Xbox gamers are in the midst of a severe drought right now, due to the lack of big-budget exclusives on Microsoft’s console. While Game Pass continues to offer great indie titles and passion projects from developers, the tentpole titles that gamers expect from Xbox have been largely absent over the last two years. With Xbox gearing up for a showcase in June, one title that needs to take the spotlight is Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II.
Nearly 90% of Xbox players who have started Hellblade 2 haven't made it through the action-adventure game's short seven-hour runtime to complete its story.
Remember when games were fun and entertaining and not just pretty graphics? That might have something to do with it.
Yeah, that's one thing thats wrong in the industry today outta many things. Heard someone on here on the Lego horizon game saying its a kiddie game same for astro and they'll pass on them. Like these games are fun they might appeal to kids more but they are fun for all ages. Theres a reason why Nintendo games sell better its because they are fun and thats what Nintendo is known for. I feel people forget to have fun but instead play consoles wars and graphic wars. They are a lot of indie games that are fun just like Nintendo games but people pass because how it looks etc.
Nintendo usually focuses on making fun games that also happen to look good or have great art styles. Astro Bot on PS5 is a breath of fresh air in an industry ruled by GaaS garbage. Good platformers are rare these days.
And I’m sure I’m in the minority but I think Lego Horizon Adventures looks more fun than the actual mainline Horizon games. 🤷♂️
The Lego games aren't any fun to me as they have copied and pasted the formula for 20 years but I do enjoy a good platformer that brings back the golden age of gaming.
GamerRN
DEATH STRANDING
on PlayStation (PS4)
Thanks for Everything
Complete Episode 14: Lou.
22.9% of players unlocked this.
So, more than double (above average) and it's a much longer game with a lot more content
Death Stranding
Main Story40½ Hours
Main + Extra60 Hours
Completionist113 Hours
Only kids under 10 and hardcore Lego fans like Lego games..
I think Guerrilla totally lost it to make such games. They could have outsourced the project and given us something more serious..
No matter how it turns, people will buy.
@cacabunga
Guerrilla is not developing the game. It's a licensed LEGO game using the Horizon IP but Sony and Guerrilla are not making it.
I agree. Every lego game feels exactly the same. And some of the "puzzles" are incredibly obtuse. Hard pass. I'll take the real deal over lego. That said, my kids are into the lego games, so they'll probably have me play with them until I start drifting off to sleep.
The graphics are so overrated. So much of the graphical budget just went to rocks and other lifeless backgrounds at sub 1080p and 30fps.
You look at Horizon:FW and birds are flying around animals are running around everywhere while you fight packs of robot-animals and it's all at 60FPS and 1440p+. I don't care what anyone says HFW looks better and plays much better. And it's a whole open world not just little scenes covered in darkness to they can maintain framerate's by not having to process anything distant.
And the game has a nothiness story because the first game didn't need a sequel. So, HB2 just seems forced, which is exactly what it was. HB1 was tied to Sony, so Microsoft just wanted to steal a sequel to not put on PlayStation. That's the only reason HB2 exists, so Microsoft could have a game with ties to PlayStation they could keep off PlayStation, simply the most petty of possible reasons. And it shows.
That's what I said, the Lego horizon looks fun more then the OG. Not to say the OG isnt fun but its just I dont have the engagement idk what words to put it. I know returnal and other house marq games and isomniac games had that feeling of fun and engagement
I spent almost 150 hours on the HZD + Frozen wilds so I don't really get what you're saying. The reason I still have yet to sink more time into Forbidden West is because I still want to 100% the Frozen Wild trophies and I have been loving the time I spent with the game.
@badz
I think you'll love Forbidden West and Burning Shores as it just improved on a lot of things in HZD and Frozen Wild. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely enjoyed HZD and Frozen Wild, but HFW and Burning Shores was the icing on the cake. I hope they keep up the momentum for the next game.
Agree I recently replayed earthbound and fell in love with it again it's a basic looking SNES game but the gameplay and charm just gets me and really reminds me games are not about pushing pixels they should be fun and if they can also bring Joy that's great.
There's far to many games dealing with dark and dreary overly emotional depressing games like hellblade 2 that barely let you play the game.
