it put you more into the psychosis instead now what we got is just a game you stream to the 2 voices in discord and they are just helpful and nothing else... they just toned every psychosis down and made it just a boring walking sim, which would be faster over if you could really run instead of walk, since i just cannot call it a jog if the character is just walking and walking slower if the button isnt pressed... so it wouldnt even be 5 hours long... i really loved the first one but they just removed everything that made you feel like the charcter and instead you just got a stupid movie feeling(you just feel like watching something instead of playing) and nothing else... there is no reason for it to be a game if you dont even use and immerse people in the same way the first title still can do after playing it for the 5th time right after the second one... I really wanted to like it, but then it was over and nothing was gained from it...

[@popblender]

I think some reviewers and publications are scared to say what they want to because they will be deemed "uneducated" or "insensitive" to people with mental illness or psychological problems. So, we've become a society that cannot criticize anything that is inferior for fear of repurcussion or retribution. Preach on Luke! Not everything is good. Not everything is bad. But everything CAN be reviewed and commented on. And those who can't understand that need to take a look in the mirror and find out why they aren't comfortable with the truth.

[@octavianpopescu4776]

No, I think people you're overestimating based on what you think would happen, not on what is happening. You can criticize, it's not that "you cannot criticize", it's "expect others to criticize you". Free speech is a 2-way street. If you say X, others have every right to tell you, you're wrong. And it's fine. I'll give you an example: the Xbox President Sarah Bond and her interview, I saw people on the political right criticize her and I saw people on the political left criticize her for the exact same thing: her vague PR answers lacking any substance or information. No one defended her based on her race or gender. The criticism levelled at this game has nothing to do with the depiction of mental illness (I would say based on what I've seen they may have nailed that). What it is about is fundamentally: length (it's too short) and gameplay (not enough actual action, not enough things to do).

[@wolfstorm5394]

Or maybe some people just like the game..... LMAO

[@shiteyanyo1111]

I haven't seen a single person defend the game based on its depiction of a heavily stigmatized topic. However, the first game DID get praise for it, because that game was actually good.

[@EastyyBlogspot]

If people say it looks and sounds great and a great story...but do not play for the gameplay why would I play it and instead watch it on youtube

[@mrjtfang2]

Really depends. I have to assume hellblade 2 is like hellblade 1 with positional audio, and youtube doesn't capture that-so being able to play hellblade 1 at least makes a world of difference versus watching it. I'm an audio person though.

[@dominicarroyo6269]

Being an Xbox player,i never really understood the big deal everyone is talking about. If im not mistaken the first one is essentially a tech demo at best hence why i couldn't really get into it. I figure the second one would be to even tho it does look good. I wish they would have gone the rpg route imo, I definitely would have played it

[@lofi1598]

play it you wil love it

[@mrjtfang2]

Its a niche thing, i'm just big on narrative and sound design.

[@dremy746]

I just finished the game and it took me about 8 hours to 100% the game, which meant doing a playthrough and then going back and getting the faces/totems that I missed. I personally really enjoyed the game, but it's definitely not going to be for everyone. It was fun playing a game that was pretty chill where the environment is beautiful and the sound and atmosphere is really interesting. This game kind of reminded me of Death Standing in that sense (another game I love). I don't mind a walking sim if it's kind of relaxing or interesting in some way. I do think they need to add a toggle to disable chromatic aberration and depth of field, because it definitely made the cut scenes look terrible. It amazes me that the devs put so much effort into making such beautiful models and then turned around and made them unbearably blurry. I also think this game didn't do enough to justify the $50 price tag. This feels much more like a $30 game, not so much because of it's length overall, but due to the fairly limited amount of time you are actually engaging with the game in some way other than walking. It's hard to recommend this game at it's current price, but should be an easy recommendation whenever it goes on sale. I also wouldn't recommend getting Game Pass for this. Unless you already have Game Pass, it's not worth $20 to play this game once and not be able to play it again in the future.

[@megacide84]

$50+ for a purchase... No. $17 for one month membership to Game Pass just to play and beat it in one setting... Maybe.

[@benfrese3573]

My problem is not the price but the boredom.

[@Belligerennt]

@@benfrese3573 Why is that a problem? if you’re not into it then just forget about it.

