Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Review (2024) - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Episode Date: May 10, 2024

Parris and Greg talk about Ninja Theory's baby fewer than TWO WEEKS before the release of the sequel, Senua's Saga: Hellblade II. Follow Parris on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@marcello696 Run of Show - - Start - Housekeeping - Hellblade 1 2024 Review - Ads - Hellblade 1 Spoiler Chat - Expectations for Hellblade 2 - Are We Worried about Ninja Theory? - SuperChats Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up, everybody. Welcome to the kind of funny games cast for Friday, May 10th, 2024. I'm one of your host, Greg Miller, alongside the best voice in the business, Paris Lily. Are you doing, Greg? I'm great. How are you? We're worried. You'd been sick earlier this week. You powered through to come talk Xbox. How are you feeling right now? I'm better. I'm going to put myself at about 75%. 75%. Yeah, I'll be okay. You're 75% is better than my 100%. So I'm happy to have you, Paris.

Thank you for coming through. You're a busy man, Paris. I see you out there all the time. First off, with the gaming takes, of course. Of course, over on Gamer Tag Radio. Of course, here on Gamescast. I've seen you making this concerted effort out there that you're getting back to your YouTube channel.

Everyone go subscribe to Paris's YouTube channel. YouTube.com slash at Marcello 696. I would say it's time to change the name. You have too many personas. You got Paris. You got vicious. You got Marce. You got to get a branding going, Paris.

Can I, because someone asked me on Twitter, where did I get Marcello from? That's my middle name. That's where that comes from. So I'll know. Harris Marcello Lilly. Yeah. You are the coolest fucker alive. God damn.

That's a name right there. Where does Paris? Where does Paris come from? Where does Marcello come from? Oh, man. You really want to dive into the weeds. I love Paris, Lily. Lori.

Yeah, I do. I am actually. the third. My father was Paris, Lily Jr. So my grandfather was Paris. Where all that came from in the early 1900s of Southern Georgia, I have no idea. My little bit of ancestry I've done, I'm clearly descended from, from slavery. So I don't know. That's just, really? Really? Yeah. That damn, that's a fucking fascinating one. Those are hell. Those are great names, Paris. Yeah. Paris, Marcello, Lily. I'm just Gregory James Miller.

Yes. Gregory James Miller. Huh. Well, that sucks. But I'm excited to have you, Paris. I don't get to do enough one-on-one content with you. Yeah, I know. I know.

It's always good when you and I can have a little one-on-one time talking games. And that's what the kind of funny games cast is all about. Each and every weekday, of course, live on YouTube, Twitch and podcast services around the globe. We run you through the topics of conversation in the industry. Could be a review. be a preview, could be Xbox burning down in front of our very eyes. It doesn't matter.

The Gamescast is here live to have those conversations with you. If you want to have conversations with us when we're doing the Kind of Funny Gamescast, it's quite simple on YouTube.com slash Kind of Funny Games. You should be using the super chat functionality with your thoughts, opinions on whatever we're talking about. We're talking about Hellblade 1 today. So get ready to have thoughts about that, okay? Of course, if you like that, like us and want to go even further because maybe you're

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and say, hey, you're doing great, and we're glad you're an 11-person independent operation in San Francisco. That's all about live talk shows. Today, so far, ladies and gentlemen, you've already gotten blessed in Tim talking about Sarah Bond's response to tango closing on Kind of Funny Games Daily on YouTube, Twitch and podcast services. After us, you'll, of course, get Nick continuing his Nuzzlock stream, which is going to keep going, it turns out, because he fucked up yesterday. Oh, no. He messed up yesterday, and so he's got a lot more work in front of him.

Let me tell you, we dominoed out the schedule where, yeah, Bear, Bear, you weren't here for this. We thought we were going to be reviewing and finishing Pokemon next week. We ain't anymore. We ain't anymore. Oh, no. Also, before that, another episode

of Kind of Funny Game Showdown, season two episode. Of course, right. I forget about that every time. Fridays are still new to me. Sorry, you'll get that as I try to become 2 and O in the Kind of Funny Game Showdown for season two. If you remember, like I said, of course you get a Greg way each and every day.

Today's is a discussion of if I'm going to cry when I play EA College Football 25 for the first time. Paris, I'm so excited. We're going back to the gridiron. We're going back to Mizzou. Wait, you've never played it? No, no, no.

I've played, I played them religiously. And it's been deprived of me for so long that I got, I got very emotional seeing the leak today of it. Hey, the deluxe edition's on PlayStation. I would cry. So I'm sure you will too. Look at it right there. I can't wait, Paris.

Yeah, I can't wait either. You should come up. We should come up and do a big stream. I was talking to Gregway, spoilers, that one of my pitches is that we do, for the first stream, a big tailgate. So it's just two hours of us drinking and grilling in the parking lot. And then we come in drunk and play. And I think that's what I want to do.

You know what? I would so be down with that. We got to do that. Yeah, I will 100% come up for that. That'll be a lot of fun. I love you, Paris, so much. Go Knowles. I also love our Patreon producer Delaney Twainting,

Kieran Hovesapien, and Carl Jacobs. Today we're brought to you by Oroframes, Shady Rays, and BetterHelp. We'll tell you about that later. For now. Let's start with topic of the show. Tats, Tass, Tass, Tass, Tass. it might be 24,

but it's time to review Hellblade Senua's sacrifice. Of course, this was released August 8th, 2017. So maybe you wandered in here and said, why are you guys reviewing an old game? Because, ladies and gentlemen, Senuas Saga, Hellblade 2 releases May 21st

and Ninja Theory studio head, Dom Matthews is on the Gamescast next week with me and Paris. We're doing an interview on next week. We're very, very excited for it. Yes, looking forward to that. And of course, I'm very, very excited for Hellblade 2,

which seems like we've heard about it forever. And now that we are within two weeks of getting it, no one's talking about it. So it's like, what the hell's going on? But we needed to dive in and get a refresher I felt on Senuous sacrifice, run through all of that. But Paris, where is your hype level for Hellblade 2? It's very high, especially after doing this replay now of Senua's,

almost said saga, but it was sacrificed. Yeah, no, it's very confusing. Every time I write the headline, I'm like, did I nail it or did I not nail it?

