Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - Senua's Saga: Hellblade II Review - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Episode Date: May 21, 2024

It's a polarizing one as Greg, Bless, Mike, and Parris talk about what they loved and hated in Ninja Theory's new Xbox exclusive. - Intro - Housekeeping - TOTS: Hellblade 2 Review - AD - Super Chats - Is this a win for Xbox? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up everybody? Welcome to the Kind of Funny Games cast for Tuesday, May 21st, 2024. I'm going to be your host Greg Miller alongside Forbes 30 under 30, aka the New York Game Awards nominated, aka leftover poppy blessing Eddie O. Jr. Jr. Good day, Greg. Good day. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you? I'm excellent. That's good. I'm happy to be here with you. I'm so curious about that hat. You'll hear all about it. on Greg Way. Very simple, guys. Don't worry about it. I have a third reason to wear a hat, and you'll find out if you use your kind of funny membership. I like that. A third reason to wear a hat. A third

reason to wear a hat, Master of Hype, Snowmike, Mike. I mean, it's probably because it's that dope KFAF hat, so you've got to give some respect where it's at because that's a sick hat. But Greg Miller with a dad hat, have you become the coach of a small children's soccer or basketball team? You'll have to find out. Okay.

You'll have to find out. And rounding out the group, the best voice in the business. Paris, Lily. You know, I watch KFGD and I said, oh, wait, blessings wearing the X-Kass hoodie. Let me take my dog and put on something else. I'm sorry. A quick wardrobe.

What are you wearing? What are you wearing? I had to get ahead of the backlash, Paris. This is my work hoodie. I'm wearing. Oh. Yeah, for my real job. Since I don't, since I'm not a full-time employee,

you're kind of funny. Don't say it like that, all right? You've given your number before. All right? We need a few more patrons, a few more kind of funny members to come on over If you want Paris here full time, ladies and gentlemen. But I digress, of course, we can talk about that right now. Why not, right?

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let's start with topic of the show. The day is finally upon us, ladies and gentlemen. Senuous saga, Hellblade 2 is out. The review embargo is up. We have all played this game. Blessing, have you finished it? I have finished it. Paris, have you finished it?

I finished it twice. Whoa, you're crazy. Snowmike Mike? I have finished it as well. Okay, okay. I, of course, I have finished it as well. So we're going to have a very fun conversation because, of course, a polarizing game so far.

Reviews, this is a very exciting one for us as the Gamescast. This is our first major review with the new Gamescast schedule. We're not trying to meet embargoes anymore. If there's a game that embargo that lifts, rather than be there when it lifts, which I think was 1 a.m. today or something crazy like that, we'll put it up at the normal time. 11 o'clock.

We're live every day at 11 gamescast. So we've had a chance to look and see the rest of the world react to it. When I pulled it together on Metacritic in 81, that was at 9 a.m. Seems to be there. But Game Informer 9, IGN, 8, Forbes is 7, game spot of 6. VGC from Jordan, 3 out of 5. Paris, I've seen your tweets. I already know you're high on it.

Talk to me about Hellblade 2. What's your score? How are you feeling? I'm going to start with the score, and I'm going to say 8 out of 10 feels about right for this game for me. Got it. Which, of course, on the kind of funny scale, is it great. Yep. Yep, is great.

I love the game. It has flaws. It 100% has flaws in it. That, again, when you look at the reaction that people have had, I think they're valid. I'll start first and foremost with the puzzles. That was probably my most disappointing aspect of this coming up. Because, you know, you and I just played Sinua Sacrifice, so that is fresh in my head coming to this one. felt a lot of the same and no real evolution to the puzzles.

I was able to figure them out in literal minutes and move on with my progress through the game. The other part that I did not like about it would have been the combat itself. And that, you know, and we even talked to Dom. That was a question I was asking him because I was curious to see was the combat going to evolve beyond what we had in the first game. And it really didn't. It does feel more brutal. I like that aspect of it, but I had to turn the difficulty up to hard to really feel an impact from it to where I felt like I was getting some kind of challenge out of it. Those were probably my two biggest complaints that I had in the game. Now, what did I like

about it? First foremost, I mean, the visuals are off the chart. I mean, this on Unreal 5, on PC, on console, I mean, it's a very beautiful game from a visual standpoint. The audio and here, which is the reason to play this game. The audio is just next level. I love what they're doing with the audio in this game, not just from the voices, but just obviously when you're getting into these big combat situations, the boss battles, things like that. I absolutely love that, really did. The story, and this is like, I even saw someone go, well, why would you play through it twice? Trust me, there's a reason why I played through it twice. The story itself, you have to remember that Zenoa is suffering from psychosis.

