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Hellblade 2 Review Embargo drops 1 hour before release

cybertailor

Neo Member
I just hope it runs on my Xbox Series S :3 If it's anything like the first one I am excited, can't imagine they would totally miss the mark the second time around.
 

Mortisfacio

Banned
You haven't answered my question. In what way is Hellblade 2 related to Helldivers 2?

Stop beating around the bush and talking about bullshit non-existent narratives you made up.

Diablo 4 is an online only game where the embargo lifted a week prior. You're just making excuses at this point. It's painfully apparent. Go do your mental gymnastics elsewhere.

Also since I didn't see it posted yet:

 
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Diablo 4 is an online only game where the embargo lifted a week prior. You're just making excuses at this point. It's painfully apparent. Go do your mental gymnastics elsewhere.

Also since I didn't see it posted yet:


And when have you ever seen me in a Diablo thread? I don't play Diablo so what is this nonsense narrative you speak of? Don't I actually have to post something about a game myself before it becomes my narrative?
 
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Seems absolutely crazy that Microsoft did this.

When the game was unveiled alongside the Series X, there wasn’t even a game! It was just a trailer made for the show.

They absolutely crush their own studios.

I'm not surprised. It's a pattern from MS.

I said back when it was revealed that we weren't seen any form of gameplay.


To their credit though the final game still looks good but MS always sets their studios to deliver below expectations with stunts like this.


I hope for Ninja Theory's sake that Hellblade 2 delivers but I'm not holding my breath and even if it does deliver MS could still pull a Tango shutdown and shut them down regardless.
 

Mortisfacio

Banned
And when have you ever seen me in a Diablo thread? I don't play Diablo so what is this nonsense narrative you speak of? Don't I actually have to post something about a game myself before it becomes my narrative?

You've taken this from "You can't compare those games! They're different games!" to "I haven't even been in a D4 thread so it's not the same!". I'm going to assume you're intentionally being obtuse or have a reading disability.
 
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poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Review embargo like this are generally not a good sign. Hoping it's as good as the first one and that the rocks are sublime.
 
You've taken this from "You can't compare those games! They're different games!" to "I haven't even been in a D4 thread so it's not the same!". I'm going to assume you're intentionally being obtuse or having a reading disability.
Your example is nonsense. Hellblade 2 and Helldivers 2 situation aren't remotely alike. The narrative you claim I'm setting is nonsense as well because I've never posted about Diablo. You're just going to go to my ignore list since you're wasting my time arguing about rubbish. There is no narrative.

For every Diablo there are 10 or so games with embargos too close to launch that ended badly. It's a pattern we have seen many times before so I don't know why you're salty because I'm stating the obvious. NT and MS have been very cagey with this game, we barely have any gameplay footage or marketing for it and the review embargo lifts an hour before it goes live. Most unbiased and reasonable people would say those are red flags for any game.
 
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Katatonic

Member


Seems absolutely crazy that Microsoft did this.

When the game was unveiled alongside the Series X, there wasn’t even a game! It was just a trailer made for the show.

They absolutely crush their own studios.

I'm not surprised. MS knows how to manipulate their audience (doesn't take a genius imo). All their fanbase needed was a short ugly trailer to shout supremacy from the rooftops. So no matter what anyone else shows, it's always, "wait for Hellblade 2". Same with Starfield. Same with Quantum Break in the xbone days.
 

Mortisfacio

Banned
Your example is nonsense. Hellblade 2 and Helldivers 2 situation aren't remotely alike. The narrative you claim I'm setting is nonsense as well because I've ever posted about Diablo. You're just going to go to my ignore list since you're wasting my time arguing about rubbish. There is no narrative. For every Diablo there are 10 or so games with embargos too close to launch that ended badly. It's a pattern we have seen many times before so I don't know why you're salty because I'm stating the obvious. NT and MS have been very cagey with this game, we barely have any gameplay footage or marketing for it and the review embargo lifts an hour before it goes live. Most unbiased and reasonable people would say those are red flags for any game.

You posting in a Diablo thread or not has nothing to do with it. I'm 100% positive there is some disability on your end. Hope the best for you.
 

Represent.

Represent(ative) of bad opinions
This is good news for ME.

I already know its my GOTY unless something else gets announced that looks good.

Now I can go in as fresh as possible. Fantastic news. No spoilers.
 
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Seems absolutely crazy that Microsoft did this.

When the game was unveiled alongside the Series X, there wasn’t even a game! It was just a trailer made for the show.

They absolutely crush their own studios.


Which raises questions over games such as ContraBand, State of Decay 3 and Everwild.

Let’s face it, they had no major launch line up for Series X either, once Halo was delayed they had to do something considering this Twat said this once

Tku26iT.jpeg
 

DavJay

Member
Being employee of ninja theory must be terrifying. It’s not even about if the game is good or not. It needs good sale numbers or else Phillip Spencer will axe them.
 

nemiroff

Gold Member
I am not a fan of the first game because it was too basic. I dont mind linear games as long as there is enough variety. there wasnt much. The puzzles were atrocious. There were zero setpieces. And there wasnt much to do other than walk. I loved Uncharted despite its linear nature because they had climbing, setpieces and good puzzles to keep things from getting too boring. Thats what I wanted from HB2 and the first gameplay trailer showing a big epic setpiece and the first trailer showing a massive world hinted at a much more epic game in scope.