I want fun more than anything these days
Or it's been a walking simulator majority of the time might have something to do with it as well. The user review scores on metacritic.com mentions that as well
So silly... The game was released on gamepass to millions of people... Use the math side of your brain and not the fanboy side.
Nearly 90% of Xbox players ----->who have started Hellblade 2<---- haven't made it through the action-adventure game's short seven-hour runtime to complete its story.
An Amazing Number of Players Have Marvel's Spider-Man 2's Platinum Trophy
https://www.pushsquare.com/...
According to current Trophy data, 20.3 per cent of players have earned the sequel's Platinum gong.
Over half of players have completed the main story — 58 per cent to be precise — which, again, is unusually high, but for a fifth of all players to stick around and complete all the districts and side content too is pretty astounding.
Still, a 20 per cent rate for the Plat is ridiculously high. As far as we can tell, the next highest first-party Platinum rate is for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, which is currently at 12 per cent.
Most Sony exclusives have had a higher than industry average of 15-20 percent of their players complete the game both God of War's, Ghost of Tsushima and all three Spider-Man games as well as both Horizon games have fallen into this bracket, and they are much longer than 6 hours.
Edit: oh and btw HB2 wasn't even that popular on xbox, the game peaked at something like 23 most popular game
‘Hellblade 2’ Launches As The 23rd Most-Played Xbox Game, What Does That Mean?
https://www.forbes.com/site...
Hellblade II peaks at under 4,000 concurrent players on Steam
https://gameworldobserver.c...
Millions of gamers not playing the game. How are you arguing FACTS?! Lol.
10 million people could have downloaded it. That would mean only 1 million of that completed it. Do you even know MATH?!
When your story can be completed in one sitting and nearly 90% still didn't complete it, it doesn't bode very well.
I'm taking my time with it. I know it's a short game and all. I've been playing it at a half hour to an hour at a time before I go to sleep. I work pretty early so I can't spend all night playing. I think I'm pretty close to the end.
Was about to say that. It's almost as if people got bored with nice visuals and didn't find the game fun enough to continue.
The times we live in are sad compared to the golden era I was lucky to experience 30 years ago. Games were fun and were made to be played, not watched. Now all the big publishers and console manufacturers seem to be only able to discern two game genres. Multiplayer focused online game and story driven single player games.
Where are gameplay driven games?
I have more fun in VR while playing small indie games than I do playing big "story driven" AAA flat games.
To each of their own, but for me, fun and gameplay are the most important. Then amazing visuals. And then music and sound design. And then maybe humor and only on the last place - the story. I can get good story cheaper and more convenient. This is what books and movies do better. Especially with that stupid trend to pursue realism in visuals. One more hardware generation and it will basically be a movie rendered in real time. For 70€ and with "gameplay" instead of gameplay. And then those same clueless idiots will survey young gamers and conclude they only want competetive online multiplayer games.
I mean, I played River Raid the first time and within seconds I knew I want to play games.
A guy who never played anything besides multiplayer games, will check one of those interactive movies and walk away, seeing nothing interesting in it. For us, veteran gamers, visuals may be impressive cause we know the limitations. But for some newcomer? They have no idea about the CPU or GPU limitations. They will just see a weird looking "movie" with boring and lacking gameplay design and mechanics.
I'd like to say Nintendo will keep supplying good, big budget games focused on gameplay, but Nintendo is just a name of a corporation. When the old staff leaves...
Anyway. I sure hope Mario Kart 10 won't have any stupid career mode with 300 minutes of cut-scenes in it.
Usually games like that are launch games. Designed to showcase what a system can do. I’d honestly love to play HB2 but the digital only release blows.
I suspect Game Pass has something to do with this also. Being less financially invested in a product is a sure route to not caring enough to complete it. Also indicative of the audience that occupies Xbox, they bought the wrong studio for their platform. Which again will hurt Xbox.
By this day and age where even one-person indie dev can make stunning looking game.
It's time for them to re-examine and sorting out their priorities they could easily have the best of both worlds nowadays but nope still obsesses over at chasing photo-realism spent years over that just for one game and they lose the ability to make fun interactive and entertaining games.
The stupidity of the people present on this thread is absurd... trolling simply because this is a Microsoft game.
I just have to say this...