And when I rolled credits the first time, I had to question everything that she went through in that first play through. Did it actually happen? Is this all in her head? I wasn't 100% sure. And I think that's part of the point of it. Again, especially if you come off of the first game. So when I played it a second time, and this isn't a spoiler,

it's you get a different narrator. So you're seeing it from another perspective. So I was fascinated to hear this from another perspective other than just Sinawa's perspective. And I felt that added something to it. And I'm not saying this that, oh, you need to play it twice or three times or whatever to enjoy the game. This should be, to me, this is an experience that, sure, it's going to be about six to eight hours that you're going to play. But Ninja Theory never promised us anything beyond that. So I was okay with that.

But I enjoyed this for what it was because I think, this is my opinion. This is an audio experience that is enhanced by the visuals of it. The gameplay, while it should have been better from a combat and a puzzle standpoint, do not get me wrong on that. I thought the audio experience of this was so strong that I really connected with the character of center with. Like I'm going to tell you right now, if Molina, I believe, Hover, I'm saying her name correctly. If she does not win performance of the year in December, I'll be shocked because that's how

good it was. There was so much weight on her shoulders to carry this game. in my personal opinion with from an emotional stand the range of emotions that she had that yeah i i enjoyed what i played i really did and um yeah i think i think ninja theory did a great job could have improved on some of the other aspects that i outlined but overall i truly enjoyed it all right the opening salvo and eight from paris blessing Greg i've seen your tweet this morning yeah not as glowing yeah i think for me the thing that i unequivocally love about games like hell Blade 2 is that it is art and it is unequivocally art, right? And I think the fact that it is

doing the thing that Hublade 1 did, right, which is, hey, we're doing something different. We're going hard on audio like Paris mentioned. We are making a game that is narrative first and putting you into the shoes of Sunua. I think all that is special and so much of that comes through. I think when we talk about the art of video games, that art comes in so many forms that I think is going to make this conversation very fascinating because I think game design in itself is an art, right? The reason why video games are art is because the interactivity as well in it is art. And the interactivity of Hellblade 2 is where the game lets me down.

I think when we talk about the combat of it, the combat is so one note and so dull that there are moments where I'm like, all right, why do we even have combat? Right. Like it is one of those combat systems that is in service of the cinematic storytelling and is in service of creating tension. But the combat in and of itself is so. again, dull, and I found myself only engaging with combat in a way where it is. All right, Sperry, all right, on to the next thing.

I never felt like there was any strategy or I think anything that was uniquely interesting or pulling me in or engaging about the combat. And that's one fast of the gameplay. The other fast of the gameplay are the puzzles. And I agree with Paris as well, where I think the puzzles are dull. And I think the thing that surprised me the most is how I feel like even compared to Hellblade one, the puzzles take a step back in terms of how engaging they were. I remember loving the prospective puzzles in Hellblade 1 and being like,

all right, if I stand here, they'll change this and that's going to change the environment. It's going to open up in this way. In this one, I was surprised by how often you would get the same type of runic puzzles as you would in Hellblade 1 where you would see like the runic symbol and you have to find those symbols in the environment. If I'm looking anywhere in the direction of where that symbol is in Hellblade 2, the game automatically snaps to it. They dumped it down.

Yeah, even if I as a player didn't notice that. And so we're in a situation where you're solving the puzzles for me. And for me, that, again, comes to the question of, all right, well, if you're going to do that, why do we even have these puzzles in this video game? For sure. And there are more puzzles outside of the runic stuff, right? Like, there are, I think there are clever stuff in terms of, like,

changing how the environment is. And I think that stuff is cool in moments. But, again, there's another one we're coming off of Allen Wake 2, another game that has a lot of similar elements in terms of changing the environment in order to figure out progression. I found that this, the way Helbley 2 tackles it right now in May of 2024 is dampened by seeing games so recent do have similar ideas and run with it in ways that I think laps around what Hellblade 2 does with the puzzle stuff. And so I find that on the gameplay

interactivity side of it, I was very let down by Hellblade 2. In comparison to Helblade 1, which, you know, I've talked about how much I love Hellblade 1. So there's that. On the story side of things, on the character development side of things, I had a good time. I wasn't blown away and I wasn't as emotionally engaged with Hellblade 2 as I was with Hellblade 1. I remember Hel Blade One having like those gut-wrenching moments of like, I keep on to call her A-1, Sanua, right? Looking into the camera and like having this like, having these moments that I as a player am looking at.

