Hellblade II: Senua's Saga

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Senua's journey through the myths and horrors of Viking Iceland.

Platforms: PC, Xbox, PlayStation
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (87% of 10,139 reviews)
Length: about 6 to 8 hours
Players: 1
Made by: Ninja Theory
Released: 2024

What frightens Senua, a Celtic warrior who hears voices, sails to 10th-century Iceland to stop slavers and finds a land of giants, draugr and grim rituals; the voices in her head comment, mock and warn on every step, and what is real and what is her psychosis keeps blurring.
Content: extreme gore, violence, strong language, partial nudity, mental illness themes.

Hellblade II: Senua's Saga is Ninja Theory's sequel to Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. Senua, a Celtic warrior who experiences psychosis, journeys through 10th-century Iceland to save those taken by slavers, facing giants, the dead and her own voices in a short, cinematic and brutal story.

About Hellblade II: Senua's Saga

Hellblade II was made by Ninja Theory and published by Xbox Game Studios. It came out in May 2024 on PC and Xbox Series X|S, and an enhanced edition followed in 2025, adding a higher graphics preset, a combat challenge mode, more photo mode features and developer commentary, and bringing the game to PlayStation 5.

Like the first game, it puts you inside Senua's experience. The voices she hears speak around you in binaural sound, best with headphones, doubting, encouraging and taunting her. The world itself may bend: faces in the rock, shapes in the fog, paths that shift. Its depiction of psychosis was made with the help of experts and people with lived experience, as with the first game.

The journey takes Senua across 10th-century Iceland, recreated from real places, from storm-battered coasts to villages of the dead and the caves of giants. Between story scenes you solve puzzles of perception, finding patterns and aligning what you see, and fight brutal one-on-one sword battles that play out like choreographed film fights.

It is closer to an interactive film than to a classic game, short and intense, with very graphic violence. It suits players who were moved by Senua's Sacrifice and want psychological horror told with high production values.

How to play Hellblade II: Senua's Saga

Follow Senua through each area in third person, listening to the voices around her.
Solve perception puzzles by finding symbols and shapes in the world and aligning what you see.
Fight one-on-one battles with light and heavy strikes, dodges and blocks, and use focus when it is ready.
Play with headphones to hear the voices as they were recorded, all around you.

Screenshots

Hellblade II: Senua's Saga screenshot: a misty path through a camp of stakes and torches hung with bones, a figure walking ahead

Hellblade II: Senua's Saga screenshot: Senua, bloodied, raises her sword against a huge warrior in a horned skull mask by firelight

Tips

Listen to the voices; they often warn of attacks or hint at the way.
Watch the enemy's tells and dodge rather than trade blows.
Turn on the photo mode to take in the scenery; the game is short, so take your time.

Questions

Do I need to play the first Hellblade?

It helps to know Senua's story from Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, but the sequel tells a new journey that can be followed on its own.

Is Hellblade II a horror game?

It is psychological horror told through Senua's psychosis, with dark myths, monsters and very graphic violence, though it plays more like an interactive film than a game of scares.