"Video games are enjoyed by millions of people around the world. The one thing that most of these gamers have in common is the failure to finish games. Industry experts estimate that a new game will only be completed by 10 to 20 percent of its players."
https://eu.indeonline.com/s...
(do trolls realize that their favourite games from their favourite plastic box are only completed by 10-20% of players)
Even then it's still a head scratcher because it's really quite short. I think its just lacking severly in gameplay. Its a sometime pretty art piece... sure
Looks like just PlayStation his have 80 percent or more who never finished them... Speaks more about the state of games these days...
You'll be surprised by the percentage of ALL players who never finish games. I remember seeing an article about the shockingly high percentage of people who never finished Spider Man 2.
"Diving deeper into the stats, we can see that only 52% of Hellblade 2 Xbox players made it past the first boss and unlocked The Next Sign achievement. You encounter Hellblade 2's first boss after about 30 minutes"
90% of players didn't beat the story and only about half beat the first boss. This is just baffling to me when you take into account how short the game is. Just, wow
I picked up The Order 1886 for $20 and played it around Halloween. It was good and I enjoyed it, but yeah not perfect by any means. The visuals were nuts.
In actually just picked up the order last month and man did it's time it was not judged fairly game is amazing
Yeah, that game was legitimately good and the story was going places plus the setting was fantastic.
And it was a really early gen game too, not like HB2 which is a mid gen game.
The crazy thing is this isn't even new. This has been a growing issue since gen 7. There have been countless great games where if you look at the trophy/achievement data only like 30% or less of players actually finish any games they play. It's kind of insane. I can sort of understand with open world games where player fatigue kicks in, but plenty of linear games like this never get finished. It's like players start games and then just move on to the next thing a week later.
While this is true for a lot of games, it's even worse when you consider how long Hellblade 2 is. I understand if a game is 20+ hours and you move on to something else a week later. But this game doesn't take a week to complete, it takes a handful of hours.
Agreed. Hellblade 2 isn't some extended experience. It can be beat in just a couple of nights.
A growing issue since Gen 7? It's probably not much different than before achievements/trophies started getting recorded tbh.
@Skuletor
I mean that it seems like the percentages have been getting lower over time since we've been able to track them.
Not baffling when you touch the game and realize it’s just a big cut scene. It’s not fun and it sucks so makes sense.
It's not that baffling. GamePass lets people pretty instantly click A on a game to start playing it, look at the graphics, say "whoa that's cool" and then go back to whatever multiplayer nonsense they usually play. You don't even need to download the game, you can just stream it for a sec. These numbers are a bit meaningless.
I do think being on GamePass was a major nail in HellBlade 2's coffin. Games on subscription services feel inherently valueless and I personally can never get into them.
This is the audience Microsoft has cultivated on Xbox.
I don't blame them for trying with acquiring Ninja Theory, but at this point, it's difficult to dispute that this is too little, too late.
You can't finish the game.. there is no "gameplay".
The funny thing is that the main character trained (in real life) for 2 years to fight with a sword, in a game where there is almost no fighting.
I booted it on PC but I admit it was purely academic I find the game stunning but the games subject matter didn't click with me gave it a good go to buy never returned to it and don't intend to
So this stat doesn't surprise me at all. The game was praised for us visuals as finally bringing ue5 in all is glory to gamers so many people probably booted it to see and then turned it off like myself
Same thing I did. Booted it and played 15 minutes to see the spectacle and turned it off because I am in the middle of another game.
That’s the other thing, if you don’t directly purchase a game you do not feel as invested or compelled to play the game and I believe this is a problem with GP in general. In that same vein and for me personally there is no incentive to purchase the game because there is no physical release. If there was a physical release, I might have considered it.
I liked HB1 and may return to HB2 at some point but have other games in the backlog to get through.
That's harsh. Make it more like movies nowadays. More than 2 hours, less than 3 should be fine.
Yeah I grabbed it on GamePass PC. Beautiful, but just like the first one, those glyph sections are boring. They feel more like a chore than a game. 🥱😴
Makes sense, it’s so much more of a tech demo and so much less of an actual game. I forced myself to finish it.
Probably because most people wanted to play a game instead of seeing and hearing it mostly.