I'm like, damn, right? I remember the voice is hitting for me so well in Hell Blade One. And I think, you know, with a sequel, you come at sort of that disadvantage of, I are following up on mechanics that might have surprised players in the previous game. And so for me, you know, having the depiction of psychosis and being put in Sunua's shoes in the sequel was a thing that didn't hit for me as much as that first one because I already had that and I think that the second one does

that are new story beats new characters, stuff like that. Again, I thought it was cool. I thought it was enjoyable but didn't hit me in the way that Hellblade 1 did. So I was kind of let down a little bit on that side too. The thing that I will say about Hellblade 2 that makes it very special and makes it very cool is a conversation that me and Mike were having earlier

about who Ninja Theory is as developer and their willingness to do something different, unique. The fucking, the presentation of this game is out of this world. It is maybe the best looking video game I've ever played. It is stunning. Yeah. The environments are... Full stop. It is a gorgeous game that you stop and you look at.

I was playing it originally on my monitor and I had to go to the TV and Andy would come over. He's like, what the fuck? You know what I mean? Like, holy shit, and that was on Xbox Series X. And you can tell that... I feel like they're dev diaries. I remember reading somewhere, watching somewhere about how they went out to, I think,

Scandinavia, to like, capture the land. Iceland. Thank you. They were in Iceland capturing the land and like geometrically mapping that stuff out for the game and you can tell. Being in the environments in this game, it doesn't feel like a video game. It feels like you're actually like

out there and somewhere that really exists and that stuff comes through. And so I think the game does some really special things. In terms of score, I'm coming down on a 6.5 out of 10. For me, I think that's an okay on the kind of funny scale. That isn't okay. I think it's very just imbalanced in the ways that I just talked about. But I think I still come around

to what it does technologically is still so impressive and still so special and that's what gets it up to a 6.5 for me. But I was very let down by the gameplay aspects and the story just didn't hit as hard. Mike Yeah. The Xcast host. Mr. X-Box

what did you think of Hellblade too? Yeah, for me, I really loved this experience and I'm actually giving it a 9 out of 10 of a major. I am very high on this and I think the big thing that speaks to this is this is not my style of game, right? I gave it a try and I jumped into this and I loved it a lot more than I enjoyed the first Hellblade.

Wow. And I really resonated with a lot of things that Blessing Amper said, which I'm excited to jump down and get a little bit deeper into that. So I'll give you my basic stuff right now. On the presentation side, it was beautiful. It was gorgeous. It is probably the most incredible video game I've ever seen. This is one of those where I would like to grab my mom, my brother, and everyone I know and say, sit in front of this giant television, put on the headphones and let me play this first hour for you. because you have to see what this team has done to push video games forward.

You know, it's tough when we talk about video games and that gaming nature of playing the game and wanting to be engaged and immersed in this. I was immersed in this experience. And I think that's what really carried this for me is like I liked the puzzles and the combat being on the more basic side because I wanted to keep the experience moving forward and going. I never wanted to have a moment where I was stopped, rattled, and uptight that I couldn't solve a puzzle. I liked that they really made it clear of you need to be in this area. You go stand in this area. We'll vibrate the controller. We'll put a bunch of red signs all over it and we will

drag your controller to it because I wanted that experience to be moving forward. I liked seeing some of the cool environmental puzzle pieces of, hey, look at this. Now the perception changes and you're in a different world and the map is now open. I enjoyed the combat. I think a big question we asked on the Xcast a lot was, hey, how do you elevate this combat? It's very basic in one. What do you do? And they did that for me. They made it more visceral, more brutal, more close and personal. And I really enjoyed that. I wanted the combat to be more on the basic side. I wasn't looking for a difficulty spike in an Eldon ring. I wasn't looking for a combo-based Assassin's Creed. I wanted in your face, it felt like it's me and this person and I need to

dodge Perry and take advantage of this. And man, the animations from deaths to kills, We're brutal and amazing. Like, there are moments where it was Loracroft Tomb Raider all over again, taking the spike through the mouth, right? Of like, man, I just stabbed that guy through the heart, or that guy just lit me on fire, and it's hard to watch. I loved all of that. On the audio side, man, I have never heard a game like this,

where there are sounds coming from everywhere. They have the deepest of caves with the echoes and the small sounds of water hitting the top of a puddle, right? Like the sound was absolutely phenomenal, right? And then on top of that, the vistas and the gorgeous areas. I mean, we're talking about, it felt like the first time watching Lord of the Rings seeing these vistas. It was like, oh, wow, how did you capture this? How does it look so real?