[@BrentCox2B]

I thought Fighting Cowboy's, and Luke's review aligned the most with my thoughts, heavily emphasizing that the gameplay was just really lacking and a large portion of the game is just literally walking forward

[@joelledbetter2926]

I have an xbox ok but how can you be ok with 7 years of dev time for 5 or 6 hours of content Idc if it's a masterpiece its not even a demo

[@benfrese3573]

Who cares how much time it took them? Journey took over 3 years to develop and is over in less than three hours. It's still considered to be a masterpiece by pretty much anyone who played it. Am I right to assume that you enjoy a real grind fest like Assassin's Creed where you have 10h of gameplay stretched over 150h? I mean if that's your thing you have plenty of trash to enjoy.

[@zazombiezmasher0116]

@@benfrese3573 the difference between Journey and Hellblade 2 is obviously budget, and the amount of devs working on the thing as well, Journey only had 7 devs on staff at the start of development, and it only grew to 18 over the course of its development. Not to mention the fact that Sony originally only gave the half a year to finish Journey, it’s 3 hour run time is understandable when you take all of this into account, but Hellblade 2s run time is an absolute slap in the face for 5 to 6 fucking years of dev time, with them having quadruple the amount of devs on staff as well (80). I say this as a fan of the first one but that’s inexcusable, not to mention the lead dev straight up lying about the games run time, there is absolutely no way to stretch this game into a 8 hour experience and tbh I feel some people would have been fine if they were honest about it’s runtime but they weren’t and that’s a big sticking point people keep forgetting. Sadly none of this fucking matters cause Xbox has supposedly greenlit its sequel but they decided to shutter 4 Bethesda owned studios so I’m pretty checked out of Xbox at this point, I find it absolutely insane that they shuttered Tango Softworks after Hi-Fi Rush but are gonna let Ninja Theory waste even more money on a sequel to a game that is being panned all across the internet, I just seriously hope Xbox doesn’t buy any more studios cause they have 0 clue what to do with them

[@benfrese3573]

@@zazombiezmasher0116 Originally they had half a year to finish Journey, right. Then it took them more than three years. You must've been furious about the lack of "content" back then too. Your whole definition of content as a result of budget makes no sense, sorry. Making games is a risk, Ninja Theory missed the mark. But to say that x amount of hours is not enough content considering how much time they spent on making the game ignores so many facets of game development that it's just an ignorant measurement.

[@zazombiezmasher0116]

@@benfrese3573 brother I don’t like journey, it’s not my kind of game, but I enjoyed the first Hellblade game and to see that the sequel which took around 5-6 years of development only add up to roughly 5 hours of content I seriously dislike, I like short and sweet video games, Alisa is a great survival horror game that is only around 4 hours, but it actually has replay value, same rouge-likes like Balatro, Dave the Diver, Hades, TBOI Repentance. I’m not some ubislop enjoyer, last 10 games they’ve released (from Unity up to Vallhalla) I’ve picked up at Walmart a month later for only $20 dollars, if even that, if I even have a passing interest in the game cause I don’t care for games like Ghost Recon (which is free on psplus) and shit like Trails, only game by them I’ve bought at full price recently is Prince of Persia, and that’s only cause that game had some actual care put into it and I was in the mood for a good Metroidvania. Again though, my point is that Hellblade 2, while very impressive graphically, should have just been a launch title for the Xbox Series X, cause all it is is a tech demo, it’s cool to see how nice games can look, and shit like that, but I’m not gonna pay $50 dollars to play that, I can just boot up that matrix tech demo that released for free if I wanna see pretty life like graphics, and it is a genuine step back from the first Hellblade game, everything I’ve seen on it seems more restrictive than Seanuas Sacrifice, and that game came out 7 fucking years ago. It’s incredibly disappointing to see that all that time in development led to nothing more than a pretty game with a lackluster story, with gameplay worse than the first, and puzzles worse then the first, just sucks to see cause I was excited for it but I won’t even put time into it even if it does go on sale cause it sucks to see a solid “IP” be squandered like that. Also, saying that X amount of hours is not enough content considering game dev time does make sense, look at games like Baldurs Gate 3, The Witcher 3, God of War (2018), and Red Dead Redemption 2, all of those games took a long time to develop and have more than 5 hours worth of content, and off the top of my head for indie releases shit like Alisa, that survival horror game I mentioned earlier, Slay the Spire, 7 Days to Die, Darkest Dungeon, fucking Vampire Survivors? All of these games have far more than 5 hours of content and most of them took more than 2 years to finish development, it’s a good comparison, you just don’t want to admit it

[@simontrold]

well UE5 released in 2020, so they obviously had to rework the game to fit the engine.