Yeah, yeah. No, but I'm definitely hype for it. I'm really looking forward to when we get hands on. Yeah, 100% me too, of course, to see how far it's come.

Because of course, August 8th, 2017 was a long time ago. Of course, Ninja Theory was bought by Xbox in the time since then. 2018, they snatched them up.

If you're not aware of Ninja Theory's track record, of course, yes, Hellblade, but I, of course, would have jumped to as the PlayStation IGN guy, Heavenly Sword when that dropped and we were like, it is the answer to Kratos. This is going to be the female God, it's going to be this, that, and the other.

Then, of course, enslaved a criminally underplayed game, but a game that was beloved, and then DMC. So, of course, Ninja Theory, Ben are around the block for quite some time. But Hellblade is what I would say, blew them up in the modern time in terms of people knowing who they were and what they were doing. If you're unfamiliar with Hellblade, we're going to give you a review here.

we're going to talk top level. I imagine we will eventually get into spoilers. We will make it clear, I think, that, okay, we've talked as long as we can without getting into actual specifics. Why not go from there? So if you've never played and maybe you're thinking about picking up the first game before you jump into Hellblade 2, feel free to watch and not have spoilers. However, I will give you the Wikipedia description of Hellblade

in case you didn't know. Hellblade is a Seineous Sacrifice is a 2017 action-adventure game developed by Ninja Theory. Set in a dark fantasy world inspired by North mythology and Celtic culture, the game follows Senua, a picked warrior who must make her way to Helheim by defeating otherworldly entities and facing their challenges

in order to rescue the soul of her dead lover from the goddess Hella. Of course, this is a be loved game. This is a game so many people have talked about a studio that so many people fell in love with this. I want to remind you that as we go, I want you to be a part of this and talk to me about why you love Hellblade, what you thought of Hellblade won. Do that via the super chats over on

YouTube.com slash kind of funny games. Paris, start me off here, of course, spoiler-free, top level. Where were you with Hellblade in 2017? Did you jump right in? Did it immediately slap for you? What's going on with that? I'm so glad you're asking me this question. Where was I in 2017 with Hellblade? Nowhere, because I didn't play it. It wasn't something that was on my radar at all. actually did not jump on the Hellblade until early 2020 during the pandemic. Wow. Okay. Yeah, because I, you know, I had always heard of it, but I never, like I said, checked it out. And it was ironically enough, the game awards of 2019, where they revealed Hellblade 2. And I go, oh, wait, maybe I should go back and actually play this. So then in early 2020,

that was my first experience with it. And I'll never forget, you know, talking about it on social media and everyone immediately saying wear headphones, wear headphones. You need to wear headphones if you play this game and there were 1,000% correct. That's fascinating that it got there. So did it live up to the hype? Because obviously you had heard about it for so long, I assume, in terms of what it was doing with psychosis, mental illness, etc. No, it absolutely did. And that's kind of the beauty of this game of it's giving you this audio experience along with going with the aspects of mental health and psychosis, which was something I hadn't really experienced in a game previous

to this. So it really stuck with me at the time playing this because I felt I would play at night in the dark. I didn't rush through it. Like I know a lot of people like, oh, I played over a weekend. I actually played this over a few week period. And just kind of every night I would experience a little more, a little more. And it really just immersed me into this world with Sinoa and just, I don't know again, we're not going to spoil the stuff, which is everything that was going on with her inside her head and in the reality of the world. And yeah, I absolutely loved it. And I think that's the important thing. I think you can talk about the psychosis and the things and the voices in her head because that is like a key element of the game. I do want to even before

we get into spoilers, I'm going to read through some review synopsuses here. These are obviously ones that were published at the time. So they're not spoiling it, but they are going to get into that because the psychosis and the mental health angle was such a big part of Hellblade success in making a critical darling in doing all of these things. Paris for you, what would you give this on the kind of funny review scale? Of course, we have moved since you were on last to doing, of course, we are now on a 20-point scale. So that means, of course, 1 through 10 that you can give 0.5s and all that.

The breakdown goes, of course, ladies and gentlemen, 10 being a masterpiece, nine being amazing, eight being great, seven being good, six being okay, five being mediocre, four being meh, three being bad, two being awful, and one being Golum. I'm going to give this an eight. Eight. Okay. Yeah, I think it's great. I'm almost leaning towards maybe an 8.5 on this because I just think what they're doing with audio in this game, not that it's unprecedented, but you don't see this a lot.

And like we, you know, like we keep saying, the fact that you need to wear headphones because of the voices in your head and the whispers and what they're telling you to help you and sometimes not help you. And what do you do? Do I trust what I'm here? You know, it's so good in that. What I think would keep this from being a nine is the combat, in my opinion. Right. It's just okay. It's not the best.

But I think the journey of what Sinawa is on is great. It really is. So it is absolutely well worth anybody's time being able to pick this up and play it. And I would highly suggest it. I don't disagree with you in terms of, the journey, the character, the psychosis, right? But for me, Senio Saga has always been this interesting one that is, I don't know why it doesn't work for me.

I'm sorry, what? You said Saga, and I was like, wait, no, he meant sacrifice. Sacrifice, God, see what I mean, it's going to be, Hellblade one, Hellblade one has always been this interesting one, right? That didn't work for me for some reason. And I've wrestled in the past with why. when it dropped in 2017 my wife Jen

fell in love with it like she platinum this game I'd come home and I would watch her play for the two nights she played because she crushed it just destroyed it going through and getting all the stones doing everything and so I got it that way

and a couple different times both that year and then later on I think even yeah during pandemic when it got announced I would restart it on my own and go like well let's do it let's roll credits let's get blah blah I jumped in and always would tap out fairly early.

