Hellblade 2 is an improvement of the original, but does fall short in some aspects. It was a difficult sequel to create as a lot of the story regarding Senua in the first game involved the players and the mechanics in there that would be hard to repeat in this one. So because of this they couldn't have as strong of twists and turns in it which ended up creating a more generic story. The game starts strong, showing the fine line between the real world, and the world she sees that mixes with her mental illness. The game then somewhat begins to blunder, and it feels incredibly rushed as it tries to 'trim the fat' so to speak, but it definitely feels like they cut too much. It definitely feels like they are trying to quickly get to the end, and has a lot of filler in regards to the puzzles. The puzzles are just as bad as the original, basically walking around a small area to focus in the right spot. They add almost nothing to the game except making it feel like roadblocks to hinder your progress. The combat was my favorite part of the game even if it is lackluster, with the focus being on dodging and parrying, as well as learning the various enemies attacks. There is a lot more enemy variety with helps, and it decided to have you focus on one battle at a time which I believe was smarter. I also enjoyed how they blended animations together, and had them varied enough to feel natural. The graphics are amazing, and it is one of the few games that really gets facial capture done extremely well. You can see so much emotion in the eyes of all the characters, and their performances are very well done. The music was good as well, but nothing really stuck out to really capitalize on a wonderful moment that I could remember. Short and sweet, but definitely a game that isn't for everyone. I enjoyed my time but I don't think I would play again, and I think it really needed not only much more, but a more interesting climax as well as better puzzles because they were, well, terrible and boring like the original.