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VGC: HELLBLADE 2 COULD BE XBOX’S MOST IMPORTANT EXCLUSIVE

gokurho

Member
Its value to Xbox, then, cannot be understated. The first game was praised for its visual detail, its incredible use of sound and, most importantly, its impressive writing and character development. As a game that dealt with mental health, and psychosis specifically, developer Ninja Theory put in its due diligence to make sure it presented Senua's condition as authentically and respectfully as possible, and the result was a truly unique game that, fittingly, lingered in the mind long after the credits rolled.
It's easy to forget, though, that Hellblade was originally a PlayStation 4 console exclusive, and remained that way for eight months. As Xbox fans watched on at this brave, groundbreaking new IP picking up multiple awards for performance, audio design and writing, Hellblade was a valuable asset to PlayStation because it allowed fans to point to an exclusive that wasn't just a sequel or a remaster.

Now that Ninja Theory is part of Xbox Game Studios, that valuable asset now belongs to Microsoft, and now that the shoe is on the other foot, it's imperative that its exclusivity becomes as important to Xbox as its predecessor was to PlayStation. Xbox's plan is for those same PS4 fans who boasted about Hellblade's exclusivity to now be the ones watching on as its sequel becomes the game picking up multiple awards.
This is the most hyped game ever📶
The hype around Hellblade 2 is massive and growing🎏
 
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Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Nope. It was Starfield and it didn't deliver.

Hellblade is more interested in being an art game with a commentary about mental illness than having good gameplay or being fun. It's basically a Naughty Dog game but without the good and visceral combat. Judging by the previews we've seen, the fighting will be every bit as bad as with the first one which was pretty awful.

Pretty game though.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
maybe-idk.gif



I always like these "it COULD be the most amazing thing since sliced bread" fluff articles.
 

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
It's being over hyped and people should not confuse good graphics and translate that to some wishful mass market success. I think if this game came out in 1997, it would fare better.

I hope it's better the first one because that game sucked but had great graphics for what it was doing.
 
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SenkiDala

Member
I remember when that studio, Ninja Theory, were considered as little geniuses, developing only hidden gems : Enslaved, Heavenly Sword, DmC.

Hellblade was their pinacle, an immersive journey into the mind of a mentally troubled warrior. Visually breathtaking, great narration and plot, outstanding sound design, nice combats. As it was a PS4 exclusive.

Than it became a Microsoft Studio, then Hellblade became an overpraised piece of trash.

So yeah, people laughing at Hellblade II is too be expected.
 
They are going to have to do more with combat this time. I have a feeling it's just going to be bare bones. No upgrades or abilities. Just scripted animations for executions. I don't doubt everything else will be fine.
 

Perrott

Member
Those 3 are some of the best games out there. 🤷‍♂️
The first one flopped hard and the publishers of the other two deeply regret accepting those moneyhats.

So regardless of quality, none of them worked out the way any of the various parties involved had hoped they would... which was also the case for both Halo Infinite and Starfield, hence the comparison.
 

rodrigolfp

Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
The first one flopped hard and the publishers of the other two deeply regret accepting those moneyhats.

So regardless of quality, none of them worked out the way any of the various parties involved had hoped they would... which was also the case for both Halo Infinite and Starfield, hence the comparison.
They worked out in quality. If people choose to not embrace that quality, their loss.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Hellblade was their pinacle, an immersive journey into the mind of a mentally troubled warrior. Visually breathtaking, great narration and plot, outstanding sound design, nice combats. As it was a PS4 exclusive.
Nice try sliding this one in but no one ever thought that. It was considered good in spite of its combat, not in part because of it.
 

Perrott

Member
Why did Hellblade get a pass and a sequel but The Order 1886 was "burn the witch!"?
Because back when The Order came out, we hadn't yet gone through the era of open world fatigue, so any package that just offered the classic structure of a 7-8 hours campaign without any filler content or a bunch of shitty PvP modes was seen as a rip off... which was such a stupid mindset for gamers and reviewers to have at the time.

If anything, now that they made very clear what their stance was on these sort of things, they shouldn't be hypocrites and give Hellblade II praise for being exactly what they critized back then.

My perspective on it? The Order was a good game and Hellblade II will greatly deliver on what it's set itself out to achieve, and both of them are perfectly valid forms of interactive entertainment, just as Quantic Dream's games are as well.
 
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