And I, you know, in the brain that Greg Miller has, the toolbox of ideas and thoughts and millions of video game opinions kicking around. To talk about it in 2024, I've always chalked it up as well. I fell out of it because I'd already seen the story. I'd already lived it through Jen. I'd already seen so much. It da-da-da-da-da. Being here right now on May 10th, having beaten it on my own, gone through,

gotten all the trophies except one because of course I missed a stone and I don't want to play with a guide open while I'm trying to review a game. I still am not connected to this game. This game is still a miss for me and I think

it's a game that has so many great elements when we're talking about acting when we're talking about visuals when we're talking about if you haven't played at Hellblade you should play it with headphones right because it is the voices inside

send you his head, right? So you hear them from all over in the 3D audio and it's doing this thing and it's going back and forth. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, all of that is great, but I don't think it's a great video game. And I say this as Greg Miller, King of the Walking Simulators, Greg Miller, the guy who wants to make the game about the 14-year-old wrestling with their sexuality, make me cry about it. You know what I mean? Like, I am a fan of games that aren't, you know, that aren't Twitch, that aren't Eldon Ring, that aren't like, hey, you're a real gamer. It's not that about it, but just I find so many issues with the combat, and I was interested

reading through the reviews that I posted in 2017 to see people of all shades admit that was a problem and then either forgive it because it did so much other right or ding it for so much other stuff. So to real quick, I want to read through right now, Hellblade 1, Hellbade Seineuous Sacrifice, has an 81 on Metacritic, right? I'll start with IGN. This is just their verdict at the end, right? IGN's Brandon Tyrell back in 2017, gave it a nine.

Hellblade, Senuous sacrifice is a masterclass of atmosphere, storytelling, and the marriage of mechanical and conceptual design. While there are moments that feel shoehorned in to remind us we're playing a video game, the care and attention Ninja Theory has clearly poured into Senua

and her story has created something amazing. This is a game everywhere should play and I'm thankful for the opportunity to have lived inside the mind of Senua, however briefly. Over a game informer, Joe Juba gave it an eight. Psychosis in video games is, psychosis in video games is often used to justify a villain's world-destroying ambitions, or as a vehicle to present gameplay gimmicks. Hellblade goes beyond those conventions, using Senua's mental illness as the core from which the entire tale radiates. That approach results in some phenomenal and unsettling narrative moments that knock you off balance.

However, in pursuit of that achievement, Hellblade weaponizes the real world frustration. It causes an exploration in combat. That's where it falters as a game, even while it captivates as a piece of interactive art. So well said, Joe. And the final one I want to toss out is Twinfinance. Ismail Romero, 3.5 out of five. In the end, Hellblade, senuous sacrifice proved to be an interesting experience. that I both loved and at times grew bored of.

The story is dark and deep. It forced me to really look inward and think about everything I was witnessing. Yet the gameplay leaves much to be desired. The combat is solid, especially during boss encounters, but there are far too many stretches where you don't get to experience it. And the puzzle segments left over to fill in the void aren't anything to write home about. Still, I must recommend this game as what it does is very important.

To take something like psychosis and give it not only a voice, but a clear picture is not an easy task. Yet Ninja Theory has succeeded. Being visible is very helpful to those who suffer. And the fact that it's difficult to explain makes it, and the fact that it's difficult to explain makes that difficult. Yet, Hellblade does a great job of solving, great job at solving that problem.

If you're interested in seeing the world through new eyes and love a deep story, Hellblade is definitely for you. But if gameplay rules your kingdom, you may want to wait on this one. all of those talk about the same problems. And where I'm left on the kind of funny scale, and remember, of course, kind of funny scale is meant to be explored

and we're all meant to enjoy it and we can change it while we talk. And Paris, if you want to end up in an eight five by the time we're done with the discussion, great. For me to start this discussion, I would put this at a 6.5. I think this is an okay game.

Interesting. It's a game that I think does everything so, so much of what was just said is right on the money. You know, Brandon Tyrell at I, this is a masterclass in atmosphere, storytelling, the marriage of mechanical and conceptual design. Yeah, 100%.

But I didn't enjoy playing it, I didn't feel. I felt like it went long in the tooth. It's a short game, and I felt like it was long in the tooth. I think the fact that the combat is so simple, I don't ding it for that. I ding it for when they, since you have it all from the start, for the most part, right? Obviously, you can slow down time and do whatever

when you get your little deal, your mirror. But like, for just to be a light attack, heavy attack, in a parry right. My thought there is like, okay, cool, I would have been fine doing that the entire way through. I know some people at the time wanted it to, hey, we want there to be more complex combat. I don't need that. I just didn't enjoy that like, hey, here's all the combat tools. And the way we will evolve it or make it harder or make it more challenging is just to throw

more people at you and to throw them, you into these monster closets where they just keep coming. And then it's like, well, now I'm getting hit, but I'm not getting hit. but I'm not getting hit because I really fucked up. I'm getting hit because somebody behind me off camera is in the middle of a swing while I was trying to take on this. It's like, this isn't fun. This is just annoying. And even if it didn't lead to me dying,

it was just like, come the fuck on, really? And plenty of times it did lead to me dying. I pop back up and I go around. I do, it's just like, if you're going to make the combat not a center piece, not a, hey, we are actually making this something that we think's awesome, da-da-da-da, or investing all this and there's skill trees, whatever, then keep it simple. Just let it be that I'm engaging in a few different people when I go that I, you know, for the big things, for your big boss fights are to get to the big boss, I understand giving me a few more people.

But there was a couple times where it was just like, I got to that point where I'm like, do they want me to sprint away from them? And then the inability to unlock on to people. So it wasn't like, all right, all right. You know, it's like I found myself at the end of this being like, yes, I love the way they explore it. I love the way it looks. I love how crazy. And we, that's not bad. We're talking about psychosis.