I have to stop and go into photo mode to capture the moss on the rock that you've created. How did you put this volcano in the background? But in the foreground, there's trees, there's a puddle with reflections. There's this beautiful clay path. I'm in a cave and the light coming off of my torch, the embers falling off the side, the dust coming all around me. There was just moments that was like,

man, this team got it and they understood what they wanted. There are many ways where I could have said, man, this team with this presentation and this audio, should have just made an uncharted or Last of Us. That's what would have sold gangbusters. But this team stuck to their guns. They made a game and a story that they wanted to tell, which I really, I dug, right?

It was about hope. It was about belief. in yourself. It was about trusting others and I was alongside of that. For me, my small complaints were I had some lip syncing issues that kind of threw it off. I felt like out of the four main characters

you'll meet throughout this, one of their character models was not up to snuff with the other three that I thought were drop dead gorgeous and incredible, right? And I feel like that small attention to detail should have been addressed. It was odd to me that one of them didn't look as good. But I had no problems

with this. I actually really enjoyed this. look back on this going this was a great experience for me. So as Paris said at the top of the show there when he was talking, right, we just did a Hellblade re-review for 2024, right? And it was me and Paris. Paris gave it an eight. I gave it a 6.5 and okay on the kind of funny scale. And I talked at length about how I've tried over the years to connect with this game and

it hasn't worked. And so to go through and beat Hellblade 1 getting ready for this one, it was that it's a gorgeous game and it sounds so good. But I didn't not like the combat. that the puzzles were fine. It was a game that I sat there and I said, I'm giving it a 6-5 and okay on our scale because I would never say this is a good game. I would never, I think this game does a lot of art things. This game does a lot of amazing, impressive things that really you look at Ninja Theory. You go, what a bunch of talented folks over there, right? But it doesn't

push that into like being an amazing game, a good game, a game that I would say, you got to go play, right? Like, I feel that's how I feel about Hellblade 1. Coming into Hellblade 2, last week we did the interview with Dom. We both had the question you got to at first of what about combat? He's like, it's combat from the ground up. We really wanted to change that. And I got so excited, right? Of like, oh my God, they're addressing it.

Sitting down, popping on the headphones, playing on the series X, playing on the big TV, getting in there being stunned by these visuals, getting into that first combat encounter. And it is not, it's solving what I, one of the main complaints I had, which was, oh, man, like before it was so annoying to get in these just room full of monsters. and they're just coming at me, and it's not hard, the combat's not difficult, but I'm getting hit because I'm getting attack from behind or something like that.

They do a very interesting thing where you fight multiple people in Hellblade 2 at once, but you're really only fighting one-on-one ever. Like I don't remember them ever actually doing another person. It was always them. They do beautiful animations of people running in, shoving your other opponent out of the way to fight you, jumping on your backs and now you spin around,

you're fighting them. Just breathtaking capture work here of what it is and choreography, right? And, you know, Tim walked over and he's like, first 30 minutes, he's like, so how is it? I'm like, dude, this is so impressive what they're doing here. It seems like they've answered my questions, da-da-da. You get to the other end

of the seven-hour journey there, and I am left exactly where I was with Hellblade One, where I think this is a 6.5. Like, this is an okay video game. It is gorgeous, and it's technically wonderful, and the performances are great, and the mocaps. All of that is true. But when it is, you are at the sticks,

it is so dull. I just like, okay, now we've removed the annoyance for Greg of people attacking you, but then you're just into this combat system that is just, I can be half asleep playing it, right? Where I just, I like, and they change the peri window, I feel, I saw other reviewers complain about this. I told you in a conversation where I'm like,

I'm not the peri poppy, right? Like, I'm not that guy. I don't like how it feels. They're doing something here, and you're like, I think they might be making it cinematic where even if you parry right sometimes, they're still making it seem like you didn't or whatever. I think so.

