Senua’s Sacrifice was one of the most unique video game experiences for me a few years ago when I played it, and I expected the same or even more from its sequel. All in all, I wasn’t disappointed, far from it, but you must keep in mind that this is indeed more like a narrative experience with a few gameplay elements rather than a video game in its classic sense. Of course, if you played the first installment you know what to expect, and if you didn’t, well, even then I think you should give this one a try.

Why? First of all, the graphics are crazy beautiful. I’m not exaggerating, believe me, this one’s a visual stunner. Everything’s so detailed and lifelike, the environments, the people, the weather… Honestly, I can’t even find the right words, it’s jaw-dropping. Last time I met such amazing visuals was in Alan Wake II, but I think Senua’s Saga surpasses even that. And I played the console version! Just imagining how the PC version on a high-end machine could look like gives me goosebumps… Trust me, you need to see this, even if you don’t like these kinds of games. It’s a real shame you can’t remove the letterboxing due to the game’s aspect ratio, and you have to watch everything with those stupid black bars… Well, unless you have an ultrawide monitor or you tinker with the settings in the PC version.

The same could be said for the audio. For the full experience headphones are strongly recommended, that way you can really immerse yourself in Senua’s world, giving you a realistic impression of the 3D space and all the voices the protagonist hears (just like in the first game). I loved the story, too, especially because we have more human characters now, all with their own personalities, fears and motivations. Of course, the main focus is still on Senua and her psychosis, insecurities and self-discovery, shifting between the real world and the manifestations of her inner struggles. I’d say the plot is even darker, heavier and gorier than last time, only recommended for mature gamers.

Unfortunately, not much has changed gameplay-wise. It’s mostly just walking around, with some collectibles and an occasional battle or puzzle here or there, but none of them are too difficult. As a matter of fact, I felt like they were simplified a lot, or at least I had more trouble with them in Sacrifice, maybe it’s just me. There's not much replay value, either, unless you want to hear the whole story with a different narrator. Based on this, some might even call this a walking simulator or an interactive movie, and they wouldn’t be wrong.

Still, I don’t mind that at all. This is a short, narrative experience that can be finished in one sitting, but even with the lack of gameplay elements this is one of those titles that stay with you forever, if you ask me.

When I saw the announcement that a sequel is coming, I thought it was finally time to give this one a try – and, of course, by “give this one a try” I mean “fully finish it including the DLCs, too”. Yeah, I’m a completionist, I can’t help it…

Well, first of all, the atmosphere is crazy good, it’s spot on from beginning till end. The city, the characters, the monsters, even the weather and the little critters crawling everywhere – they’re all just oozing atmosphere. I wouldn’t call the game scary, but it’s definitely horror, make no mistake, it just doesn’t rely on cheap jumpscares and stuff like that. Instead, we get a detective thriller in a flooded, half-ruined city, with creepy visions, and the constant feeling of unease and dread hanging over you wherever you go. The story that connects all these things is quite good, too, in my opinion, especially if you like Lovecraftian themes, such as cosmic horror and the insignificance of humankind.

It's a real pity that the gameplay itself gets really monotonous after a while, at least it did for me. I liked the detective parts, like interrogating suspects, collecting clues, the retrocognition scenes, and the fact that most cases can have different outcomes depending on your choices. Unfortunately, most of the side quests are quite boring, just your average fetch quests, and going back and forth in a city with hardly any fast travel points in it is not much fun after several hours, believe me. And the battles… If you ask me, those are just simply terrible, you should try and avoid them as much as you can. You take lots of damage from most monsters, healing takes a lot of time, and the protagonist constantly keeps losing his sanity making things even more confusing… Meh, in my opinion, this should have been simply a more linear mystery adventure game instead of an open-world action-adventure.

Unfortunately, there are also some bugs, glitches and graphics issues, like stutters, and, for some reason, they decided to remove the option to save manually in the PS5 version (I’m not sure about other platforms, but I know you can save manually in the PC version). Strange. Anyway, as long as you focus only on the main quest, and you like atmospheric horrors, you might want to keep this one on your radar.