I don't mean crazy, but like how out there this story is, right, and what they're doing and what's real and what's fake and doesn't. Like, I eat that shit up. I love all that. But at the end of this, I'm left going like, I didn't enjoy playing it,

and I really wouldn't recommend it outside of being like the technical achievement it is. Am I crazy? Am I crazy? I got some saying crazy, don't I? Am I off the mark pairs? You're actually not. And hearing you break it down that way,

it makes total sense. And actually, I appreciate you bringing up those. reviews from back in 2017. So kind of lets me know I'm not that crazy of thinking it's an eight. But you're you're correct. The combat's not great. That's why I was like, that's just okay. You know, and there's definitely a lot of hiccups and issues with it. But I also think because I didn't play it originally in 2017. I did not play it until 2020. I kind of forgave some of that, I think, because in my mind, I'm thinking,

ah, it's an older game. It had some issues with combat. You know, if this was, were to come out now, I think, I think it would be a lot better, which ironically enough, that is going to be an expectation of... We're about to find out! Yeah, yeah, going into two. They definitely need to improve the combat. So I basically forgave it for the bad combat because I was enjoying the experience, the journey, again, the journey that it was taking me on.

So, but no, you're pretty spot on with everything because there are definitely a lot of annoyances in certain encounters that you would have from a combat in gameplay standpoint. Yeah, I feel like, again, everything I said there, like, I'm still so excited for Hellblade 2. Because it is, all right, you know, it's been seven years. What have you learned? What did you take away from these reviews? Like, again, I'm not asking Ninja Theory in Hellblade 2 to be,

it is Dark Souls, it is this crazy combat. It is, it's just make it more varied than what I got. The fact that I was doing this and fighting these guys, and I understand for so many people it was easy to plow through that or go around it and yada, yada, you had it like I liked the puzzle solving nature of it I like looking for the you know you you'll get glyphs that you then need to find in the world there's cool stuff with perspective and like putting together bridges and things like that like there was a bunch of things they

did in a way that I was like oh I really wish you would have done more with that right I wish that we could have gone more into that when it would you know okay now you're into a section where you just have to run you know I mean just get you know you could die in like I think in my head in what I remember remember, you know, being removed seven years from a game. I didn't play and I just watched. I remembered so much of it being more boots on the forest ground. Really what that first, probably because I played the first two hours, you know, several times, right? Really being that game. And so playing it and getting to different environments, different biomes, different, you know,

worlds and looks and the way they bring in FMV to put on top of this game that's already like, they do so much good stuff in there. But in the end, I'm just like, cool. Like, I, I'm so hopeful Hellblade 2 is so much better, if that makes sense. Yeah, I'm with you on that. There's definitely a lot of lessons learned that they should have been able to take out of that original game. And again, the period of time would feedback from people that have been playing it over the years that you would hope we see those corrections and improvements going into Cinewa's saga. There you go, nail that colon, hellblade 2. Yes.

Why do I mean, I call Helblay 2. You know what I mean? but I'll go back. I digress, ladies and gentlemen. I do want to move into spoilers where we can talk about the story. We can talk about the things happening and doing all that stuff. But I also want to thank you, ladies and gentlemen, and NBs. Of course, without you, we wouldn't have Kind of Funny because, of course, lots of you go over and support us with the Kind of Funny membership on YouTube.com slash Kind of Funny Games or Patreon.com slash Kind of Funny. If you're using the Kind of Funny membership, of course, you in return would get ad-free programming across all of our bevy of shows. You would get the ability to watch the afternoon podcast, live as we record them. And of course, you'd get the daily multimedia experience known as Greg Way.

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questions and thoughts so keep it up but for now as we enter into the spoiler-filled section of this paris what stands out for you when you think of hellblade what was real and what wasn't that's that's the biggest thing for me is what was just simply in her head and what was actual reality i i tend to think the various battles that she she was having you know with with the bosses like the gods obviously hella and all that at the end that was all in her head that wasn't real that was her dealing with the death of of dylan her basically her grief over that would set her that sent her into the psychosis that she's in. The voices that she's hearing in her head are just simply her.

There isn't anything else. It is her basically talking to herself. I don't know if we didn't even get into the ending part just yet. What you do it? Have fun. It's the games cast. The game's seven years old. Like I said,

I even think the battle that she has at the end with hell again, when we talk about the combat and it not being that great, it's almost that's on purpose at, the end because it is just her fighting herself sure and coming to grips with the reality of her love is you know she's lost the love of her life so to speak well that's the power right of what I took away from the ending right is that hella yeah I agree all these battles are in her head right she's not going up against the actual gods yada yada yela is grief personified yes so when she looks like she stabs senua but then we flip it and so that she stabbed her and she's

tossing her way and then she drops Dylan's head, right? It is the idea and the release of the grief of, okay, what happened isn't my fault. You know what I mean? Like she carries it all on her shoulders, right? That she left to go deal with her darkness. When she came back, everybody had been killed in the village, right? Including Dylan who had been sacrificed and splayed up there or whatever. Like, I thought that is a powerful message, right?

I do think it's one of those messages that is not as clear as I want it to me. I never love a game when I end it, and I'm like, all right, to Wikipedia. Like, what did I miss? Oh, the voices were the furies according to Wikipedia. Oh, cool. I must, you know what I mean? And like, so much of it, obviously, it's hilarious of

2017 this game comes out. Coming back to it and seeing all these names for me, and the stories are so informed by God of War 2018 and God of War Ragnarok. Like, I'm a mere, my man. Yo, what I remember. And then it's like, oh, the story they're telling. about all this makes it so much more interesting to think about how God of War was teasing

if I would have known that. But like it is one of those of like I loved what we, how it happened to where we got and yada, yeah, yeah, but it was like, I had to go look it up right away. I was like, I'm not smart enough for this. So then for you, what was real and what was fake, everything's fake or, you know, not happening or whatever. Yeah. Does that take away from you?

Do you think she's in the woods in your head just swinging a sword at nothing? Yeah, in my head, I think there is a lot of that for sure. But that actually brings it back to what drew me into Hellblade in the first place, dealing with mental illness and the psychosis and all of that, that you could have like her grief was so much that she basically manifested this reality for herself to be able to deal with said grief. And it took her on this journey, you know, that that ends with literally fighting the gods, right? So I loved it.