Yeah. And so, again, like, That's a choice that I get to make these feel like the every battles by the skin of your teeth kind of thing. But really as a player, it would just annoy me like, well, what did I do wrong? Or did I do something wrong? Did I not do anything wrong? And so, honestly, at the end of the game, like, we're talking the final, like, two battles and then the final boss battle. Not because of difficulty at all, but because I went in and checked, I was like, this is interesting.

I let the game play itself. And I just watched it happen because you could do it where you can go in and set combat to. You don't even play a combat. They'll just play it and fight it for you. And it was the thing of watching it. And, okay, she parried there and they did do the attack. So no, it wasn't on me. That's what's going on, blah, blah.

But doing that and being like, I'm getting more out of this than I was doing it. Because doing it, all I'm thinking, I'm like, this isn't fun. This isn't a fun way to play this game, right? And watching it, I was fine. And I think that was one of the things that I was like, again, in this very interesting, cool new world of the Daily Gamescast, able to go read what people are saying about it, right? And over on GameSpot, Jessica Cogswell and hers, is line. up perfectly with me, right?

Based on its new naming convention and the use of Saga in Hellblade 2's title, and Microsoft's acquisition of Ninja Theory following the success of Senuous Sacrifice, it seems as if Hellblade is stated to be a series as well as a staple on Xbox's first-party lineup. That said, at this point, I don't exactly understand where the series is headed, if not to the box office. There are plenty of games that prove games can be art, but as some studios lean harder into proving that one specific way, I'm sorry, as the studios lean harder into proving

that in one specific way that cribs from Hollywood, we're seeing some games that feel afraid of being games. With too much focus on cinematics and too little on creating an experience that is engaging, Senua Saga fails to reach the same highs as his predecessor, even if it looks stunning whilst trying. Like that nails it for me. Of like, Hellblade 1, I think I talked about this in the review.

Every time I would put it down, I was never like, got to get back to it. I'm excited to get back to it. Oh, yeah. And Helway too early on, I had that of like, I'm going to play at home. Oh, I want to do this. But like, as the story goes, it gets in, I think it takes a turn into like, oh, okay, this could be interesting. It is interesting.

But then it's like, it's going to get grand, but it's actually still small. It's, I was like, oh, when like the quest is revealed of where we're going after what the initial, you know, quest is, it's like, oh, this feels like I'm about to sit off on a 20 or 30 hour game. And you're not. you're already halfway through the game. It's like, this is all bizarre. And so it's just a bunch of stuff that doesn't work for me. Like, I did not enjoy playing it. The puzzles are fine.

Like, none of it's broken. None of it's bad. But it's just like, I feel like this is a game I put down in because of when I was offered to play the game versus watching the game, it brought down the other stuff of the performances of the story they were trying to tell. I didn't feel a connection to it.

And so it's very much a game that I beat last week and I haven't thought much about. Paris, your hand has been up. I'm sorry. Yeah, it's because you bring up. a bunch of valid points, which is why I always do. Wow. Okay, here we go. But that's why I sit at eight out of ten versus being a little higher on it than Mike,

as Mike is, I should say, because you bring game length into it because that was another nitpick that I had. Not that, oh my God, this game needs to be 20 hours. It's that, yeah, this being about a six to eight hour experience is probably right. But at the same time, I feel like I wanted more. but with the current game mechanics, it really would have overstayed its welcome. It really would have been just way more repetitive

if this was a 12, 15, 20 hour experience. Which is heartbreaking that is so repetitive at seven hours. I agree, but this brings the question into me. This is just why I'm curious what you think and what everyone else thinks. Did we really want Ninja Theory to stray too far away from what they did in the original game? From a gameplay standpoint, again,

I wanted, you know, a more evolution of the combat. I wanted more evolution of the puzzles. But at what point, but how far could they have pushed that and still and still stay true to what was Hellblade? I guess is my question. Whereas I do think they should have done more, but how much more should they have done? To your point about the combat where you said, you just kind of at the end let it just do its thing and you almost watched it as a cinematic experience. I want a game still. I want to be able to play a game.

