Hellblade 2's First Xbox Update Now Available, Here Are The Full Patch Notes

It's a shame Hellblade 2 never found it's audience. The game debuted at #23 on Xbox's most played games list and only managed a peak of around 4000 players on Steam. I thought there was more hype surrounding this title but apparently not.

Haven’t fixed the aspect ratio then.

@user0 Doubt that will get "fixed" since the game is meant to have the look of a film shot with a wide-angle lens.

"Misaligned peach fuzz around Senua's neck and face has been corrected"

Talk about "attention to detail"!

I am guessing this was something found during photo mode?!

The more I see peoples comments about Hellblade, the more I think they missed the point of this 'Game'. It was never about the Combat, the challenge of mastering some 'complex' system to overcome enemies. It was never about challenging the player to solve complex puzzles etc...

It was always about Senua and her Mental Health, those 'voices' in her head. I swear they are 'dynamic' in that they are reacting to the Combat (whether you are getting hit or doing well) and the puzzles, its how those situations are 'impacting' on Senuas Mental Health.

If the Combat is too 'Dark Souls', then that will stop people progressing, stop people 'experiencing' what living with Psychosis and how the circumstances, not always 'life threatening' as Combat is, can still impact Senua. Hence the importance of playing with 'Headphones'.

I think that some people don't understand what the main objective was with both Hellblade and now this - to represent what living with Psychosis can be like. Its not about 'challenging' players to master complex Combat Mechanics or Solve the most obscure/complex puzzles, its much more about what those situations do to Senuas Psychosis.

Whether that's what 'gamers' want, expect etc or not, it's what Ninja Theory wanted to create - a Narrative that also helps you to experience what living with Psychosis can be like...

I’m really glad it’s not souls like and a pretty easy going linear game. I am mostly in it for the great visuals and arts.

I didn't notice any bugs in my playthrough but I do think a 16:9 option should be prioritized. Also the water looked a lot worse than the rest of the textures. That was kind of an eye sore compared to everything else that looked fantastic.

overall though I liked the game. I'm pretty much in line with metacritic at low 80s for my score.

@BacklogBrad I see a lot of people complaining about the water.

While I certainly understand to a certain degree, you also have to keep in mind that the game is using an actual fluid simulation - not just some water body that was carefully animated to a specific look.

I just think the water is a little too animated for smaller water bodies as the ripples are crazy exaggerated when walking through them.

Does anyone know the size of this patch?

I loved the game, and I am looking forward to playing it again. Even if I am subscribed to GP, I bought it (specially, since this one have the "Play Anywhere" feature, so I can play it on PC too). Recently, I sold my Steam Deck and bought a ROG Ally, and is great to be able to play Hellbalde II on that device!

@BAMozzy Totally agreed.

Ninja Theory never hinted that this one would be radically different from the first one. I don't know what gamers expected TBH, but I highly respect the fact that NT made the game they wanted to make.

@BAMozzy Sad to say but most gamers never will. This is exactly the game it was supposed to be and worked like a charm. It was always meant to be a curated experience and senua's struggle and it has achieved that in my opinion. Bravo to Ninja Theory for this amazing experience one I'd cherish for a long time. Also Melina's acting has been nothing sort of extraordinary. I'm hopeful she'll achieve great things in the coming years.

@HarmanSmith Love the name and Avatar! Killer7 is an absolute gem!

@GamingFan4Lyf One of my top 10 games of all time! In fact, the remastered version of Killer7 was the reason why I created my Steam account (for better or worse 😆) .

I’ve finished it now, but I’m going to have another playthrough after a couple of indie palate cleansers. It’s a flipping masterpiece if you ask me.

@themightyant I’ve never taken so many screenshots and captures in a game. At times it was getting in my way of actually playing it!

@themightyant For all the flaws the reviews highlighted (short length, very similar to the first one, etc.) I didn't read much, at least in the reviews I read after I beat the game, that it was a highly polished release.

And yeah, agreed that the first one was more impactful and maybe more memorable in the end. But I loved Hellblade II all the same. It's a rare gem, a unique game (if we like that uniqueness or not is another issue, IMHO).

I just don't think a lot of gamers knew about this game. I mean, I have not seen any advertising whatsoever for Hellblade 2, but I do see plenty of PS games advertised on Youtube. Not sure what the disconnect is with Microsoft when it comes to marketing.

Having had several nights to sleep on it, I can say I like Hellblade 2 a lot but I think it is a massive missed opportunity too.

The story doesn't hold together as well as the first and ends in a middling sort of way, the gameplay is minimal to say the least and often verges on quick time events.

I felt like the game could have been a more brutal bloody shadow of the colossus but it just ends all too soon and never gains the emotional gravitas of the first game that made it so special.

I'm sure many will enjoy it but it also feels kind of hard to recommend anyone spend £50 on it.

@GamingFan4Lyf the water can look pretty bad (relative to rest of game)once you start looking for it. I was noticing it most early in the game when looking at waves meeting the shore and going back out. The water would maintain the same depth for the entirety of the wave meeting shore and going back. There wasn't any texture to it either it was just kind of a moving blob that I thought looked pretty bad.

There are moments when the water does look great but I was surprised how often I thought it was noticeably worse looking than everything else(mostly when i went out of my way to look at scenery).

Once again, no source link provided. If you got the information from somewhere else, you drop a link. Journalism 101. Huge pet peeve of mine and I don't know why this is so hard.

Here's the link:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2461850/view/4166471769756034428

I'm really loving Hellblade 2! The graphics, sound effects, music are amazing and the story is great too! I don't like playing games for long hours anymore, so I'm glad that Hellblade 2 is a relatively short game.