[@motchness]

luke its supposed to take 6.5 hours not 5.5 hours, you played it wrong, you jogged too many times and didnt walk enough, you solved the more than basic puzzles too fast luke, youve played too many souls games luke you're not supposed to be that good at parrying luke dear lord XD

[@Zakayel]

we were wondering where the gameplay trailers were....little did we know, the cinematics we were shown were actually the gameplay trailers

[@Religious_Atheist-eu4ci]

Very bothersome not seeing even a drop of rain falling from Senua's body while in the rain

[@KairosObj]

Even last gem games had that ha.

[@romeucapelasa]

80 people is probably the size of people only making underwater chorals at Rockstar 😂

[@The_Claymores]

Playstation is smart for picking up Matty who was a free agent after Xbox's death spiral

[@iedutul1]

What? 😂🤣

[@emeka490]

Insane cope

[@skbproject5589]

This felt like an Xbox Arcade game you would buy for 10 bucks, that was a mini game spin off of the first game called, Hellblade: Arenas

[@Jarrett_7]

Love the vids Luke (and team). Just a suggestion for video reveiws, but think about linking Matty's vid at the top of the description box with this new KZbin UI. Just easier for folks to jazz em some love.

[@via_negativa6183]

One things for certain I am not paying 80 dollars in my region to play a 5 hours game, and I'm not subscribing to gamepass. This is video games not movies, the bad reviews are justified by length alone. A certain "toxic" video game streamer said it best. Boils down to Grown adult men arguing over which one of their shit 500 dollar bootleg PC's can run a video game at 30 fps better. it's beyond pathetic. I also can't stand the over processing in video games in the name of "cinema" it's bollocks. It just makes your games look ugly and pretentious. Depth of field, Chromatic aberration, lense flares, and Camera motion blur (per object motion blur is good) I am looking at you.

[@aninfinitemindofmusicandreams]

I genuinely dislike chromatic aberration in most games. Unless a game's visuals are specifically targeting a sort of retro look or a look through retro film cameras, it's unnecessary. Heavy DOF where it's unnecessary used to be a problem back in the PS360 days. Less so these days

[@jimmyv3170]

Pretty much this. The console war stuff is really mind numbingly dumb now. Neither company is doing exceptionally well, the only difference is that Sony can get away with it by already owning the console market share between the two from the PS4 era and can be as absolutely lazy as they want now while Microsoft does absolutely nothing to make their situation any better for a decade.

[@neophenom]

I am not going to argue whether this game is good or not. We all have our preferences. However calling this "true next gen" is ridiculous. A game that sacrifices gameplay, design and mechanics, for visual fidelity is exactly the opposite. Games that can exceed in all those areas from what was possible before, that's next gen, and some are already out. This game however, is not even close to that, sadly.

[@jimmyv3170]

Sadly this may be what the next gen becomes. Short games, simple gameplay, very linear game and level design for a casual audience to move upward on the left thumb stick for most of the time.

[@neophenom]

@@jimmyv3170 Well, as long as we get proper games like Resident Evil 4, Tears of the Kingdom, Spider-Man, God of War, Horizon, Mario Odyssey, Ratchet & Clank, Stellar Blade and many others, that show that gameplay will always be king, over any visuals, I don't think we need to worry, just yet. All those titles look stunning anyway, so if all they wanted to make was an interactive movie, that's fine, but gaming it is not.

[@nerobiblios4086]

Whenever gameplay becomes less of a priority in a game, it never ends well. Gameplay always transcends graphics, it's how some older games will outlive newer ones if the gameplay is just that good.

[@praisetheoak]

​@@neophenom Idk, God of War, Ratchet, Spider-Man and Horizon are aggressively average and mind-numbingly simpler for the casual audience to chew.

[@jameslwjtoler]

I am absolutely content with Hellblade 2 as a game pass experience. I can genuinely say I would have been upset if I had dropped $50 on it, though.

