Had posted this in the OT thread a couple of hours ago but just realized it should have been here:
"finished Hellblade II ( playing one chapter per day, that worked really well for me) and to me it is an amazing experience. I think to be able to see that Ninja Theory wanted to give it more mainstream appeal than the first one, without sacrificing their vision - and to me they succeeded.
There was a good flow to the story and progression, graphics, music and sound are awesome, and I say they did a great job immersing you in Senua's world (learning to live with the constant voices in your head, looking for clues and hidden faces everywhere in the world and doubting what of what you have seen and done was "real" and what was not- that's how Senua walks through life, and you get to experience glimpses of that yourself as the player and get to feel her struggle; great accomplishment).
And the combat and the puzzles (although mechanically in and of themselves only being mediocre videogame food) fit into that experience and support it. Clear 9 out of 10 in my book.
My gripes are actually only the water physics (the way waves clip into other objects for example) which I found to be immersion-breakingly bad next to the other stunning visuals and Melina Juergens' acting- I don't doubt her commitment but I think she is not a very good or convincing actor.
But I am happy this game exists and was allowed to be made exactly like this."