Bold of you to assume reviewers actually finished games. I bet those 10% are just Obsecure Observer and his alternate accounts
Probably because it's the best looking game available right now. People who weren't interested in playing downloaded with GP to check the visuals for 10 minutes before deleting.
Lol, even with insane graphics and just a 6-hour game, Xbox players didn't manage to complete the story?
Basically 50% of them could not play it past 30 minutes, and it's basically "free" for them, what a joke, what a disaster
Don't worry the game will be awesome and wonderful to you guys once it comes to PS...kinda like SoT.
What does this have to do with PS?
People here love to whine about bringing up "company A when talking about articles regarding company B". Yet here you are doing exactly that.
Secondly, since you mention Sea of Thieves. Sea of Thieves was a MUCH UPDATED game by time it came to Playstation. When it released on Xbox years ago the game was bland. Period.
I'm sure you know that right?
Lodo,
Hahaha....let's look.
Enihinder1972
"Because they were close with PlayStation"
And a PS game was also bought up.
Wow! Atleast i finished The Order 1886..lol.
Funny how you ignore those glaring comments, but jump on my comment lol.
I didn't ignore anything. I didn't bother reading them. But to be fair, they're just as bad as you are so congrats?
Funny how you don't say I'm wrong in what I said though. Instead of saying what I said was wrong, your retort is "but what that guy"
Do I have to say your wrong? I would think it obvious that I don't agree with you.
It's really convenient that you scrolled pass their comments and read mine which is under theirs, and threw out a speech, of all that happens on this site, in almost every article, and my small comment is the one that you choose to make a stand on, and I suppose to take your seriously? But ok, whatever you say buddy.
And thank you for the congrats..I appreciate and value your opinion
The article states it's 90% of XB players that didn't complete the game so it has nothing to do with PS gamers. Though I own all 3 current consoles I didn't complete Hellblade 2 either because it's boring including most players probably didn't buy the game & played it through Gamepass so they didn't feel the need to finish it. I played 2 hours & each session I could only push myself to play for a half hour. For me when a game is fun I can't stop playing it, the last game that had me like that was Stellar Blade.
Did you check the people who mentioned PS before me?
And thanks for sharing your experience.
That ship has sailed. If they wanted another 10% to finish the game, it should have launched on PS5 as well. I say this because the only thing special is it being first to really use UE5 in an extended playable, purchasable tech demo.
I don't ever want see you talk about "deflection" whenever someone brings up Xbox in a PS article, since you are okay with doing it here when it's the opposite.
It'll be treated exactly the same, with indifference apart from a relatively small number of people who like that specific genre.
It'll be a bit better because it's on PS. The PS5 runs better than S/SX. But even then, it won't make up for the mobile gaming like rails.
Game was okay, but if you want a walking simulator with a better story I'd recommend Indika.
I don’t doubt that, but also I’ve seen a good bit of data that suggests that like 85 percent of players don’t complete games. That’s a trend that has been combing for a while. I don’t get it but it’s a real thing.
- Start a game
- Enjoy the game for a couple of hours
- Life gets in the way
- Busy, tired, or not in the mood to play
- Days pass if not weeks
- Forget where I was in the game—do I continue or start over?
- Nah, I'll play something else
- The cycle continues
Teenage me would be baffled, too. I used to finish games in one or two settings.
I’m 46, I get maybe 2 days per month off, and I have 2 daughters. I still complete games lol I’m not saying it’s good or bad, I’m just saying that’s the state of gaming today. People are too busy trying to get approval and attention online to finish much of anything.
What you wrote is spot on, I'm finding less and less time for gaming.
Stop trying to downplay a game there's tons of games I haven't completed hidden agenda here slag of any xbox game especially this one fuck this date most ps biased site I ever been on
This article is from an Xbox website. Shower them with your tears, not N4G. N4G is a website where anyone can post any gaming articles.
Yeah...they still have to push forward, right? MS should consider selling xbox branded rubberband now. Marketing slogan - "Now you can finish Hellblade 2 while sleeping". Instant hit I tell you
I'm in that 90%. I've played about 2 hours of the game & I just can't get myself to play for the rest of the 3 to 4 hours to finish the game. Hellblade 2 is just boring & it seems 90% of players think so too. Another factor may be the game is on Gamepass so players don't feel inclined to finish the game because they didn't spend solely $50 for Hellblade 2.
