Hellblade 2 is launch game for the Xbox Series released 3 and a half years too late. It has the spirit of 2013's Ryse Son of Rome; a technological marvel brought down by a short for the asking price, 5 hour runtime, bad pacing and mediocre gameplay.

The shine of its amazing graphics wears off when you realize most of the time you are pressing up on the control stick and going through a corridor. Fortunately the brain dead puzzles and repetitive combat bring some sort of variety.

You might think the story would save this expensive to develop, gorgeous mess but that hope is squandered by the overtly annoying voices yapping nonstop, the predictable finale with a mustache twirling villain and a bipolar story pace that goes slow as molasses at the start and rushes through its final act. At least Senua's stellar performance makes up for the rest of the milquetoast cast and the graphics impress showing what the Unreal Engine 5 can do over its predecessor.

The creators should stick to developing live action as its obvious fun and game mechanics are not a priority. The long development cycle just gave us Hellblade 1 with a worse story and a gorgeous coat of paint. It will not age well.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice was a game that I really enjoyed due to how unique the audiovisual design was. Yes it wasn't perfect, the combat and puzzles were especially tedious and really repetitive. Now 7 years later we finally got the long awaited sequel called Senua's Saga: Hellblade II and luckily the Devs said in a Developer Direct that they improved the biggest complaints which I've mentioned above. And they really had to improve the mechanics from the first game because Hellblade II being a sequel made it loses a lot of the uniqueness factor. So what did Ninja Theory improve exactly ? Tbh. almost nothing besides the beautiful graphics. The combat still consists out of the same four buttons prompts and the puzzles are also very similar. Sadly the puzzles are way easier than in Senua's Sacrifice and are almost no challenge. The only thing that they did change is the frequency of how often you have to engage in combat and solve puzzles. What did they replace it with? Yes walking. And when I say walking then I mean that there is a lot of walking. The first 40 minutes of the game are just walking and chapter 3 is basically just walking through a cave and lighting torches for an hour. This segment was just dragged out way too long and could have been a lot shorter. The voices inside Senua's head also weren't improved either, most of the time they are just a replacement for a UI where it tells you to look this way or to go that way. I just wished there was more to this feature besides that. The big selling point is obviously audio visual experience and yes the graphics are really beautiful. Same can be said about the smooth animations and the soundtrack. But besides that, that's about it. The story is less emotional captivating than one from the first game, I like that there are now side characters but unfortunately they were also pretty uninteresting.

Overall I can say that this is more of an art piece than a game and it can be really unpleasant to play for some people. I was also wondering what Ninja Theory did the whole time the last five - six years of development time. because the playtime is roughly five hours and these five hours you mostly walk around or watch cutscenes. There was also almost zero marketing which was weird because this is one of two big games for Microsoft this year. There might be two reasons for that, either they knew how short the game was and simply couldn't show more. Especially because there were two big "boss encounters" which were clearly the highlight of this game. The problem was that one of them was already spoilert with the announcement trailer 4 years ago. The other reason might be that Microsoft just simply didn't care and knew this game would flop. But it's also well known that Microsoft sucks at Marketing compared to Sony or Nintendo, so this wasn't a big surprise. If you look at the steam player count it peaked at roughly 4000 concurrent players which is bafflingly low. Yes this game is on gamepass which is where probably most of the players are coming from but that doesn't makes it better. I mean look at me for example, normally I prefer buying games, especially physical versions but I was already worried due to the lack of marketing and when I saw how short the games was I decided to play the game through Gamepass. I paid 1 € for one month but not just for Hellblade II, there are also 2 other games which I wanted to try, so I pretty much only paid ~ 0,34€. This worries me heavily after what happend to Tango Gameworks and Hi-Fi and I fear that Ninja Theory will be probably the next Studio on Microsoft's chopping block...sadly because you can clearly see how much passion the devs have. But I can't recommend playing this game throug gamepass and even less for ~50€ because gameplay-wise it's almost exactly the same as it's predecessor and a great example for a game with graphics over substance. This would have been better off as a tech demo to show off the powers of the Xbox console similar to what Sony did with Astro’s Playroom.The game ends so suddenly after teasing another big set piece(the third giant) that I can't stop feeling disappointed.

Games I finished in 2024 Ranked

It’s often found, especially with certain developers like Ubisoft where during the entire development phase of an open world game they take no lessons learned from the genre over the years, and sometimes even from the faults of their own games. Presumably, Ghost of Tsushima has been in development since inFamous Second Son/Last Light in 2014, and yet it has absolutely perfected every aspect of the open world. The map does not feel too big and the side quests are interesting and meaningful. All of the collectibles are fun and worth seeking out. The story is outstanding and does not suffer from an open format. Following waypoints does not focus your attention on a minimap and instead it uses the wind effects to draw your attention to the world around you, which in itself is varied and exciting to explore. The combat is both satisfying from a stealth perspective and during full action. Ghost of Tsushima is everything Assassin’s Creed wishes it could be and I could go on and on about it for ages. As a good friend of mine told me, Ghost of Tsushima is the perfect culmination of a console generation that was far more enthralled with open world games than any other. It really came out at just the right time, and it shows that Sucker Punch still knows how to knock it out of the park.

Bethesda created a modern Fallout without its charm, personality or competent level design. The impressive technological graphical advancements are blemished by the bland artstyle and horrendous looking NPCs. For a title that tries to make you feel free to explore, its numerous loading screen and segmented maps that rely on fast travel (to be bearable) take you out of the experience. Exploring is devoid of adventure or wonder as you do nothing more than excessively running on an mostly flat map, breaking rocks and discovering the nth procedurally generated cave.