I absolutely loved that aspect of it, like to know that this is how the mind can work. Like, because we know that this happens in our real world today with psychosis that people manifest these things. And this is how this was her coping mechanism for everything that happened to her in her real life, so to speak. This is an interesting one from the chat. NC5-8-11 says, I think she could be very well fighting some Vikings, but they appear more monstrous to her. That would make sense too. Yeah. Actually, I do think that.

I think that's part of it too. I think if she were having any of the encounters that she may have really been having, it, I keep saying manifesting, but it transformed those encounters into something even more. 100%. I think what's been interesting too, and this is a,

I guess, you know, a blind spot for me, somebody who now has just beaten this game on their own again after having watched so much of it, but I've clearly not watched all of it. is the fact that we just came off of Allen Wake 2 last year and all the flowers we gave it for everything it was doing

of mixing game in-game assets with FMV and this, that, and the other, blah, blah, blah. And how well this game does it and how well Hellblade 1 makes you connect with not only Senua, but then the cast of characters were only remembering through her eyes, right? Like, that conversation of Dylan laying there,

like, you just bare chested, like, clearly like she's remembering this conversation from when they were in bed together. Her mom's face popping up like that stuff hit for me in a way where I it was like at first it's like, oh, is this in engine? Oh no, this is oh, but they the game already looks so good. Senua herself looks so good that this is right there and it walks that perfect line of bringing me in with these performances but not having to stop me and make me remember I'm playing a game. Yeah, absolutely. I just just kind of pause on that for just a second because I, I've played this on PC is where I played.

Fucking loser. Yeah, I know. Hey, you got to do what you got to do. But it again, I was just, as I'm playing even now, I'm thinking, man, these visuals are really, really good. So because this is on, on Rule 4, I guess, right? So I'll say again, as we go into the next one, man, what are we in store for with the next one? Because we know the visuals have been, you know, highly updated for Ceno Saga. Saga.

See? Damn it! Now I'm not saying it right. Saga. Saga. Yes. Okay? This was her sacrifice. Now she's having a saga.

Yes. Yes. And so that's an interesting one of like, where do you expect for Senuous saga, Helblade 2, to pick up with her? Right. Again, like there's this moment at the end of it. You know, we drop all this. We're done with the grief.

We're moving on. And like she, what she has, she says there's more story to tell or whatever. Yeah. Go with her. She has more stories to tell. Right. Like, what do you expect our world to be here? Again, we had that giant baby crawling at us.

Is that hella coming back? Yeah, I have no freaking idea. And that's what intrigues me about, because this, this clearly game was, I feel like this game was made to be, this was it. I don't think, all right, now we're going to create a trilogy or something like that. So how they picked this up and how they continue with her psychosis is going to be very interesting because what is the story to tell? What is next on this? I just truly don't know. So I'm fascinated to see where this picks up coming off of sacrifice.

Yeah, me too, right? And, you know, the stuff we have seen of these giant battles and like storming the beach and other people being fighting with her. I'm just to see who she's falling in with. You know, where did she go from here? What is the group she's running with? And there might be dev diaries and stuff like that. I've kind of stayed away because I don't want to go in blind, blind, but I want to go in like as I want the game to unfold for me. I don't want to come in expecting what I've seen before.

Exactly. I'm gone. Yep. What else? When you think about this game, a game you're giving an eight, what else stands out? It's funny with the puzzles because I, there was a puzzle, man, and it was early on to that confused the hell out of me. And this is before I understood how the glyphs and everything worked, where it, I had a great

sense of satisfaction figuring it out because I wasn't. and looking at guides or anything, I'm just like, I don't know what the frick I'm doing. And then finally figuring it out and then unlocking that next door and then having, realizing, especially the second time I played it, the whispers at times are guiding you where you need to go. But then there's other times, they're not. And I love that. I love that. You have to question everything that they're telling you at all times and what you.

Should I go, but should I listen to them or should I do the exact opposite of what they're telling me? So I thought that was a great aspect. Again, you know, just from the puzzle elements, trying to solve those things and listening to what the voices in your head are telling you. 100%. I think, again, for as much as the story, the tech, the, you know, showcase of psychosis is lauded in these reviews. for me, I found those puzzles, yeah, like such great serotonin hits. You know what I mean? Or adorfin hits.

They're like, oh, man, like I did it. I solved it. I remember like early on like learning the language of the game, right? It was like you walk in. They introduced the get. This might be the first door with the glyphs. And I turn around and I can see it's from that elevated platform. And I was like, okay.

And so like I, you know, uncharted video game guy. I like run out and I try to come around to the other side. And I'm like, what am I missing? and I'm walking away and to finally come in there and be like, oh, the archway. And it's lit up yellow, of course. It's not even that hard to figure out. But it's like the archway and figuring out that like it can make you walk between worlds, right, to see the other thing.

And again, as we sit here and, you know, Monday morning quarterback, all of a send you was a journey, right? Like, I assume that's just for her. It's just for her that's a key of if I go through here, I'll see the world differently and be able to go do the thing. Like going up, find that great. One of those giant like arena environments they have that I don't. even think I fought people in. Maybe I did fight people in, but it's the one where it is like,

you go through the arch and then it opens up, you see a different, and you go over, like, you're arching it all around and you're unlocking doors and moving the things and the broken walls. And it's like, that is the one where it's, I forget which review it was. Maybe it was IGN. I think I highlighted it right. The shoe, I mentioned the shoehorn thing. I hear it is. It was actually game informer where they talk about real world frustration. It causes an exploration. I never had that. Combat for sure. and I've already talked that. The exploration I found in this game to be rewarding isn't the right word, I think,

because I thought it was pretty obvious on most of these ones. If I run to the left on this beach, I'm probably, oh yeah, there's one of the stones, I'll get the story, okay, that's fine. But it was more the,

when they introduced the big area with all the arches, I was like, shit, this is going to get confusing. And I could see me painting myself into a corner where I didn't do, I did that,

but I did that out of it. And it didn't happen. It didn't happen. I did the whole thing, got up there. Every time I would look around and be like, oh, it's over there. Okay, and like what changed? And like, they did a great job of signposting those things. I thought when that was what raised my hackles of like,

oh, is this about to be a really annoying part of the game? Yeah, no, I'm with you on that. To me, yeah, I guess when I felt the exploring was, I'll say again, just, just okay. I didn't think it was super rewarding. I mean, obviously, if you're trophy hunting or something like that, you want to make sure you collect all those things. But I never felt it was mandatory today. For sure. If anything, I think even for me is like, yeah, I would have loved to have platinum this in the first run or whatever.