I felt the same way about Alan Wake 2. Six hours in and I am bored as hell... quit it.
Really? I was interested in AW2 cause it looked good but I felt the 1st one was overrated and kinda boring so I was waiting to playing.
It's a comment section, I can comment on how I choose to may you like it or not. It seems you're triggered by the truth.
Oh oh, there we go with the last resort, "your trigged" response..lol, ok, yes, I'm at home mad as hell right now..you got me.
For a seven-hour game?! Phil and team, did you even play and test this game in Redmond?!
And 37% ppl on Steam finished the game....
https://steamcommunity.com/...
Similar scores compared to the 1st one.
Now let's make a stupid article about Flight simulator ultra-low achievement scores :)
I think this highlights that some folks were really on to something when mentioning GamePass and it make the completion numbers make more sense. For one thing. I am will to bet that the people who paid $50 to play this are more likely to complete it.
Yeah, I gues they are playing 20 minutes a week. You know... just spreading out the goodness right? They'll surely finish it soon
Lol, now I know why they didnt finish it. 20 minutes is not enough when going to point A to point B in this game. I think its a 45 minute walk before the next checkpoint. XD
That's the effect of Game Pass, they didn't pay anything, don't feel any commitments to play more if they get bored.
Sad to say this, but it was good knowing you Ninja Theory. :(
The game is great. Shame really. I think this speaks to, 2 points. 1. This game is made for a small pocket of gamers. 2. Especially younger gamers are used to everything now mentally, so they require something more action driven. While both Uncharted and HB are single player games and both are well done. I would prefer an Uncharted type story over a HB
I think it's the "free game" curse. You download it, play it for two hours then don't bother with it.
2 hours? That's generous of you. Read the article and see that there were lots not even going to the 1 hour mark
I was all excited to play it, then after an hour I became so bored with it. It's just not a good game.
I’ve stalled in chapter 4. The puzzles drag it down for me. Pacing is slow to begin with, combat is a bit meh. I have a week left to finish it. Gotta get ‘er done!
I haven't played the second hellblade but i really enjoyed the first one which makes this news pretty sad and disappointing.
From what I saw I won't touch it with a 10ft stick. I wonder how long before Microsoft tosses the idea around of putting this game on Playstation?
I don't know the stats but I guess that 30% of players, on average, finish or beat video games these days. Many video game consumers buy video games because of hype or good reviews on YouTube but then a new come around and they.move.on, we must remember that, these days, most gamers are casual ones and casuals rarely beat or finish up games, and this one being on gamepass don't help that statistic at all, because if people don't get hiked they can easily move.on and download another game and completely forget it. 10% for a game on gamepass that has a story that, imo, won't appeal to everyone, and i dare say that it is a bit niche, is a very good.figure.
"I don't know"
"I guess that"
"10% is a very good figure"
Absolutely ridiculous. The game is free for GP subscribers AND it is very short. 5 hours you can finish it in. You cannot compare this percentage to other games. There are too many variables. Other games people paid money for, the games are longer, in come cases 1000% longer. Last of Us 1 and 2 have 50% finish rates on PS5.
This 10% figure is an utter embarrassment. Xbox showed off so much of this game at every showcase. It was one of their tent-pole announcements. It is so short, there really is no excuse not to finish this game. It was FREE and short. If it was even remotely a good game, then people would have finished it. Period. At least more than 10%. The fact is, it's not fun to play. The game just isn't that good. It's not worth finishing even if it's only 5 hours long.
How this got the 10s are beyond me. It's a glorified walking Sim. The delusional green force strikes again.
So basically, most are just using this game to show off their setup and console and after a few hours they stopped playing it because they realized that's all it had going for.
All looks and no substance, and basically zero staying power.
Tech enthusiasts would lap this up in their rendering tech essay years later though and that's about it.
All that effort and time spent making the game look as good as can be only for it to be another shallow GP filler that most didn't even bother to finished and it's a 5-hour game lol.
Well the first hour and a half is literally a walking sim, then you get to swing your sword once or twice then watch some more unreal videos. Fun.
Looks to me like Ninja Theory made themselves another Heavenly Sword, spectacular graphics, average game.