[@MrMiryks]

I love your in-detail review of the quality of this game. I have to add something here. In relation to the quality of cut scenes: games do use prerendered videos, which, by default, look bad and blurry, because the devs cheap out on the bitrrate or simply use outdated codecs. You have to watch the GPU load while playing the game to see if the scene is actually rendered life or just played from HDD. This is just a side node.

[@BrentCox2B]

I like Jake Baldino and Ralph a lot but the fact that they are interviewing these devs on FPS now is causing them to really pitch some softballs on their takes. Im not saying you have to say the game is trash but I mean you can tell they are really holding back

[@Disconnis]

They are both shills.

[@skatecar1596]

I can’t imagine just reading comments all day to justify my own opinion to myself. It almost sounds like you’re trying to turn your subjective opinion into objective analysis lol

[@TmoneyOGGamer]

Honesty is toxic, that’s the biggest issue in gaming

[@beardedbadass8276]

I literally fell asleep once I got past the first boss fight

[@imhere5114]

Hellblade 2 feels like a set up for hellblade 3. The difference with hellblade 2 then 1 is that I was excited for 2

[@grady3251]

It took me nearly 8 hours to beat the game. I held down the sprint button the whole time. I never once opened photomode. I maybe died twice in combat and added a minute or two in total. I don't think I was lost a single time during a puzzle. I got every lore thing and tree so maybe that did it. I don't know what to tell you.

[@skbproject5589]

This game looks fine, but it doesn't do anything with it. I was much more taken back with the graphics of the first game, the second just feels like a music video or the CGI scenes from the original Constantine. It isn't anything I haven't seen done before, and better.

[@ZombieGojira]

$50 for a 6 hour game is ridiculous.

[@Killercutsvideo]

Wow that blur is a disaster

[@Watheverable]

It's so weird watching the same people that crap all over PS's third person narrative games slobbering all over Hellblade 2 despite it being 5 hours long just because it's on Xbox.

[@Rizingzon]

Its desperate at this point 😂

[@Watheverable]

@@Rizingzon they're fighting for dear life, meanwhile I'm just here enjoying Stellar Blade's new update with more modes and free nano suits... Life's weird sometimes.

[@RandobobandoTV]

The way I see any high score from users or critics is not a review for the game but rather a plea for Ninja Theory's life. Xbox basically has them held hostage and *might* let them continue to exist if HB2 gets good scores and sells well

[@TheMarine316]

I think Alan wake 2 visuals beat hell blade 2 quite easily, the filters make the visuals look like it came out in the early PS4 & Xbox one era

[@filmnationstudios389]

No it really doesn’t lmao

[@TheMarine316]

@@filmnationstudios389 by a mile, the filters make hell blade 2 look downright ugly

[@filmnationstudios389]

@@TheMarine316 Nope

[@TheMarine316]

@@filmnationstudios389 whatever you need to tell yourself kid

[@PaulM68322]

@TheMarine316 He's an Xbox fanboy, he goes around desperately defending the honor of his favorite Multi Trillion corporation because he has all the time in the world to do it as the only game he's had to play for the last few months only lasted 5 hours 😅

[@grundged]

As a Sony double agent, it's true Matty isn't one but Luke is. 😅

[@ViktorAndy]

Sorry for my English, its not my native or even second language: Me as someone who's last PlayStation was PS2 and ever since then been on Xbox, after Starfield, Redfall, Hellblade 2, as a loyal customer who owned all versions of 360, all versions of One and now Series X, i can't say that there is a good reason for xbox brand to even exist anymore. They got nothing that would make me as a customer to buy the next gen console. I experienced my first Sony release last week (Ghost of Tsushima) since Rachet & Clank in 2002 and this was enough to convince me that my next console is going to be a PS. Microsoft should actually rebrand as ''Microsoft Gaming'' because everything they release is available on PC.

[@phoenix___7747]

I agree completely. This is Xbox main issue. Any game that comes out as an exclusive for Xbox can be played on PC at better levels. PS release exclusives that can only be played on PS and are games that justify buying the console.

[@UnderMyHat24]

36:14 Not me absolutely melting listening to this

[@ferenc-x7p]

Finished it on this rainy Memorial Day. Just used game pass to do it. So yeah It took me about 6hrs, because I wasted some time around, but really it should've been just a movie, since 95% of my interaction was holding down SHIFT + W. I haven't played any games like this in a very long time. It's basically not a game, just an interactive movie. If you want to save your shift and W buttons and not to tire out your fingers, then play this game in a cinematic mode. You won't be missing much really. Please don't pay $50 for this game. It has zero replayability. Once you go through, you've seen everything.