But again, I hate reviewing a game, especially a story game with like, all right, pause, look over. Oh, so I'm going to go to this thing. I don't want to do that. I don't want to run it that way. So for me, when I did miss them, I wasn't even upset about the trophies as much as I was upset about the story. Like, again, like I think the performances are so good in the. this game. Like what people are bringing to the table, the way they're acting. I mean, obviously send you herself. We've, you know, Game Award nominated. She didn't win. Did she win? I forget. That was the confusing year where they opened the thing and it was her story, but it was her name and we were confused on who won. I forget. But it was the idea of like, deservedly so on all the awards

and nominations she got as a performer. But everybody else, the whole cast is great, right? The videos are great. The things are awesome. I hope they do more with that in Hellblade 2, where it really is a I hope they lean more on the story and less on the combat, more on the puzzles, less on the combat. Again, like, I don't need it to be what Janet Garcia would describe as a frictionless thing. Like, I don't mind getting to a big boss and getting challenged. But that was always what I found weird about this game

and my hang-ups on, and she did win for best performance. Thank you. My hang-ups on the combat was, I enjoyed the boss fights. When you give me this boss, this giant Cerberus, and I'm like, all right, I'm going to fight him. And it's like, cool, that was good. but it was then it was the annoyance of like, oh,

I just have too many gnats around me when I would die or get annoyed with the giant guy and this guy's the shield. I'm about to break the shield, but it's like, all right, guys, like, come on. Yeah, and this is, again,

I know we keep using this as kind of a stepping stone into the sequel, but these are the lessons learned that you can take because I do think the boss battles were satisfying, but it was just some of those other combat elements.

It was just simply annoying to be able to do that they need to clean up. Now, I am going to push back on one thing that you said. Push me. Not that this needs to be Horizon Forbidden West, Aloy type combat. I'm not asking for anything crazy like that. But I do want to see more of an emphasis on combat in the sequel. And you still give me the puzzle elements and exploration as well.

So I think if they scale back too much from it, then this truly does just become an audio walking simulator. So I do want to feel more satisfaction in the combat as we go into saga. Paris, you and I are on the exact same page there. Thank you for keeping me honest. I was very much talking about like if they didn't evolve this, which is not my hope. I was being kind of lazy there. I apologize in my thing.

My hope is that, yeah, like the combat system, which is simple but effective, you bring that to another level and make enemy encounters something I'm looking forward to, something I'm going to enjoy. Like there was no better moment in this game, sadly, for me, than when you'd hit the guy and then send you would immediately put away her blade. And I was like, thank you. I don't want to do this. I just want to get back to what it is.

Like if you can make it, I'm looking forward to those. I'm getting something out of them. It's enhancing what I'm doing rather than I felt just being like, oh, it almost not in a lot of ways uncharted one ish, where it was like, I want to get to the next cutscene and the next story beat, but now I got to beat fucking 15 pirates who are all running over the walls here. Like, this isn't what I want. I mean, I can tell you right now, you know, as we go into that interview next week with Ninja Theory,

I mean, that's, you know, top of mind. Part of the discussion, I think, is how have they evolved the combat coming off of this? Sure. Because I'm pretty, you know, I mean, you read the reviews, you know, from that time. That was the weak point of the game. So I hope that is something that they have definitely emphasized and evolved going into saga. 1,000%. Yeah.

And remember live on the kind of funny games cast next Wednesday, studio head of Ninja Theory, Dom Matthews coming through to talk all things Hellblade one and two. No spoilers obviously for two because we wouldn't have played it and it's not out yet, but you know what I mean. Um, and speaking of that, switch over to Hellblade 2 with me a bit. What are your expectations for Hellblade 2, right? One of the super chats we've already got here about Hellblade 1 comes from MD 14, who says greetings gents. Hellblade like the Matrix was ahead of its time, leaving you eager to learn more. It's influence on games like Alan Wake 2 is clear. And the $30 price tag for this level of presentation was unheard of.

A very interesting point that, of course, you would have forgotten, is that, yeah, this was a $30 game from an indie studio, came out of nowhere, caught us all off guard in 2017. You jump ahead now. Here we are in 2024, less than two weeks away from Hellblade 2 coming to Xbox, right? And it's going to be on Game Pass. And if you don't get it on Game Pass, it's $50, which is still less than that. but they've been trying to massage the message, right, of like, Paris,

this is on par in terms of link with the last one. Like, you're not getting a new 40-hour experience. So what are your expectations for Hellway 2, Paris, Lily? I mean, my thing, I'll just say right off the top because we keep repeating it now like a broken record is an enhanced combat experience number one. But second to that is this is shaping up to be a showcase title for Unreal 5. So I want to see what the the advancements that they've done with this engine with under

row five and the motion capture and everything that they've done with the actors. We already know from an audio standpoint, it's just going to be top tier. I mean, this is something that you're going to need to have headphones on and experience just like you did with sacrifice. I would say the other part of this is bringing the psychosis and mental health aspect into this. They did a, I want to say a. Was it a roundtable live stream?

But a few weeks back, Ninja Theory, I don't want to say it was a Cambridge Institute, if I'm saying that correctly. I'll look at you for you. Where they discussed and talked about mental health? So are we really going to dive even deeper into the psyche of Senoa about this? I would love to roll credits on Hellblade 2. And it immediately wants, it makes me want to learn even more about the effects of psychosis and mental health in our, in our,

world. Yeah, one month ago, they had a three-hour live stream. Hellblade, a journey into the mind in collaboration with Cambridge Neuroscience. Journey to Send you as Mind in this special live event co-hosted by Ninja Theory in Cambridge Neuroscience. We will bring together perspectives from those who have suffered with the distress and stigma psychosis from those who study and treat it and Ninja Theory developers who have worked to represent it in the game.