Back in the 80s playing games on Vic 20 and C64 we heard of this amazing looking game had released into the arcades me and a few mates raced to the next town to witness this graphical wonder ,after arriving I piled 10p into this cabinet called Dragons Lair and hit play
Tldr after 5 minutes we all asked eachother where's the fucking gameplay ? Returned home to play jack the nipper in it's wireframe 3 colour graphics pallette and never let shiny sway me again
True story
All that boasting and bragging xbox guys did and they cant even be bothered to beat a 4 hour game.
Complain that Lego games haven't evolved over time that's the bloody point it's for child learning not adult learning
When you were a 10 yrs old sticking a long piece of Lego up your nose you are not supposed to be doing the same at 30
Let kids have a safe fun game and quit bitching .
Ninja Theory outdid itself in Hellblade 2 with the photorealistic visuals and the unreal audio design, but why was the gameplay neglected?
Its a perfect game for Gamepass, i think this is what MS wanted from it to be. IMO spring 2025 PS5/Switch 2 release maybe sooner
its only perfect if the gameplay has something to say or do. turns out this game has neither. nice graphics though
I finished it and I'll start by saying the graphics are amazing!!!!! and I experienced and noticed absolutely zero bugs and ran into no issues with the game so it's highly polished.
In saying that, that's where my compliments end, I slugged my way through this game, thank god it was short.
The most on rails game I've ever played, didn't care for the story or the characters outside of the story for the first giant which I did like. For a game like this story and characters should've been everything and it just didn't hit, I didn't care at all just wanted to finish the game and experience the visuals, that's the only reason I persisted.
Puzzles were absolutely lame an amounted to either trying to find shapes or using land shifting bubbles, all of which were piss easy.
The fights are cool at first and look brutal but again very simple.
Basically no environment interaction besides lighting torches
Checking my last achievement only like 6% of players have finished the game which says a lot considering the length of it. I can't imagine a whole lot of people are playing this either.
Don't understand the higher reviews for this, outside of visuals the game isn't great if any anything it was a slog to get the 7 hrs it's took me.
Many perfect reviews only scores the graphics like the very "unbiased"(lol) reviews of DF and Eurogamer. But saying the gameplay and story is a masterpiece are a bunch of liars.
DF IS MS’s advertising arm. Eurogamer was purchased by IGN, which is a MS mouthpiece. so no surprises there.
Yea it's hard to disagree man, like it's really not a good game.
Since when did games get full marks along with other high scores just for visuals, it's reeiculous.
DF doesn't do reviews as far as I know....they do graphical analyses and ofc being the pixeljunkies that they are, they will absolutely love the graphical aspects of this game.
@storm if they're ms advertising arm then why do they still praise a game like Horizon to the heavens? doesn't pan out my man, but nice try my little pony.
@StormSnooper
The made up Microsoft positive publicity. Even fanboys don't believe those sites are Microsoft leaning.
Weird of them DF to do a game review when their job actually is to review the tech aspects of the game.
It came across as paid sponsored review at times.
Leave the bootlicking stuff to Eurogamer especially now that they got bought the writing is on IGN's wall.
I feel like John got that line crossed a lot I feel, he should start his own channel because the other two stooges and simps at Eurogamer and DF are holding him back a lot.
It's all so ironic coming from a guy who's all about gameplay and frame rate obsessed, many mentioned that they don't give the likes of The Order 1886 the same praise a lot of catches ifs and buts for that game.
I don't have to mention the insufferable Tom Morgan.
It seems like Ninja Theory really were trying to tell an emotional story more than make a game - and that's totally fine. I really miss games like this.
Its nice to see Microsoft venturing into "story game" territory when they quite literally never do so. Other than maybe Lococycle.
Damn, remember Lococycle? https://youtu.be/4uHTEDDVFF...
Order 1886 had graphics that were way ahead of its time. Also had excellent gameplay. But it was absolutely ripped to shreds in reviews based on the shortness of the game and some repetitiveness of some fights. For some reason those things don't apply to HB.
A fair comparison I must say. I will play Hellblade II when it comes to PS5 (provided it gets a physical release) as I can't help but think it's similar to the first game in respect of its shortcomings, and I still got something out of that 1st game (a platinum trophy specifically).
