I’ve spent more than 10 hours revisiting Viking Iceland in Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced on PS5 and have fallen in love with its bleakness and misery all over again

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced is the version of the game I’ve been wanting to play ever since I completed the original release of the third-person narrative game last year on Xbox Series X.

Developer Ninja Theory’s sequel to the powerful Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice from 2017 has been enhanced and added to for this release, and the game shines on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro, feeling right at home on Sony’s console.

The adventure is, of course, identical to the original release, and my main gripes with the game remain on the whole, but the upgrade in graphics in particular means this is a game worthy of revisiting, and one that excels technically.

It’s a miserable and bleak exploration of the human psyche once again, but it’s a powerful one that features exquisite performances, an intriguing story, and a level of immersion that wasn’t quite there on the first release.

A familiar journey

For those unfamiliar with the Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 game, you play as Senua, an Orkney warrior who allows herself to be captured by Icelandic slavers in order to confront them and put an end to the abduction of her people. However, things soon take a turn, and a grim and bleak story unfolds.

I once again found the narrative of giants, misery, and mystery a deeply compelling one, with an overarching storyline that constantly intrigues, while each particular beat provides memorable moments and background context.

The voice acting, motion performances, and realism of the people in the game further invest you in the story once again, and the character models have never looked better, with each expression captured in beautiful detail, and every line delivered with power.

One of my absolute favorite parts of the initial release remains, as good as ever, and perhaps even more so given the graphics boost. The world of Viking Iceland is one of the best of recent times in games - it’s a true spectacle, and I’ve not been able to stop taking screenshots and exploring the beefy photo mode to capture my favorite vistas.

Each topography and landscape is captured beautifully, and, from the miserable rain-soaked coast at the beginning, right through to the open, lush-green vistas, carved through by rivers and waterfalls, everything is brilliantly represented.

Also, while some places in the game are overly empty and quiet, the landscapes and vistas never fail to wow and absorb; exploring every nook and cranny to find new views, and indeed the game’s lore in the form of faces in rocks, and the totems and trees which tell their own stories bit by bit, is a joy.

The above factors combine successfully, once again, to make a setting that is rich in atmosphere and sense of place, and one that brings its own power and character to the game.

Familiar grievances remain, however; after all, in terms of gameplay and content, it is the same game. Combat is still the same simplistic set of repeated moves (though I feel I was less bored with enemies and their variety this time around), and some of those aforementioned places in the landscape, and thus, the story, really are a bit too empty, too.

A new minor issue, however, is the vibration in the DualSense when Senua focuses on one of the trees or totems. It’s far too intense and harms the immersion, sadly. This is especially the case when revisiting the first game, as there, the vibration is more measured, and ties into Senua’s feeling of concentration more.

A new take

Familiarity aside, this is still a re-release, so what of the new stuff?

In brief, I'd say that this is the kind of re-release that hits all the right notes. The boost to the game’s graphics is certainly worthwhile, the extra play modes add depth and new experiences, the developer commentary enriches your knowledge of the game and its creation, and the wonderful photo mode and update to the first game (if you get the deluxe version) are all sterling.

I particularly enjoyed the excellent graphical updates to the game and playing it at 60 frames per second in the new performance mode. Said mode is also - and I tested this repeatedly, over and over in different places - near identical to the quality or resolution mode. Upon each inspection and comparison, the sacrifice on particles, light, and reflections in the performance mode compared to the quality mode, on both PS5 Pro and PS5 Slim, was negligible.

The update to the first game’s graphics (included in the Deluxe Edition or free for existing owners) is also incredibly well executed. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice now has three graphics modes - performance, resolution, and enriched - all of which are extremely close in terms of quality - and ran identically at 60 frames per second on my Samsung Q6F QLED TV. The enriched mode looks extra fantastic, mind, and has definitely earned a replay of the first game, a place in my 2025 to-play plans.

Elsewhere, the developer commentary is deeply interesting, and the aforementioned photo mode offers an awful lot of features too that are worth getting stuck into if you’re keen on digital photography.

The Dark Rot Challenge Mode is a very on-brand and perfectly fitting inclusion, however. Introduced in Senua’s first adventure, this mode has its own level of high difficulty and offers a permadeath challenge for players looking for the most punishing test. Simply put, with each death, a dark rot will make its way up Senua’s arm, and if you die too many times, all your progress will be lost. It’s such a Hellblade game mode that it makes sense that it’s there, but I am sad that the PS5 platinum trophy is locked behind it.

All in all, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced, as a game, is still just as powerful, gripping, and harrowing as I remember. It is, perhaps even more so than ever, a video game demonstration of excellence in misery, bleakness, and sorrow.

Much like parts of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and its somber storytelling or The Last of Us Part 2 and that game’s exploration of hatred and the cycle of violence, for me, the heavy themes and bleakness of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced are done so well that it’s constantly engrossing and creates something truly memorable, and one of the best PS5 Pro games you can play now.

Should you play Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility

The same bank of accessibility features in the original release remain present in Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced. These include three color blind modes - Deuteranope, Protanope, and Tritanope - as well as other graphical features such as motion blur and camera bob. In audio, you can alter menu narration settings, make adjustments to the audio presentation and device you’re using, while you can once again change text size, some animations, and UI color schemes.

The excellent gameplay accessibility options remain, too, with settings enabling you to change overall combat difficulty, as well as initiate auto-input for Senua’s offensive and/or defensive combat actions.

How I reviewed Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced

I played Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced for roughly 10 hours, replaying the entire main story, finding each and every collectible, and watching each and every absorbing cutscene. I played the game on my PS5 Pro on a Samsung Q6F 4K QLED TV using a Samsung sound bar and a Drop + EPOS PC38X and Sound BlasterX G6 sound card for audio. I was also able to briefly test the game on my PS5 Slim and Acer Predator X32QFS 4K gaming monitor, using a DualSense controller, and my Sennheiser HD 550 headphones, and Creative Sound Blast X4 sound card.

I spent several minutes in almost every chapter checking the differences between the game’s quality and performance modes, and I also tested all the game’s various extras and modes, ensuring I explored all of what this release of the game has to offer. I tried to engage in the enhanced version of the first one that is included in the deluxe edition of the game, but, unfortunately, I could not get this to work or even find it at the time of writing.

First reviewed August 2025