I want to control it because I forget who said this, but someone was saying was comparing this to Dragonslair back in the 80s, right? Remember that in Space Ace where, you know, it's just I press this direction or that direction, but essentially you're just watching a movie. I don't felt, I didn't feel Hellblade was that. I felt it was more than that. I felt I did have more control over the game than that. But it does bring into what you're saying and then what Jessica said in her review as well.

is this more of just a cinematic movie than a game? I want a game. If I'm making sense, I feel like I'm not making sense, but I want the game part of this, whereas I don't think Ninja Theory took it far enough to give everybody a satisfactory. And that's kind of why I start off my portion of the review was talking about like the games is art things.

I think unequivably, again, like Hellblade 2 is art and it's trying to be art. But I mean, Mike, funny enough, had this exact conversation yesterday where Mike on his way out was talking about, like, yeah, so what did you think, whatever? And I'm like, I was kind of talking through it. I think Mike was like, what are you going to give it? I was talking through it. I was just like, yeah, like, I feel like the combat's not working for me and like feels dull and feels very understated. And the puzzles aren't working for me and they feel understated. And so what's left

is just the story experience, the narrative experience? And so I am left with a similar thing of, yeah, then why isn't this a movie? Why isn't this a book? Why isn't this an audio experience? Why is why what about this as a video game makes a special as a video game and that's not me saying that narrative games shouldn't exist or anything like that but I think even with narrative games I look at something like gone home and the special thing about gone home is that I am free to explore this house and I'm picking up the things and I'm like looking at the scenery and I'm doing things and there's such a there's the stories being told by the way that I'm playing the game hell blade I feel like if the point of it is to be the narrative experience the point of it is to be about sinewa's journey and not about the combat and not about the puzzles then we're we're going to be why is there the combat and why is there the puzzles and why isn't it a thing where I'm looking around the world? Like, I think there's something there in terms of how they could level it up if they double down on combat. It is this weird, yeah, conundrum that you're in because it is also a six, seven, eight hour video game. And so how are you going to build a combat system that feels worthwhile, that feels like you're leveling up? Do you add leveling up?

Do you keep it to the same thing? But then also, how do you introduce people to a combat system and a game that's so short? And so, like, they don't have a tutorial in this game. They just throw you into it. I think there are so many issues you were read into when you have the story that you want to tell in this concise of a way. And I think on the story side, I think they succeed in a lot of it. But then on the gameplay side, I just don't think they figure it out. Yeah, that's the interesting spot of where I'm at.

It's like the experience of it all is there, right? Are we looking for this to be what was this team looking to build? The game part is the issue where people are going to get lost. Like, this is a video game. I want it to be gamified where this is an experience. is put on the headphones and take a ride along with them. This is hop in the boat with Cratos, and we're going to watch this story unfold, and you're going to take part in a couple of pieces of this,

but you're not going to play that much of this. And I enjoyed that. There was moments where it was so cinematic. It was a movie, but all of a sudden I got to move. I wasn't ready to move because I'm getting lost in the sauce of it all, and I had to snap out of it going, oh, geez, I'm supposed to be playing right now. And I think that's the wow fact to me is it's something different, right? I'm not, I didn't come into this Hellblade 2 going,

I'm looking for the most gamified game here. I'm looking for an experience. I'm looking to see what this team is doing because for the past five years, they've been promoting, hey, we're taking the visuals to the next level. We're working so in depth with the audio. You're never going to see this before.

And they nailed all of that for me. And that's what I wanted out of this experience. I hear you. And I think this is obviously back to, first off, art. Everybody's going to take something different away. And I've seen people in the chat. Well, what did you?

Even Paris was like, you know, what do you do to make it, this and that? I don't fully believe that Ninja Theory his hearts in the combat. That's my thing, right? So then why do the combat? Why not have it be when you, first off, dial it back because it is still, oh man, there's this giant fight and I got to fight through seven different guys or whatever, what's

having to do a really nice cutscenes because the fucking cutscenes are gorgeous and the game is beautiful. Do that and have it be, yeah, exploration or doing the thing. Like Walking Sims I saw people talking about over there, right? And what Greg loves walking Sims. Why wouldn't he like this? It's because this isn't all the way in on that. I feel like that's the problem with this game is that it's like, it's half and half

on what it is and what it wants to be. It clearly wants to be an experience. It clearly wants to be, we are going to rock you with audio. Use headphones. They say right at the front, you should use headphones. It's awesome. It's going to be beautiful. It's going to be this.