That's up on Ninja Theory's YouTube channel. You should get it. You'll watch that. I haven't. I'd like to see that. Yeah, I watched some of it. I mean, because it went on for a while. I think it was a few hours long.

So I did check in and pop in and out. And yeah, it was interesting conversation. And they're talking to people that deal with this in real life. And it's fascinating to hear that side of and that aspect of it. Because, you know, you don't see that every day. 100%. So I do think this game has an opportunity to bring more awareness to the masses about mental health and how we have to deal with it.

my expectation I think are low and I don't mean it like I think the game's gonna be garbage I just expect it to be on par with what we've gotten already and my hope is that because of that

they exceed them like my expectation it'll be like it was before my hope is that Ninja Theory fucking crushes this and this is a game everyone looks at and is like

oh this has got to be a contender this is a nine out of ten this is that this is yeah it's they've learned all these lessons from the first ones and they kept the story and they kept this, but they did. Like, what makes me expect less is just that I feel like it's been a weird rollout to this point of,

hey, guess what, here's the new Xbox and here's the first gamer showing and then it's been quiet, but then here's another look at it, but then it's quiet and then it's like, all right, we're two weeks out now and it's still pretty quiet, but is it just because they want to catch the world off guard again? Or in like, how much did the Xbox acquisition provide them resources to take their idea, this independent game that even if you didn't love, love it,

people loved and found something in and thought it was super special. Did they incubate this the way they've always talked about it, right? Like I think obviously, for the past week, Xbox has been a hot topic around these parts on the kind of funny games cast. And, of course, the closure of the studios, the absorption of the one, and the idea of, well, is Xbox's and Phil and the team's vision of what Xbox's Games is changing, is becoming Microsoft games like we saw McCaffrey having his amazing piece yesterday.

This is one of those of like, there's a lot of questions about the future. But right now, Hellblade to Senuous Saga is the proof, is the idea, is the poster child in a lot of ways for what Phil and the team have been saying they're trying to do at Xbox. And so is it going to deliver? And is it so special that they're just playing everything close to the vest because they're like, we don't need to worry about it. When it gets out, when reviews posts, when people get their hands on it, they're going to flip their shit about this.

Or is it, hey, mute expectations because the first one was a small indie game and this is still a small game even though they're not independent. I think you, I'll say it this way. I hope it's the latter. I really do. I hope it's the latter. I hope they're going. Let's not overhyped this.

Let's let the game speak for itself. We know what we have. We don't need to scream to the rooftops. Obviously, again, just everyone's like, where's the marketing? Why are you showing this? Why aren't you doing that? Maybe you're like, look, we don't need to. Because when you get it, everybody's going to be talking about this.

I think another aspect of this, and I've talked about this a lot over the years, it is the first game that we saw for Xbox this generation back at that game awards in 2019. So is this going to be that showcase title from a visual standpoint to show off? Yeah, this is what the series X can do as a console, right? I know people frames for second and all that, whatever. But from a visual standpoint, can this be something like, wow, I didn't know a game could look this pretty or this good on a console? Is this going to be that for Xbox?

And again, we already talked about the audio experience that we know we're going to get from this. So I hope it is. let's just play it close to the vests. Let's just let people get hands on it for themselves. And this is going to be that social media water cooler talk once it's out because of what what Ninja Theory is crafting with this game. I hope that's the case. Me too, man. That'd be,

I hope that for sure. Ninja Theory is such a talented developer. I feel like they've gotten so close. And for so long, I feel, even with Hellblade 1, I would say, they've flown under so many people's radar. Where I remember, yeah, sure, Hellblade, but I also remember, yeah. Are you playing enslaved and enslaved awesome? Oh, you know, Heavenly Sword.

This is something really cool on PlayStation at the time. Are you playing it? And, of course, nobody had a PlayStation at the time. So they weren't. It's like, I hope this is the one where it is. You look at it and you go, this is the power of Xbox acquiring a studio and giving them a budget and letting them go and da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

Exactly. Final question for you, Paris, before I want to get the super chats knocked out and then get out of here. Are you concerned about the future of Ninja Theory as a Xbox first-party developer based on what we've seen in the past week and a half. I think going off of our conversation we had a couple days ago with Gary, you kind of have to be.

Until we get more information on what's going on, you kind of have to be. You have to look at this and say, this is a digital only game. It is what I believe it's, is it $50 coming out. We know it's going to be a shorter experience, which is fine for a game.

I have no issues with that at all. But how is this going to sell? How is this, is this going to have high engagement in game pass? Is this, are people going to want to go run out and spend $50 to go play it on PC to play it on Xbox? We don't know. And because of recent news and we know where the industry is headed, I again, I hope it, you know, that Ninja Theory is greenlit to continue making games and we don't see them, you know, suffer the fate of what Tango did. because that was the message that I took away from the past couple days. It doesn't matter if a game is critically acclaimed.

It matters if a game is actually hitting your whatever sales metric. Yeah, that's making the money, yeah. Yeah, so we'll see. We will see, ladies and gentlemen, very shortly. Hellblade 2, of course, releases May 21st. We will be covering it throughout all of the kind of funny stuff. Of course, like I said, next week on Wednesday, here on the gamescast live on YouTube.com slash kind of funny games

and Twitch.TV slash kind of funny games and podcast services around the globe. Studio head from Ninja Theory, Dom Matthews will show up to talk to us about the journey so far and answer some of these questions, I think, in terms of what they're feeling and how they feel. But of course, questions are incredibly important to us from you. So a couple of Super Chats I want to get in here. Some of them are not in questions.

