Senua's Saga: Hellblade II is rated 'Strong' after being reviewed by 100 critics, with an overall average score of 82. It's ranked in the top 11% of games and recommended by 80% of critics.
I didn't play the first one. Though I started playing this last night on game pass knowing nothing about it.
It's intense, beautiful, intriguing and I'm looking forward to playing more.
The game itself is more of a story that you sometimes sword fight in. Exceptionally linear, which to me is a refreshing change from the abundance of open world titles available at the moment. The story is interesting, though I'm starting to think I should play through the first one first, there is a recap at the beginning so I feel I'm up to speed on what's happened.
The combat is fun, and very cinematic, it feels like every interaction has been coded separately.
Overall it's a solid 8/10 if you are a fan of narrative story games it's worth a look, though as mentioned I'd be tempted to start at the beginning, there isn't much hand holding through the features which I imagine is explained more in the first game.
I've been trying to play the first one after getting it a few months ago, but I can only play for a little bit at a time because it's just so... heavy. It's so good at portraying Schizophrenia that it fucks with your head, and the controls don't help, causing further madness. Every time I try to play a bit, I feel off afterwards, like my mind slipped away. I really want to play and finish it, but it's taking some time.
I'm playing with a controller. It's not that the controls are bad, they're just a little restrictive. Mostly it's the psychological effect of the whole thing, but I feel like it wouldn't be so bad if my movement wasn't so restricted. At least it isn't fighting the controls more than I fight enemies, like in the Witcher. I love that game but the controls are trash.