[@rjmiggins5296]

It's crazy how they want us to pay $70 for "safe" games, drop the shit back down to $60 then

[@lukedodson3441]

Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth is game of the year so far. I've not played Stellar Blade yet but I hear that's good. Dont know if Elden Ring dlc will be considered a sequel that'll be in there. Ffvii not for narrative. It's a masterful blend of on rail dungeon sections and open semi open world exploration. A huge world with a number of things to do. S TIER characters that are all unique in combat HYBRID ATB ACTION. THE ABSOLUTE BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY and attention to detail is insane. All there on day one with almost 0 game breaking bugs. People complained about low res rocks that aren't meant to be seen. Just as petty as complaining about the low res door. To complain about that door more that praising the set pieces. Chapter 14 boss with the music. Speaking of the music. I know for a fact this game wins that award.

[@junnior_2262]

I'm only 2 hours in some would say half way through the game, im really enjoying it but i feel like the game needs someone to work on their level and gameplay design department, graphics wise one of the best out there, in terms of pacing it's a little too fast, characters/performance no problems with characters are not world changing but still get the job done, but the gameplay should have been a big step forward when compared with the first game, sadly they played safe and didn't change much from the first game, and finally the length of the game is not a big deal the game does not need to have 100+ hours, 5 different endings to be good. My conclusion it could be better but it could have been much worse.

[@LaggyStepdad711]

14:29 handy! Half the price of hellblade for both plague tale games on steam. This video made my mind up where my moneys going

[@Disconnis]

Plague Tale games are just glorified escort missions. Save your money on all three.

[@pchx]

Xbots have become so toxic . I’ve never seen this before .

[@CrunchyBrownie5]

4:30 oh yeah and we are just building roads because it looks neat 😹

[@MegaR3DD3VIL]

A KEY thing that many forget or seem to have forgotten. WHY DID HELLBLADE2 TAKE SO LONG TO RELEASE? If you remember correctly, when hellblade2 was announced UNREAL5 had not yet been released, only after the announcement of UNREAL5 was NINJATHEORY announced that they would move from UNREAL4 to UNREAL5, so when they say that in all those years they did little, in reality you have to count NOT from the date of the announcement of HELLBLADE2 but from the release and release to the developers of UNREAL5

[@kizanko]

I think that there should be a period in the game development that developers actually invite game reviewers to play their games and critique honestly way before launch.

[@bass7100]

Only such pameperd a community as gamers could look at such an amazing game as Hellblade 2 and think wow we were let down. Im ashamed to call myself a gamer.

[@CrazedDanMan]

This is the wrong community for elevating the value of games. Luke will talk about how this game was a "disaster" for the next 6 months and his community will continue to regurgitate his thoughts without playing the game while accusing everyone who likes it of trying to "cope." This is just what gaming communities are now unfortunately

[@johnwick8516]

@bass7100 This is barely a game and am not saying this in a jokingly manner ! The character models and facial animations are the only amazing things about this game ! The rest of it is what Ninja Theory and XBOX should be ashamed of !

[@bass7100]

@johnwick8516 tell me more about how tetris isn't a game.

[@seangotti3]

Go buy Stellar Blade its a better game 😅

[@Rebellion5]

I mean, go buy a lot of other better games instead Edit: better than hellblade I mean, stellar blade is great

[@Mmarcossith678-33uu]

Is it comparable tho...

[@CrazedDanMan]

Or maybe this game wasn't for you lol, people who pick this up probably don't want to play stellar blade. Is it so hard to believe people outside your echo chamber actually enjoyed hellblade 2? Lol

[@nabieladrian]

Lmao that Mixer sponsor was too good of a comedy from MS 😂

[@gauthamiyer2998]

I quite liked the game but matty makes some really good points....seems like a pretty divisive game

[@professormilly2021]

"we're not going to stop being critical" *beats drop* Top 3 outro for Luke

[@Erlaxis]

"At least is not Redfall" - Game pass

[@thatmemeguy2520]

thats a low bar to set

[@FlameOfRoyeca]

