Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II Enhanced Edition PS5 Review – Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice was one of the most haunting titles of the past generation, offering a thoughtful and complex look at Psychosis amid an invading force that Senua must fend off. Hellblade II takes what made the first game special and adds more brutality and hopelessness to Senua’s quest to free her people from unsurmountable odds.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II Enhanced Edition PS5 Review
Descent Into Madness
Hellblade II picks up after the events of the first game, with Senua allowing herself to be captured by the invading slavers to reach Iceland and free her people from their captors. Before even arriving, the slave ship encounters a severe storm, and the ship is destroyed, freeing Senua from her chains.
As she sets off to find anyone who survived, she battles the slavers and captures the son of their leader. With his capture, Senua sets off to free her people. As the story progresses, all is not as simple as it seems. Giants plague Iceland, and Senua has to help the people of Iceland fend them off while traversing the treacherous landscape to reach her people.
Senua’s Psychosis once again takes centre stage in her character development, and the relentless voices she hears continually drive her to the brink. When I say relentless, it’s nonstop. There isn’t a quiet moment in the game as you traverse the lands and face off against you’re enemies, and the voices don’t talk to you.
Ninja Theory did a phenomenal job with these voices to make you feel just how relentlessly exhausting this condition can be. If you play with headphones on, it becomes haunting, and you try to do everything you can to find a way to make it stop.
A World Of Brutality And Death
Iceland is an incredible place to quest through. Though the game is extremely linear, it still has a lot to show you. The raided villages and desolate locations underscored the brutality of life during that time.
Locations vary from rocky cliffsides with the ocean pounding away on the cliffs to underground caverns that are designed to give anyone with claustrophobia a panic attack. Villages with bodies brutalized and dismembered by cannibalistic raiders, and famine. It’s a word designed to leave you in a state of hopelessness, and it does it very well.
Hidden paths lead to collectables from Totems, which tell a connected story of a local legend and rocks resembling human faces that lead to yet another local legend’s story. But besides those two things, there isn’t anything else to find. No side quests or hidden enemies or bosses to take down.
Though a lot of people may find that disheartening to hear, I found it a breath of fresh air as there was nothing to distract me from the story Ninja Theory here to tell. In the case of Hellblade II, less is more.
Cinematic And Visceral Combat
Combat in Hellblade II is exceptional. It’s fierce and visceral. It may seem simple at first, but the more variety of enemies you encounter, the more you start to realize how much you have to learn about every single enemy you encounter—learning the dodging and blocking times of each strike.
Learning and watching the enemy’s movement is key. If an enemy is swinging their sword to your left, you need to dodge to your right; otherwise, you’re getting struck. Learning dodges and learning to block or even parry attacks all have a role to play.
Another thing that adds to the combat is how every strike and every swing of the sword has an impact. Seeing Senua get exhausted from constantly dodging and her dodging animations look more sluggish because of it was a treat and added so much realism to the encounters. The game features boss fights, but they aren’t all that special. Though their presentation is top-notch, two of the game’s three bosses see you running from one cover space to another and destroying an object until you reach the goal.
When you first encounter the giants, I was hoping for some clever environmental encounters, much like God of War, but unfortunately, these boss battles were quite simple.
Easily One Of The Best Looking Games On The Market
Visually, Hellblade II may be one of the best-looking games on the console. Every detail is meticulously crafted from all the fibres on Senua’s clothing to the harrowing environments.
The soundtrack and sound design are also of the highest quality. The soundtrack, much like the game, truly makes you feel hopeless in your quest, but also provides some epic tunes when combat picks up. Voice work is yet another achievement.
Though the rest of the cast does a great job, it’s the voices that constantly haunt you’re ears that steal the show like the angel and devil on your shoulders always telling you what you should do.
Some Nice Additions To The Overall Experience
The PS5 version of the game is the Enhanced Edition, which adds a few extras to the experience. First, the game can now run at 60 FPS, which is something that fans almost require in their games these days. It also has two additional game modes.
One of these modes allows you to play the game with developer commentary. If you’ve ever watched a movie with this feature, it’s a treat to get inside the heads of the creators and have them explain what the inspirations are during scenes. It’s the same experience here, and it’s terrific.
Ninja Theory has also added the Rot Mode from the first game. Every time Senua is defeated in combat, Dark Rot takes over, and it’s a visual effect on the character model. Once the rot reaches her head, it’s game over, and you have to start from the beginning. This is essentially like playing the entire game with a limited number of lives.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is exactly the game I’ve wanted to play. A story-driven experience that doesn’t take you away from its narrative with side activities and big open areas to explore. While it may seem lackluster to many people who expect 30-hour games with 20 extra hours of side content, I found the eight-hour story-focused experience perfect.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II Enchanced Edition releases on PlayStation 5 on August 12, 2025.
Review code kindly provided by publisher.