Hellblade 2’s Alternate Narrators Are A Huge Wasted Story Opportunity

Those who completed unlocked a new way to experience the game on a second playthrough, as a new narration track becomes available, but the feature is ultimately a wasted opportunity since it failed to effectively capitalize on the different perspectives of Senua’s companions. Like the original, deals with mythological and supernatural elements through the lens of a hero who lives with a mental health condition. The first game gave players no clear answers to whether the supernatural existed outside of Senua’s subjective experience, but the sequel muddied the waters on this by including companions.

In some ways, outdoes the original . was a deeply personal and introspective story, more about the protagonist’s catharsis than the resolution of any external conflict. The sequel sees Senua take on a truly heroic role in the world, setting out to end the slavery that has plagued her people and other communities. While her aim is initially a noble but bloody vendetta, Senua discovers a region plagued by dangerous giants that bring calamities to nearby settlements and shifts her focus. She instead aims to slay the giants, a goal which may also end the slavers’ practices.

Before the release of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, it’s been confirmed that Ninja Theory has another game approved on top of Project Mara.

The story makes Senua’s giant connection in evident. She discovers that by understanding the personal tragedies that turned a human into a rampaging giant and learning their true name she can pacify them, essentially slaying the giants through empathy and understanding. Though Senua’s allies refer to the giants as literal godlike beings, each giant is associated with an elemental phenomenon, such as volcanic activity or raging storms. Veterans of the first game might assume the same ambiguity is at play with the giants, as they could be literal mythological beasts, or simply a human rationalization for natural disasters.

Because Senua spends much of in the company of