The voices gimmick is literally pretentious shit if I ever see one. It's used as Captain Obvious exposition. As for the visuals, it's using photogrammetry. A great tool for making assets and realistic environments, but it's a shortcut, a good shortcut, but still a shortcut. That's why it's a wonder wtf were they doing all these years. Expand on the combat. Make good puzzles. Literally anything, not just graphics

[@MarcelHoskins]

Playing it on PC game pass but will grab it when it’s on sale for $20-30

[@Scott_Inksmith]

I was wondering about this way before the game came out…how is she gunna beat crazy again? Is she gunna go crazier and beat it harder? I think they could have included senua again but should have tried following another traumatic story. Also I’m confused about the fantasy aspect. Did she not come to terms with the fact that some sorta magic doesn’t exist to bring her bf back in part 1? But now giants are real in part 2 so it is a magic fantasy world?!

[@odellaugust468]

Don’t look for others to validate your feelings rather look for others to entertain your ideas. After reading the comments I think I’ve figured it out that some gamers are just lost in the sauce and worry about the wrong shit in journalism/reviews. Imagine KZbin is a girl. Would u complain like this in front of her? No it wouldn’t be good for u. Some of yall need a hobby outside. The game is fine buy it or don’t. Make your own opinion.

[@suryopras]

I finished Hellblade 1 with 100% achievement in 9 hours and Helllbalde 2 100% in 10 hours.

[@AaronthePedantic]

The Order 1886 was a really good movie.

[@davideduardogonzalezcaball3364]

It's a masterpiece for like 10 bucks.

[@minagad7684]

*1 hour video* The title: a review of a 5 hours game

[@neophenom]

How does a studio go from Heavenly Sword to this? The first game felt like the perfect set-up for a huge game that had both visuals, narrative, and gameplay. How did the same people who did the DMC combat, made such a nothing burger of gameplay? What a wasted opportunity.

[@MrAaron-br8un]

29:33 We've played the likes of Zelda BOTW and Shadow of the Colossus, the world feels lonely (specially SoTC) but doesn't feel empty, I also care about the world or the princess that you need to save. I love Death Stranding and also agree with you. I don't give a single f*ck about saving the world and the people because the world feels empty and I feel the world and the people around you doesn't give a single f*ck about you (except Mama and Heartman I guess? I really liked them)

[@charliipresley]

Chromatic aberration is the purple fringing around the edges of high contrast areas….

[@johnnyjosefsen7644]

I think it was supposed to be this big and contemplative Apocalypse now type thing, but it misses the mark. I think there's way too much time wasted running around in caves looking for hidden folk and too much emphasis on giant slaying and not really that much time spent on the characters. The last chapter feels a little diaconnected, like the game assumed that you had a feeling of travelling far and wide with these people, while you've barely met them yet. I mostly remember non-puzzles that didn't add anything and running around in caves and then it ends.

[@sosayweall2509]

I want to know why anyone thought the mocrosoft buyout meant that ninja theory would be the next from software..where did they ever say this game would be some 100 hr open world souls like?

[@benfrese3573]

Where did someone ever expected it to be a 100h long open world souls-like?

[@thesaint717]

You guys try to bring Souls to every fucking discussion lol

[@bennyblunto973]

@@thesaint717because they are one of the last developers that actually put love and effort into making a game

[@nathanwatkins1005]

Both Hellblades are 5 hour mid games. Some weird op simps on this vid.

[@thesaint717]

@@bennyblunto973 they make great games, but don’t tell me about “effort”. Same engine and mechanics in last 15 years, only Sekiro played differently.

[@Belligerennt]

Dear god he always finds a way to bring up suicide squad 😭

[@jacobpipers]

bots on both sides are bad but if you look at the console sales for past 2 generations even the ps3/xbxox360 gen micrisoft has had way less sales meaning net of potential crazies should be less but some how xbox seems to have just as many if not more bootlickers.

[@Pedro_The_Neco]

Dude! Mixer was so good!!! You won't believe me! It streamed with amazing quality from Xbox one and you could co-stream with friends!

[@TakaChan569]

ngl i thought he would tow the line with some of the xbox outlets, gotta say he's one of the few left who seems honest in his thoughts despite being an almost exclusive xbox fan. I'm kinda 50/50 on Hellblade 2, game looks great but we have other good looking games with better story and gameplay.