Andrew's Super Chats and says, not a thought or an opinion, a fact. Paris is dope. Everybody loves you, Paris. I appreciate that. Chat's been popping off. Everybody's having a good time out of there. SD Turtles 1023 says

Greg Miller gave Nottie Bear a 3 out of 10 When will the show Where you reply to calls happen First time chat I've been watching you since the game over Gregia days Love you all Love you too SD Turtle Probably maybe next week

We are trying to get to Greg Miller's Worst video game takes of all time Many of you have called into our 5773 number To leave your messages And they are quite good So we need to schedule a naughty bear Stream Greg

Nottie! No enough people know that game's garbage. And I showed all these freaking web of shadow kids. Wow, what's up? Yeah, that was embarrassing for me. There's a lot of kids on Twitter are still in the aisle.

Oh, they're still mad. They're still tweeting back at me that I was wrong about this. It's like, all right. Go watch the video and tell me how wrong I was, you clowns. Calvin Perez, Super Chatson says, how would you guys, how would you guys, how would you guys would,

I'm gonna have to edit on the fly. How would you guys weigh this against Alan Wake 2? I know nothing about Hellblade. Are there similarities in how they present mental illness in direct or indirect ways. Interesting question, Paris. That is an interesting question. I think because, here's what I'll say.

I definitely think that Alan Wake 2 took some inspiration from Hellblade. For sure. That makes sense. And because of that, I would say that being a 2017 game, this, you know, Alan Wake being a late 2023 game, it does it a little better in different ways. but you can clearly see some of the influence in Allen Wake 2 that they got out of what they did with Senoa.

Yeah, I agree. I think, you know, what do they take away? What do they do from it? Like, there's a lot of stuff going on in just terms of what is the real. I think that's the angle to it, right? And it is the mixing in of the real video with the real people and the tech looking so good and really trying to be this convergence point between video game, in-game graphics,

and IRL footage, right? right? I think that's the big takeaway or whatever. And how they present it. And it's interesting, too. I'm probably completely wrong. I've never really thought about presenting how they present mental illness. I never thought of Alan Wake as a game dealing with mental illness, right? Like, for me, that's survival horror.

I never, I understand now that you brought it up what you're saying. But I think that again is why Hellblade stands out and has stood out and found an audience, is that it was wearing it's on its sleeve, right? Where it's like, from the opening of the game, it's like, bam, we are dealing with psychosis. here. We are dealing with mental illness, right? Like, this is how you're going. Of course, at the very

end, there's, you know, messages if you deal with this, here, go get help here, here are resources and stuff like that. Like, this wore that on its sleeve where I guess, yes, Alan does wrestle with what's real, what's fake. No spoilers here. I think it's more of like an allegory for mental illness, more so than the plot being about

dealing with mental illness. Okay. Another one here for Superchat comes from NC5-8-11. This is one of my favorite games. For me, it showed that the gulf between who I knew I was and who I was acting as because of my poor mental health could be crossed. I'm glad you found something out of that like that NC5-8. And again, that's, you know, one of the reviews again called that representation

and being able to see that and feel that. And obviously, empathy is in short supply these days and it was in 2017 as well. And so anything, I think, that opens the door to giving you a glimpse of how somebody else is living and what they're going through is powerful and helpful. And then final super chat for this episode of the Gamescast. comes from Omega Busters. Oh no, Omega Buster. Old dudes talking about old games, a new reoccurring game cast segment.

Teach those kids about it. Old guys. We're happy to teach it. Old guys. It's old guys. 2017 is an old game now, huh? All right, fine. It's seven years ago, Greg.

Whatever. They're making a sequel to it right now. I'm just saying, like, a child born in 2017. Seven years old now. They're not watching the show. First grade? That's crazy. That is kind of crazy.

It is kind of crazy, too. Like I said, that we are two weeks away from Senua's saga Hellblade 2. Of course, we'll be reviewing it here on the Kind of Funny Games cast. Whenever that comes and we're ready to review it. And even before then, like I said, next Wednesday, Dom Matthews from Ninja Theory, swing about to me in Paris. And I think Mike maybe, I forget if he's on the show or not, about what's going to. Huh?

Was it blessed? You're right. You're right. You're right. Talking about Hellblade 1 and Hellblade 2 and where they're doing and what they're happening. But this, of course, was your review for Hellblade Senuous sacrifice. Paris, are you locking in your 8.0? Yeah, I'm going to lock it in at 8.0 because I think you did make a great argument about the combat.

So I'll keep it at 8. And again, it's a game. I think there's so many positives and so many cool things to talk about. But again, I think it's an okay video game. So I'm sticking with a 6.5 there, ladies and gentlemen. Can I address one thing before we get out of here? Harris, you're one of the loves of my life. You can do whatever you want.

All right. I love that. So when he said in the chat, like, hey, I love seeing so much Paris. I just want to say this was why changing formats was such a great idea for kind of funny because this is my third time being on this week. I was on, was I on twice last week? I think I'm on twice next week and I'm on again the week after that. So see,

you get more than me. I'm on a lot. Beres, send me a slack to look at the Paris budget. It's not looking good. It's not looking good. The hell is going on over here. This kid's bleeding us dry.

Paris, we love having you. We love having you. more stuff. Thank you for your time and service, of course. Of course, thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this has been the Kind of Funny Games cast each and every weekday. We get together to talk about the biggest reviews, previews, and topics in video games live on YouTube, Twitch, and podcast services around the globe.

If you love what we do, please support us with the Kind of Funny membership. $10 helps keep the independent dream of 11 people here at Kind of Funny in San Francisco alive and well. And in return, you get good karma, of course, for taking care of something you love, paying for the arts you enjoy, but you also get every one of our shows ad free. You get the ability to watch our afternoon podcast live as we record them. And of course, you get the daily video vlog and podcast Gregway, where I just rant and rave in my car. Enjoy the next thing live here. We are all about live talk shows. And up next, because it's Friday, of course, is kind of funny game showdown. Can I repeat my week one season two victory and destroy Tim and Andy again?

will I make another National Tragedy reference? There's only one way to find out watch the kind of funny game showdown. Until next time, it's been our pleasure to serve you.