At least the movement and shooting mechanics are the best in the developers history. Though, its not saying much with the mostly dead enemy AI. The ship combat is just fine. Administrating your ships power between offense, defense and fleeing is surprisingly engaging.

Starfield is simply a boring ass game that from a technical standpoint, is a competently well made game. It works on the bones of Bethesda's previous titles but the shiny coat of paint dosent cover its antiquated aspects. Dialogue has been done leagues better in other titles. Characters are uninteresting. The main story is some direct to video/Tubi movie made by a fan that does not understand better movies.
A profound disappointment in a stellar year for games.

A fascinating concept weighed down by its incompatible gameplay systems. Part real time strategy game, part choose-you-path visual novel. The strongest points are seeing your character interacting with key parts of German history against the rise of Hitler's government. The terror of getting caught, and the real-world knowledge of where everything leads, fuels a lot of intense moments.

But that all gets lost in the "mission planning" gameplay, where you send resistance members out on missions, balancing their skills and stats to mitigate failure or disaster, and hoping for the best. The missions are all very broad and generalized to account for the fact that you could send any combination of your Supporters out to solve them, so none of the weight of the story is present. After awhile, you're just rushing through checklists and patterns in a tedious manner, your supporters boiling down to their stats more than their personalities or histories. I understand the function is to outline the grueling work of planning an underground resistance campaign, but it still got a little tiring for me.

I think this still contains a really great way to "interact" with history. To say I was disturbed at being reminded how many of these "ancient" events had been quietly repeating themselves in recent years is an understatement. This game could probably be an excellent example of "video games as educational tools).

I had high expectations going into Final Fantasy XVI. The producer, composer, and (one of) the writers from Final Fantasy XIV, along with a combat director from Devil May Cry 5, as well as help from Platinum Games and the Kingdom Hearts combat team sounded like the recipe for an incredible experience. I am happy to say FFXVI delivers on all accounts.

Regarding the narrative, Clive Rosfield makes for an excellent protagonist. Throughout the course of the game we see him grow up and experience a lot of the harsh realities of his world. In a lot of ways, mainly due to his gravely voice and blunt personality, he reminds me of Geralt of Rivia. His wolf companion Torgal also has many opportunities to shine both in and out of combat, and you really get attached to him as the game goes on.

In general, I could actually go on about a lot of the supporting cast. Even minor characters get a ton of great development through the side quests, which are all fully voiced and either serve as meaningful world building, or just tell interesting stories. Admittedly, no small number of them are fetch quest-style, however the payoffs are usually worth it.

The overall plot is a wild ride from start to finish. Many heavy themes are tackled and are handled appropriately, and it's a really grim picture that gets painted. As you journey around Valisthea, the story spends a considerable amount of time building up to these big Eikon fights, multiple of which I consider to be among my favourite boss fights of all time. They are that good. The overall pacing is handled well, speeding up and building to these big battles and then giving the player time to breathe afterwards. It never really feels to fast or too slow. That being said, the game will typically throw side quests at you during the downtime, so obsessive players (like myself) who feel compelled to do them and will find the pacing slow down considerably as a result.

When it comes to the combat, it really is Devil May Cry 5 Lite. The Eikon forms you unlock over the course of the game serve as your styles that you can cycle through during combat (3 equipped at a time), and each has a certain gimmick they are centered around. I thought I would stick with the first 3 you get for most of the game, however my end game loadout was pretty different because they all do feel different and fun to use. Initially, I found the common fodder enemies to be too easy to blast through with your Eikon abilities, however mini-bosses and regular bosses are plentiful. Eventually I began to feel that it served as a good contrast to remind me how powerful Clive is. I think if they were too hardy, it would really make the game feel like a chore.

The open-world is also more of an open-world lite. You have a handful of FFXIV-sized zones dotted with fast travel points, and there isn't much in terms of exploration outside of looking for Hunts and fullfilling side quests. This isn't a bad thing, in fact it's a nice balance between being a linear game and still giving you open vistas to run around in without experiencing open world fatigue.

Overall, FFXVI really is one of the best. A powerful, well-written story with some heavy themes, a cast of characters that I got attached to (even the shopkeeper and the blacksmith!), a stellar soundtrack as always from Soken, and some really crazy combat. They really nailed the whole package, and once I have had a bit of a reprieve I will certainly go back and try all the cool things I unlocked for beating it.

This might sound like an exaggeration, but the best part of this game was the DualSense controller. The haptics in the triggers, the detailed rumble, and the sound effects that come out of the controller (especially when those three things happen all at the same time) absolutely thrilled me. Unfortunately, the game itself got a bit monotonous after a while. It handles really well, and combining tricks, movement, and shooting is really fun for a while! It just didn't have a lot of staying power for me. There came a point where it just felt like I've had a good time, but I don't feel the need to continue.

The controller stuff really was phenomenal though

Writing this review because it's one of my favorite games of all time. I already played it on release and replayed it this year again.

I can't recommend this game enough. The story & lore are amazing, both are silent and more show than tell, the game lets the players think about it for themselves what could actually be going on. It has amazing visuals and the art and style of not only the characters but also the scenery is simply stunning. I also really like the soundtrack. I find myself keep coming back to it. Little Nightmares shows perfectly that a main character doesn't need to talk to make you feel connected to them. One of the most interesting, immersive and visually beautiful games I've ever played. Little Nightmares is an experience that everyone needs to experience honestly!