Turns out its more of the same which is disappointing.
It's funny you mention that because I find the Uncharted games utterly unappealing, much like Horizon. Anyway, the point is, these days there's plenty of games to go around, enough to cater to most people's taste. And this abundance allows us to move on without the selfish need to change the recipe of what made a game successful for its audience in the first place.
 
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Eiknarf

Member
okay, one more thing:

hellblade2.png

what's with that set of perfect, pristine choppers? I mean, she's kept those babies by rubbing them every so often with a stick? a miracle of primitive icelandic dentistry?...

if they weren't constantly being put on display, I'd likely never've noticed'm. as is, once you see'm, they're impossible to not see...
Yeah
Now that you mention it, if the woke, DEI crowd is so against making people attractive because not everyone else is attractive… impossible standards etc. Well then they should make crooked, not perfect teeth because not everybody could afford to have perfect teeth.
 
Yeah
Now that you mention it, if the woke, DEI crowd is so against making people attractive because not everyone else is attractive… impossible standards etc. Well then they should make crooked, not perfect teeth because not everybody could afford to have perfect teeth.
hadn't occurred to me but, yeah, you're right. plus, for a developer obsessed with shit like 'authenticity' & 'immersion' in a game set way back in time? that's gotta be the most jarring/inappropriate mouthful of pearly whites imaginable...
 

Loomy

Thinks Microaggressions are Real
To avoid spoilers
Every other game in the history of reviews has been fine being reviewed without being spoiled because outlets know if they spoil a game, they're not getting any more review codes. But sure, that's what's happening here lmao.

An hour before release is crazy. How are people supposed to use reviews to make purchasing decisions.....


Oh right, GamePass lol
 

Bumblebeetuna

Gold Member
GAF: lol white woman mental issues game + MS shill journalists, Hellblade is guaranteed to have good scores!

Also GAF: lol review embargo TRASHHHHHH incoming

esG02EO.jpeg


As for the embargo, meh. It’s on GamePass. If I like it I’ll buy it.
 

LordCBH

Member
Which raises questions over games such as ContraBand, State of Decay 3 and Everwild.

Let’s face it, they had no major launch line up for Series X either, once Halo was delayed they had to do something considering this Twat said this once

Tku26iT.jpeg

Hey man. He didn’t lie. They didn’t show trailers for things 2-3 years away. They showed trailers for things 5-6 years away. Checkmate, atheist.
 

saintjules

Member
Embargos that expire this close to the drop is never a good sign, but it's nice to see this game finally coming out after having seen previews of it seemingly forever.

I mentioned before that this was the first game revealed for next-gen back at TGA 2019 when they revealed the look of the Series X. Looks great.

Oh, can I connect my Sony Pulse headphones to the Series X? I would like to try the headphone experience again. I see conflicting info online whether it works or not though.
 

//DEVIL//

Member
Loool at to avoid spoiler Chills are spitting ..

Because reviewers like IGN and others spoil the game during the review ….. right ?

Here comes 7 out of 10. 8 if they are being nice
 
I mean, it could actually be due to spoilers, they aren't actually selling this game as it will launch on GP. It's already sunk costs as far as development and marketing go, no risk to actual sales (any meaningful sales, that is).
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
Dont really care. Everyone and their mother is gonna play this one on game pass anyway. Im sure it will be great for those who liked the first one
Exactly the reason I think it doesn't matter for this game, it's not like they fear the game not selling because of bad reviews, it's a highly expected Xbox game and people will play it even if just to shit on it 🤷
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
It's funny you mention that because I find the Uncharted games utterly unappealing, much like Horizon. Anyway, the point is, these days there's plenty of games to go around, enough to cater to most people's taste. And this abundance allows us to move on without the selfish need to change the recipe of what made a game successful for its audience in the first place.
That's fair. But Ive also been a ninja theory fan since heavenly sword. loved enslaved and even DmC for the same reasons why i loved uncharted. To me, they were right up there with ND when it came to pushing cinematic driven games with AAA production values while also offering some fantastic setpieces and combat. Hellblade 1 felt like an indie game in comparison despite the pretty graphics because it lacked the epic scale of the story and the setpieces, and i never finished it. This seems to be more of the same which is disappointing as an NT fan who has been waiting since 2013 for this studio to reach their previous highs.
 

Hugare

Member
1h before launch so people cant watch the whole 2h long game on Youtube before finishing their download

/jk, but may end up being true
 
This game is getting completely set up to fail.

Sad to say, but I agree and would be extremely surprised if this game was a success by any metric. No matter what kind of critical acclaim it will garner, it's a day 1 Game Pass game released on a failing platform. I don't really think it will be as novel as the first game was, so it's probably not going to get a free pass by critics for coming out of nowhere.
 

Beechos

Member
Spoilers crap is bs. Plenty of reviewers review games without spoilers. I agree with everyone else this game is set to die.
Bargain basement price tag
1 hour release embargo
Hardly any previews to get people hyped up. Just videos of the devs talking about mental illness, mocap and visiting Iceland over the course of 5 years to kill the hype.
 
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