Has anyone mentioned the wonderful music yet? I ought to add that to all the other things I loved about it.

@BacklogBrad The water is definitely the weakest effect in the game. I guess I just give it a pass since it is essentially a giant water blob operating on physics rather than a canned animation.

I guess I just appreciate Ninja Theory's attempt to make water move realistically, even if it doesn't necessarily look great in every scenario.

@oopsiezz idk steam numbers hasn’t been looking great this week also

@CrunchyDelSol but why couldn’t it be both ? Why limit the demographic when Sony will take notes and just do a game that rolls in cash

@BAMozzy Couldnt have said it better myself. I absolutely loved it.

@Resosaur If the information is direct from the source it's not really 'journalism 101' to link it. Do you want us to start including pr emails and phone numbers as sources?
It's common courtesy to do so when using another website as a source because they've put the work in to get the information. In that case we will link to it, we always do our best to be fair in that regard.

@Kezelpaso "If the information is direct from the source it's not really 'journalism 101' to link it. Do you want us to start including pr emails and phone numbers as sources?"

What? Direct from what source? You didn't provide a link, therefore we have no idea whether it's direct or not. See the problem? And no — no one's asking for emails and phone numbers. It's standard journalistic practice to provide a source link for something that is copied, quoted, or otherwise reproduced that is not your original work.

Can't believe this even needs to be said...and folks wonder why games journalism is in the state that it's in. (I mean there're sundry reasons but this isn't helping that's for sure.)

@BAMozzy I understood perfectly what was the developers intent as it's a direct continuation of her mental health in the first game and I will fight for their right to tell their story, obviously it wasn't going to be for everyone.

All that said it doesn't make the game any less boring for me knowing all of that 😕 I honestly would have prefer it in a movie format but I'm glad there are some people finding joy in it.

@Resosaur we often get information on patches and updates privately as well as them going out publicly, it's not our job to then go and find a public source to link in that case.
Anyway, we'd hope that you guys trust us to provide accurate information, and to include links when the information is coming from another news source. We do our best 🙏

@BAMozzy Well Xbox gamers in general aren't exactly known to be fans of interactive movies like some of you have said before, the closest thing Sony has that contains very little gameplay with lots of story is the David Cage games like Detroit and Heavy Rain.

@Kezelpaso Again, wut.

If a source is available, it is ABSOLUTELY your job to link to it. As in this case. Honestly your comments on this thread are self-defeating at best and nonsensical at worst.

This is really simple: if you sourced the info from elsewhere, in this case Steam, you need to provide a link. Why is this so difficult for you to do?

That a concept as fundamental to journalistic ethics as this even needs explaining is simply astonishing, and a testament to how far this vocation has fallen over the last decade..

@Resosaur it's just a Hellblade patch, mate

@Resosaur go out and sniff the air my friend. Why you getting so worked up about?

@BAMozzy I have lived with psychosis, and you believe me they were not far off with nailing it with sound.

@Tecinthehead Whether or not you find it 'boring' was perhaps not the point. I'd believe that the intention to 'change' the Combat from the first was to make it 'more' accessible to a wider range of 'gamers'.

Some may have felt the Combat was too difficult, frustrating - being hit by 2nd or 3rd enemies whilst trying to focus on the first, being hit in the back by unseen enemies etc - and thus never reached the Climax. Same with some puzzles, spending time trying to find the exact point which lines up but can't find the 'puzzle' to open the way to that point so gave up.

As I said, the Combat and Puzzles are more about the Psychosis those situations are impacting Senua, how she has to 'fight' and/or struggle to progress along the path. The Combat still wants to make you 'feel' Surrounded but now its just 1v1, Wants you to feel like its 'not' over as soon as you can get passed that enemy, no time to 'relax'.

If Combat or puzzles get in the way of the Story, prevent the majority of players from reaching the Conclusion, then it may not be fit for purpose. If the Purpose is to 'challenge' the player with increasingly more 'difficult' Combat/Puzzles so only the most hardcore/dedicated gamers can reach the 'end', then most will never reach the end. The Purpose was to demonstrate what living with Psychosis is like, how difficult situations manifest that Psychosis and the 'Combat/Puzzles' are 'representative' of Difficult situations for Senua.

@Kezelpaso It's just a link, mate

@oopsiezz I never saw hype for this game. The only people who was pushing this game was twitter and YouTube Xbox fanboys who wasn’t playing on buying the game anyway…

The game had barely no marketing, was only barely shown to the public, and the release date was announced less than 3 months before the actual release. Add in the fact it only $50, this was never made to be a top list seller.

Am I the only one confusing Hellblade 2 with Helldivers 2? 😫

@oopsiezz 4th on xbox live charts. Just behind call of duty which is 3rd for the week with fornite again number 1.i check on xbox live charts website .its a great game, good graphics,, I loved it on my pc , I'll play it again on my series x mainly due to small issues on the pc port and my rtx 3080 laptop can't do 4k without the fps tanking around the 20s
https://youtu.be/mRztn2LQRBk?si=Y6eu8sMzgP_YeyHM
https://youtu.be/7MD6ONnE_XI?si=yGV-RxF2j8hgHT-B

@y2jarmyofficial wrong. It's #31 after being at #24 earlier this week. Both of Xbox's most played games for both Canada and USA have Hellblade at #31 you can check each region simply by changing part of the url. en_ca for Canada's list and en_us for the usa list. You can also check the UK list by changing it to en_gb, which it's currently sitting at #27 there. Anyone can check this, i don't know why you are trying to lie.