It still applies. The games is a high 6 to low 7. Game writers need access to do their jobs so they they don't follow any kind of criteria that would potentially cut that access.
@ripper
They're not applying it, but it applies when we the consumer actually pays for the product and plays it.
more tinfoil hat galore than youtube comments, insecurities run wild when your plastic box doesn't have the most impressive looking game anymore, not that I'm surprised
Not a single person is upset or even disagreeing that this game has the best graphics. So what are you talking about?
It's naive to think access journalism doesn't exist. Calling it "tin-foil hat" doesn't make it otherwise. If you have been on this world since 89, you would have surely come to this conclusion along with the conclusion that words like "plastic box" and "insecurity" expressed in this way tells us more about you than what my comment is actually about.
It does but there’s not very much of it. There’s a couple good action sequences but the rest it bland
@Ripper, I remember how that game was torn apart even before it was released. I played and agreed with much of the criticism, the end bosses were terrible the game was way too short. But the weapons, gunplay and graphics were phenomenal. Haven't played hellblade 2 but watching it, it looks like you walk on rails the take turns combat is a joke. The graphics look fantastic at times, saw her wadding through water in some underground cave with a torch, impressive. Wish NT would have focused more on bringing real combat/ movement to their impressive graphical presentation. 7 years for a 5-6 hrs game is absurd.
Yeah and considering The Order 1886 was actually a pretty competent TPS but walks and jogs around slays a few enemies one and a time with lame ass puzzles in HB2 is much more to their liking.
Something's fishy here.
I just played the first 3 hours.....the gameplay is extremely basic. Walk a path while you hear voices, then long cutscenes, a simple battle that is almost QTE....repeat.
and they thought they were getting this… https://www.youtube.com/wat...
they got a new version, of a game ps4 had, from 2017, -mind, blown
Someone literally said in one thread that this would be a GoW: Ragnarok killer should tell you how delusional some idiots are.
All flash no substance. Shining example of vaporware. And the “game” is only 4 hours long.
Returnal day one with the PS5 Dualsense adaptive triggers was and still is a spectacle and it’s actually fun and challenging to play
Agreed. Absolutely one of the best experiences and new IP of this generation so far
Yes! My favorite game so far this gen. Loved playing through it so much. Need to do it again soon.
@Storm23
"Yes! My favorite game so far this gen. Loved playing through it so much. Need to do it again soon"
I think it may be a glitch as I couldn't find 2 glyphs to Platinum the game was my only frustration. But definitely my favourite experience of this gen so far
Games don't have to be made for everyone. It did exactly what it intended to do. If you want deeper mechanics and combat there are other games.
People are buying a loaf of bread and complaining it's not a sandwich. HB2 is exactly all it was ever advertised as.
It is a beautiful game. It's definitely a sequel to the first. If you didn't like the first then you won't like this one. I'm having a great time with it. I can see why the majority of people probably won't.
They made a tech demo like PS4 had - The Dark Wizard added a bit of QTE and called it a game. It’s ok to have short games but they were hyping it up over a couple years and delivered The Dark Wizard
The game is overall magnificent but hasn't excited me about the rest for the moment, making me very hesitant to continue it.
https://tutuapp.uno/ https://9apps.ooo/
Ninja Theory's latest is an impressive accomplishment in more ways than one, but it isn't the flag-in-the-ground moment many had hoped it would be.
I didn't give af about The Order to have any thoughts on it. Nobody did. You're projecting my guy.
Steam peak-player count is super low. Lower even than the original. In regards to selling copies/subs and making a profit in some way, I'd bet everything I own on it being a complete and utter failure. But I wouldn't shut them down. They need to expand and be more ambitious and ramp up production. Hope their next game is something special.
this l don't understand. This game is explorative, its not ever going to be a big hit but a very enjoyable short experience. Not every game has to be so many hours. The devs were happy with their end product.
Only certain obscure observers thought it would be. The rest of us could see it was never going to shift systems or be a massive hit.
Great graphics does not mean a great game… it peaks interest but at the end of the day we want both in one! Looking at you GTA VI. Rockstar, come show us how it’s done!
