Recent reviews by Birdie

This game is quite special to me, I like to replay it once a couple of years or so. Perhaps it's thanks to simplistic graphics or "deep meaning" quotes, or perhaps non-euclidean space level design, it just feels so great.

I don't remember such good metroidvania since Ori, it does aso much things right, whole playthrough was a pure joy.

There's a big map with lots of secrets and collectibles, some might be not accessible without powerups so if you encounter one you add quick mark with screenshot on map, which is quite useful, but sadly there's limited number of those. There's certain amount of backtracking especiially if you're starting secret hunting early as there's not so many teleports and save point teleport being unlocked quite late in the game, without it it's quite easy to stuck in between of nowhere. Prioritizing progression into story should be prioritized as it makes exploration easier.

Combat is great, there are bunch of amulets that allow to tune abilities for different combat style/boss/etc.
Speaking of bosses, they're great and memorable.

Music is exceptionally great also game looks amazing, each zone has own unique style.

Story is fine, there are couple of twists but nothing groundbreaking.

Game also has challenge zone which is way more difficult than the main game. It includes spikes-corridor parkour levels, time-attack puzzles and even extra hard version of the bosses.

I can't recommend it enough, I had alot of fun!

More no than yes. This game lacks the charm and simplicity of the first.

"Scenes" have become too dense - a lot of stuff going on, a lot placeholders to fill in, a lot characters to identify. But it doesn't make it any better - most of characters in the scene are for distraction as solution very likely would mention only 2-3 of them with one mentioned multiple times. Furthermore after each solved scene, more details are added to the episode board, and it won't be of any use until all episodes are solved, as you unlock new names/objects/verbs/etc. but not placeholders to put them in, or vice versa.

Now, after solved two chapters, I don't really want to finish it. I had hoped it would get better, but it didn't.

It's great puzzle and not very hard survival horror game. It's quite comfortable to play, both controls and navigating, there's alot of hints everywhere, some might be too straightforward, some too subtle. And foremost story is quite easy to follow same as where to go.
If this is your cup of tea then give it a shot.

It's great mystery game, but horror it works only on first couple of runs, after that you'll know almost every jumpscare (you encountered so far). Whole gameplay turns around figuring out how to reach every possible and foremost best ending by reliving same 3 days over and over again, kind of reminded be Prey: Mooncrash or Deathloop (not in big scale but you got the idea). If you like games like this go for it, pretty sure you'll be satisfied.

Wow, just wow! This game exceeded my expectations, it's not just "cryptic story puzzle game" as it may look on the first glance, but also a well-crafted one.

Puzzles may look basic on the beginning but later on they'll require you to be more aware of surroundings and clues you can find scatttered around. It's not just about logical thinking but also utilizing all information you have, yet there will be couple of times where you have to take a leap of faith. Most of the time there we'll be multiple places where you can go, so you don't have spend all the time in one place in case you're stuck.

Story may be quite confusing, not going to lie, so I would recommend do not concentrate much on it, you'll still have alot of fun during play.

There are two moments I kinda disliked though:

• missing "back" button - all menus can only be exited through X option, takes some time to get used to.
  
• easy to lose progress due to failing quizzes, so remember saving frequently.

Aside of that it's great game I would like to recommend to anyone who's looking for great puzzle challenge.

Quite short but I really liked the execution.

I liked first Hellblade because it looked fantastic, sounded fantastic, had interesting plot and engaging gameplay, not everything was perfect but I had a great time.
Sadly, can't say the same about Hellblade 2 as it underdelivers in most of previously mentioned aspects and I find this fact quite upsetting.

Graphics and sound are fantastic, I'll give them that one. Don't have much to say, they're simply great.

Plot feels very inconsistent, does multiple detours here and there, making you wonder if they're actually related to story. At top of this all characters we met stay with us until the very end, yet we spend little to no time with them to know them better, making it hard to build any bond with them or just to start caring.

Gameplay is very bland here, not going to lie. 60% of time we move holding sprint button, 30% takes solving puzzles and only 10% is sword fight. Puzzles aren't hard rather easy and quite linear, like you can't mess them up. Last one was the most enjoyable part of the game to me, which sadly got downgraded to 1 on 1 rounds.

In my opinion game doesn't worth its price, despite looking great there's no big reveals, no memorable characters, no boss fights and foremost almost no replay value. For beating game once you get alternative narrator (also another one if you found all lorestones) and that's it. Perhaps they can show same events in different light, but I don't have any motivation to replay it.

It's very hard for me to recommend this game to anyone.

Is it good game? Yes. Unless you're completionist, then you're going to have bad time.
Is it better than Nier Automata? Story is on par, but gameplay is not but could be better.

I respect the fact they left it unchanged, but it also kept the frustration of original. I really hoped they would alter some stuff for the sake of QoL closer to how it was done in Nier Automata, hence I would compare these two games on how things could be better.

First problem: this game is very time consuming, if you want to see it all of course, not just the first ending. Full playthrough requires beating game 4 (and half) times. Second and onward playthrough starts from the second act so it's not that big deal, but you would have to do and listen same things three more times and it's tedious (they differ a bit but that's it). Comparing with Nier Automata, second playthrough partly skips stuff we already seen, yet still succeeds to deliver fresh perspective.

Second problem: quests. Quests by itself are quite interesting, but reward for them is mostly money. There's still motivation for doing them like lore as you unlikely will be short of money in this game. Also, on the beginning of the second act of the game quests from the first act become uncompletable, there's no warning this would happen, and you can't rewind time to finish them. Some second part quests become inaccessible because of it. There's actually no real reason to prevent player from blocking them in the second act. Comparing with Nier Automata, quest rewards do include some unique stuff like rare materials and previous Routes are accessible after beating the game so no quests can be missed there.

Third problem: rare drops. Upgrading weapon require materials that can't be bought neither received as reward for completing quests as was mentioned before. This leaves the only way which is grinding by beating same couple of foes on plains or in dungeon. There's no way to increase chance of dropping rare item, only chance that can be increased is drop itself, which is not very useful. If you plan to get all achievements it would be quite rough ride. Comparing with Nier Automata, well, I don't remember getting such issues with getting everything I need for upgrading stuff, I could be wrong thought.

I want to sum up that despite problems above I really like the game.
I like the story for being such emotional rollercoaster.
I like the music, some tracks were re-arranged such it's not a big deal.
I like the voice acting, English one is especially good.
I like the graphics, game looks great.

It's might be not the best game, but it's good remaster. If you don't plan on 100% completion, pretty sure you'll enjoy it.

Price is being quite steep, but I think it's worth it (yet better wait for sale). In my opinion one of the best VR games available, It's very well made, utilizes FMV in 3D, I don't think I have seen it being used in VR games before.
Took me about 7 hours to beat, stuck only twice as pointers were a bit blurry, but overall I feel quite satisfied with the game.
Quite sad you can't revisit the mansion after beating the game, but I hope this will be introduced in future patches.