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Senua's Sage: Hellblade 2 Debuts at 23rd in Xbox's "Most Played Games" Rankings; 6th Most Played Game Pass

RiccochetJ

Gold Member
This is gaming whiplash to the highest degree.

That is going to be quite the experience. Lol.
Hah! Honestly I think it's going to be a good palette cleanser and I'm going to be in the mood for a short curated experience.
 
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Bridges

Member
Hellblade 1 was a good game but I don't really understand why it was propped on a pedestal. It didn't need a sequel in my opinion. Microsoft should've gotten them to work on a AAA stylish action new IP a la DmC.

The whole "these teams get to work on whatever they want to" really sounded great on paper. In practice it hasn't been panning out great. Turns out there is a reason pitches get rejected and sometimes teams are forced in certain directions by publishers.
 

Astral Dog

Member
Hellblade 1 was a good game but I don't really understand why it was propped on a pedestal. It didn't need a sequel in my opinion. Microsoft should've gotten them to work on a AAA stylish action new IP a la DmC.

The whole "these teams get to work on whatever they want to" really sounded great on paper. In practice it hasn't been panning out great. Turns out there is a reason pitches get rejected and sometimes teams are forced in certain directions by publishers.
Thats the deal though, they didn't wanted to make another DmC, they didn't cared about that IP or that specific style of game and Capcom's team helped a lot designing the combat.

The first Hellblade is what they wanted to do next, im not sure why it was necessary to partner with Microsoft to make the sequel, but it seems like they were promised the money to do what they wanted and this is the result
 

Frwrd

Member
“No one hung onto HellBlade as anything”
Pop Tv Bb21 GIF by Big Brother After Dark
 

Shake Your Rump

Gold Member
Jesus Christ, no wonder companies push so hard for GAAS. The entire top 25 is all GAAS except for about 3 games.
The chart is "most played". I suppose it will be filled with games specifically designed to consume as much of your time as possible. I guess this is how Microsoft measures success? "Engagement" and all that, instead of something actually interesting and informative such as: "unique players", "most completed games", "widest audience by age", "most gifted games" and so on.
 
That's bad. Hope the studio keeps the healthy bar at 100%. Personally I don't like walking sim and graphics for this type of "games" doesnt do anything on me.
 
Dumb thread as hellblade2 is just a once and done story driven game. Not a multiplayer or loot driven game like those in the top.

I guess when you put out the best looking game this gen it tends to rile up the hive. 🤷‍♂️

I'm sure if you gave Naughty Dog, The Coalition, PlayGround Games, Guerilla Games, Kojima Productions or any other AAA dev studio the time, budget & mandate to make a linear story driven game in the vein of Hellblade 2 they could come up with the same graphics or better.
 
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I'm sure if you gave Naughty Dog, The Coalition, PlayGround Games, Guerilla Games, Kojima Productions or any other AAA dev studio the time, budget & mandate to make a linear story driven in the vein of Hellblade 2 they could come up with the same graphics or better.
Arguably, despite not liking the game much, the technical achievements in horizon are better. It's an open world with a lot being thrown around at any given moment. This is very on rails and shows you what it wants you to see.

Its impressive for sure.
 

Draugoth

Gold Member
The biggest thing going agaisnt this game is that you basically watch it instead of playing it, and if you want to watch cutscenes you can just go to youtube. If this game was priced $20 things would probably be different
 
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CGNoire

Member
Jesus Christ, no wonder companies push so hard for GAAS. The entire top 25 is all GAAS except for about 3 games.
Depressing isn't it. And so we take out our anger on @Men_in_Boxes
Not so Fast. The majority of GASS titles are free. Are we really that suprised that the top played games are the "Free" ones? Really?
Not to mention that the vast majority of GASS Players dont spend a dime on anything.

People need to learn how to better read statistics.
 
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Edgelord79

Gold Member
Kind of a shame. It’s a different experience and one worth having. Yes it’s not long and it’s not heavy on the gameplay, but still worth doing imo.
 
Arguably, despite not liking the game much, the technical achievements in horizon are better. It's an open world with a lot being thrown around at any given moment. This is very on rails and shows you what it wants you to see.

Its impressive for sure.

Agreed. The scope of Horizon is impressive as are the colors and I love bright bold colors in general so visually Horizon 2 is amazing to look at and play. Also playing Yoshis Crafted World at the moment and enjoying the hell outta that.

Hellblade 2 feels more like a tech demo than a game to be honest. This is of course just my opinion on playing it for like half an hour. Could I play more? Sure but i'm already feeling bored by it. Take nothing away from the visuals though. It is next level.
 

MacReady13

Member
I enjoy bashing Hellblade 2 just as much as the next guy but this is like the 8th thread about how terrible it is doing...
For me it's not about bashing this game but more about how putting games like this on a sub service is meant to help gamepass somehow! I don't get the fascination with prepping up a failing subscription service with a 5 hour game could possibly help things. Market the fuck out of it and try to get some SALES for this game! I realize it's a niche game but the marketing was non existent and a game like this would sell for such a low price!
 
For me it's not about bashing this game but more about how putting games like this on a sub service is meant to help gamepass somehow! I don't get the fascination with prepping up a failing subscription service with a 5 hour game could possibly help things. Market the fuck out of it and try to get some SALES for this game! I realize it's a niche game but the marketing was non existent and a game like this would sell for such a low price!
You don't want to waste 10's of millions dollars in marketing for a game that won't sell well regardless. Microsoft knew it would bomb and they sent it out to pasture for a quick death
 

MacReady13

Member
You don't want to waste 10's of millions dollars in marketing for a game that won't sell well regardless. Microsoft knew it would bomb and they sent it out to pasture for a quick death
I'm still unsure as to who exactly decided to greenlight such an obscure game then show it at every fucking game show yet NOT advertise it to the masses!
 

Raven77

Member
Everyone's playing GAAS because hardly anything is being released.

GAAS have LONG shelf lives so when so few games come out, of course GAAS will fill the top 10 played.

Gaming industry is horrible right now. Honestly not sure anyone but Nintendo will still be thriving in ~10 years.
 
Everyone's playing GAAS because hardly anything is being released.

GAAS have LONG shelf lives so when so few games come out, of course GAAS will fill the top 10 played.

Gaming industry is horrible right now. Honestly not sure anyone but Nintendo will still be thriving in ~10 years.

Yep, PSN list is mostly the same. Per usual, Nintendo is the exception.
 
Hellblade 3, do you think it will happen? (as in release)

I think so.

I know the zealots are screaming about NT being shut down, but MS outright acquired them individually, not in a package with a large publisher, so I think they’ll keep them around.

If anything maybe they have NT make it a more fleshed out experienced and more of a traditional action game. People are saying it bombed but they’re forgetting it’s not a AAA title and there is still the PS5/NS2 releases.
 

Oppoi

Member
I think so.

I know the zealots are screaming about NT being shut down, but MS outright acquired them individually, not in a package with a large publisher, so I think they’ll keep them around.

If anything maybe they have NT make it a more fleshed out experienced and more of a traditional action game. People are saying it bombed but they’re forgetting it’s not a AAA title and there is still the PS5/NS2 releases.
I would hope an individual purchase is worth more than one you get with a big package. Makes sense to you, makes sense to me. But I'm not sure they see it that way.
 
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