80% or on the junior console, this game has a mature rating, you do the math's
The fights are not even remotely cinematic. Watch this and then go watch Sifu, or Yakuza6 or Judgement 2 or Urban Reign or God Hand or Elden Ring or Batman or literally anything else...
This is what happens when you put wannabe Movie Directors in charge of a Game Studio. This is what happens when you put the Movie "Feel" before Gameplay. And without great Gameplay, then what are we doing here? Interactive Movies? Might as well go back to the Sega CD/3DO/CD-i era and call ti a day. Just film real people and do a Dragon's Lair type game. Hellblade is almost there.
The irony? The actual Cinematics in this game look WORST than the Gameplay sections. They couldn't even get that part right.
This is low tier garbage.
The flghts do my head.
Fight one guy slow sluggish predictable, and then get tapped on the shoulder as soon as it's done with a new enemy. Multiple times, like they're been waiting for their turn
That's just poor design.
And it's not cinematic it's just pretty. Watch a Grounded run in Last of Us II for cinematic combat. Or a hundred other games that did it way better.
All this game has is the graphics. Even the brilliant sound design is worse in this game with the voices constantly yapping over the top of other characters and solving puzzles for you before you've had a chance.
The 1st game was a short walking simulator experience with Batman Riddler's focus puzzle and some combats
The game was praised and nominated for lots of awards.
A sequel was announced
The newest game game came out exactly as the 1st one a short walking simulator experience with the same puzzle and some combat
and now PPL are mad
Honestly, what do ppl expect from a sequel?
Hellblade 1 was made for 10 mil, with 20 people and self published by Ninja Theory for 30$. An indie. Which is why the high scores back then make sense.
The sequel was made by 80
people over 7 years and funded by Microsoft.
Nobody expected the exact same thing.
You're cherry picking, this second game is also being praised and will most likely win awards but the first game (at least while it was PS exclusive) was also trashed by certain people for being a "short, dark, boring, walking simulator" so what did you expect people to say when this version has the very same issues?
Do you think honestly there will be studio around to pick up the award ?
It would be well cringe if it won one and all the audience are just looking around
what some developers fail to understand is that graphics is not what makes games sell. It's all about game play, story, and then graphics. Look at ninja garden the story line is utter trash but the game play is what make it so wonderful.
It's fine being another good first party game from NT/Xbox.
Ninja theory set you to make Hellblade 2. They didn't set out to fight and "win" for Xbox.
............... It's the same game as the first Hellblade, just better graphics. What did people expect? Some people that loved the first game loved this one. Some people that loved the first game on Playstation, hate this one because its on Xbox. Some people who hated the first game hate this one. Some people who hated the first game, love this one because it's on Xbox.
One thing that you cannot downplay is the graphics. The game looks great from a visual standpoint. I cannot comment on everything else as I did not finish the first game, and have no intentions on purchasing this one until a Steam sale.
Clock is ticking Microsoft, If you want to get cash back on this game. If you wait a year don't expect people to pay full retail for this on other platforms.
It's a visually stunning game but it takes a lot more than that, It wont be long before something else takes the top spot visually anyway, looking at you Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra. Hopefully that one delivers in more than just the looks department.
It's the huge win that I wanted it to be.
It seems like people were expecting it to be like God of War. Which was never the case.
It's just another case of people having the wrong expectations.
Halo Infinite didn’t turn things around.
Redfall definitely didn’t turn things around.
Starfield likely won’t turn things around either.
Heck let’s just wait til E3…
The first game was really good, but the gameplay was really not good and kind of bare bones. Hope they rectify this in the 2nd game.
Psfanboys crossing their fingers to starfield and every xbox console exclusive to flop. Sick attitude. Any true gamer would be exited about new big triple A games. Starfield gameplay look stunning people are less toxic on youtube and more eager to play the game than judge it pre release.
One game couldn't solve Xbox's drought. Even if the game's going to be amazing.
If you're hungry, one plate of food wouldn't make you feel full.
It could be a sign on change, sure. But first, i would like at least to see some unedited gameplay.
But after a recent interview with Phil Spencer, when he said that great games won't help to turn things around, i don't expect much. Better to keep your expectations low and be pleasantly surprised than to overhype everything and repeat the Halo Infinite/Redfall situation, imo.
Wasn't it stated the game was still in early development sick months ago don't expect this one for another year