Senua's Saga: Hellblade II Review: Ninja Theory's Flawed, but Uncompromising Sequel Is a Cinematic Achievement

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When I booted up Senua's Saga: Hellblade II for the first time, it began with an in-game cinematic, with the eponymous protagonist out at sea. Warrior Senua has willingly allowed herself to be taken captive by Northmen slavers and hopes to cross the sea and reach Iceland, the home of the Norse slavers, to free her people. Her plan is interrupted, however, when the ship meets a violent storm and is torn to shreds, throwing everyone overboard. Senua survives, barely, washed up on a rocky shore, and decides to look for other survivors along the coast.

Here's when the game first hands control to the player, but it's not immediately apparent. It took me a second or two to realise that Senua was awaiting my input. Usually, when video games transition from cutscene to gameplay, the aspect ratio changes from cinematic formats like 1.85:1 widescreen or an anamorphic 2.39:1 widescreen to 16:9, which matches most high-definition monitors and televisions today, thus giving a full-screen image without any letterboxing or pillarboxing.

But here, the black bars on top and bottom of the screen persisted, even when I was in full control of Senua. Maybe a glitch, I thought. Or perhaps I could head to settings and find an option to turn off the letterboxing? But no. As I soon found out, the game camera in Senua's Saga: Hellblade II is an anamorphic lens with a 2.39:1 aspect ratio, which means developers Ninja Theory intended the game to be played in the cinematic format, with letterboxing on most average displays.

This information annoyed me a little, but it also left me with admiration for the studio's commitment to a particular aesthetic and vision. And I think that mixed sentiment sums up the entire Senua's Saga: Hellblade II experience, too. In its unwavering march towards what it tries to be — a cinematic, narrative driven, interactive featurette, it largely ignores what it is — a video game. As the former, Hellblade II is stunning. It's an intense and evocative tale about