[@Kolket1389]

Many critics forget that many, many people who are like me, only have the time and money for about 3 games per year. So I am very careful when it comes to what game I'm buying. This year so far, I've replayed Cyberpunk (and I started that in November of 2023), I played Dark Souls 2, I'm currebtly playing FF7 Remake for the first time, and later this summer I'll play Elden Ring DLC. That's about it, I have a dozen or so games in the queue waiting for me to play them, so maybe I'll start another of those games in the holiday season. I'm not spending my money with the mindset that "we should focus on the positives" when I'm choosing my next game. When it comes to Hellblade 2, yes although I would greatly prefer to play a game that has many more hours of content, I still would be cool paying 50$ for a 5hr game if it was done right. And for that to be the case the game needs to hit the gas immidietly and not take off that foot from the pedal until the credits roll, which this game does not do...

[@GIGAFATTYMON]

Why didn't they make it their God of War? They could have. It would lend itself so well to that, and as we've seen GoW had some "deep" in it. Plus they made Heavely Sword back in the day so there's some of that DNA in there.

[@CptShunsui]

One of The problems with games like HB2 and the order is they didn’t add any incentives like modifiers i.e naughty dog, different outfits and skins etc for new game plus….which is a no brainer for these type of games.

[@NkosanaMakhubele]

Luke Yapping Stephens😂😂😂 my man can yap for hours but I love him

[@xchxmpagnepxpix]

Him and Coy Jandreau should compete in a Yap-Off

[@TakaChan569]

The whole seamless gameplay to cutscene with no cam cuts is not something to be studied it's already been done, hell gow 2018 did it.

[@loganeverett9232]

I mean I don’t think you have to be a Sony fanboy to say that PlayStation is doing better than Xbox. The console and games sales speak for themselves

[@phoenix___7747]

Yeah, just ask people who have both platforms and a PC and just want good games. Xbox have yet to release a game which makes me want to dust of my series X. PlayStation however......

[@MrSimplejack09]

Yes, I think graphically you could consider it a masterpiece. It’s a little lack luster on the game. Plan story compared to the first one I mean I was actually a little bit more blown away playing the first one I mean go boot it up it’s still solid, graphically for its time and still holds up today. I just think there’s not much in the way of contacting story going on in this

[@Helifax19]

Is it longer than the recent CoD games Campaigns? Yes... But ofc you don't have MP :D You know... I would have REALLY LOVED an Arena when I could endlessly fight Draugr :D I don't know what people expected... Hellblade 2 is more of Hellblade 1. I think it will age like Ryse.. in time people will see it... The over-processing is described in the documentary and why they used it... It is basically meant to confuse you... not knowing if what you are seeing is really Real. I do agree however, that without understanding the intention is hard to understand why the cutscenes look the way they do.

[@JusticeInGaming_JIG]

It is exactly order 1886 and Ryse. Not a demo, but it is representing the new technology in a decent but NOT great game. Audio and visuals are STUNNING. There is NOTHING better looking or sounding. Wrong Luke for xbox Ninja Theory is like Santa Monica studio. Kinda like theye God of war. 😁 P.S. People were laughing about Death Stranding that it is a walking simulator, well look at Hellblade2 that is a walking simulator. With good features.

[@abilash_venkat]

Remnant's reroll campaign is technically similar to NG+ but that one you can add those modes in the gmaes total runtime definitely.

[@ArielCleirigh]

More like it comes flop, only xbots journos hand waving to avoid all the wrong things hellblade 2 does, sure it has impressive graphics but thats all, giving a 100 to hellblade 2 is just so wrong as given redfall a 70.

[@markkipanga1933]

MrMattyPlays is triple double agent according to most comments. I'm like shit revolver ocelot and fisher be blushing.

[@jhank0cean]

You're going to end up talking about Hellblade 2 being short longer than 99% have played the game for...

[@mxgamerprov3767]

25 $ is a fair price considering the length and replayability.

[@benfrese3573]

You need to pay me more than $25 for 5h of boredom.

[@Silverguise]

Criticizing games for being shorter really is anti-art, but let's not confuse that with thinking criticism for being too short is always unfounded. Hellblade 2? I can see the "too short" argument, but there are more problems. The Pathless? That game is shorter than Hellblade 2 and WAY more fun and satisfying to play. Gris is definitely shorter than Hellblade 2 and infinitely more of an artistic and emotional experience.

[@johnwick8516]

Thank goodness it is that short because it’s not good !