But if you just want to tell me the story, then just tell me the story. Don't feel bad about that. Let's figure out a way to strip out and then really set expectations for awareness. Because, again, it's not that I get there and it's like, I'm just bored by the gameplay. Like, the gameplay isn't doing it for me, right? Like, I don't, like, it's just not happening the way I want it to because it's not enjoyable to do.

And I think you have to critique it because it's there. Of course. Yeah, you got to judge what the game is. Absolutely. Yeah. And also, I mean, it's funny because the idea of, like, it being a tech demo was popping into my mind as I was playing the game, right? I don't mean that as like a pejorative or anything.

But I mean that more so in just the idea of the way they showcase tech in this game is so impressive that I think it does, it does the job of a tech demo more better than any tech demo I've ever played, right? Like, it's like this in Astrobot in a way where I'm like, I didn't know games could look this good on Xbox series. and playing it on a console at home with the black bars on the top and bottom in that wide screen mode,

it looks fucking fantastic. And everything about presentation in this game, I think maybe what's going to stand the test of when we get to the end of the year and we're doing the end of the year awards and we're talking about games at the end of the year. Because as I go through my notes, everything that's about presentation

is a superlative. You know, I talk about the performances are fantastic. I didn't Paris touched on it before, but Molina's performance as Sinoa is incredible. The soundtrack, is gorgeous. The soundtrack has moments

in the game where I'm like, man, this is fucking incredible. The environments like we mentioned before looks so great. The cinematography is fantastic. Is it one shot all the way throughout because I didn't notice any cuts? I thought at beginning. I thought it was going to be one shot, but I think there is some cuts. They do that thing where they'll bring the camera up

into the trees and show passage of time and come back down. I don't know if that counts or not. I saw one review call out that of course it is I don't know if the entire thing is a one shot, but it has that same kind of vibe. It's like when you're playing God of Ward, 2018, or Ragnarok, the camera kind of stays with you and they do very clever things with cutting to different locations with that and that stuff is done extremely well like i really like it as a

produced and i it's it's tough because i almost want to be like it's a better film or better like experience like that than it is a video game i i think that's where i come from i will go 100% and say that again like if i was it's a it's a weird one right like you brought up the different narrator right which is uh if you when you know no spoilers but you can do a different narrator when you beat it, right? Like, it is that idea of, like, I have half a mind to try that and just leave the auto combat on.

But then even then, it would still be like, I don't know if auto puzzles are on. It's like, again, like, it's just not working as a game, which when I sit down, I want to participate in what I'm doing, right? I feel like watching someone stream it

or watching a compilation or whatever might go there. But again, even that said, I feel the deeper we got, the more of the story kind of went, oh, okay, like for me, in terms of like, okay, we get there, we introduce, there's a character you introduce

that you're with and I'm like, oh, this is really cool. And then it's another and another. And they're like, all right, well, like, these other people are fine, but then I know what you're, it's the normal, it's what we're talking about in terms of the short game, right? Which is not a negative. I don't think the length of the game is a negative.

It's the idea that when you start adding these people in, I'm like, oh, well, now you're pulling on the, my own experiences in fiction of like, oh, well, you want me to care about this person just because they're with us or whatever. And did we really get there? Did we really justify that? No, I don't remember that.

right now don't remember any of these guys names you know what i mean like i remember their roles but yeah paris but see that's again when we talk about game versus experience this is why i think we're all in agreement ninja theory was was pushing for this to be an experience i am convinced after playing this game twice which is why i wanted to play it a second time none of this happened this ain't a spoiler this is you know she's suffering through psychosis what is real what is not real i don't thing and it has happened. I think the characters that she met weren't really there. I truly believe that as I play through. The boss battles, did they happen? Maybe kind of sorter. Don't really. There's one section of the game where she gives up the sword, like puts it in the thing,

and then you go through this whole other section, and then you conveniently get the sword back. I think that's her, that's her mind. That's her, I need this back now. So now it's conveniently back here so that I can use it. That's where I take the experience of it, the story of it, the narrative of it, the audio experience that they're presenting to you because constantly these whispers are happening in your ear and they're conflicting each other and the darkness is in the background saying another thing that I truly appreciated and enjoyed about what Ninja Theory was attempting here with Sena was saga. So I 100% understand the critiques, the complaints about gameplay, because they are valid.

But I also think the experience that they gave us in there kind of trumps it in a way that I want, this is why me, I recommend people regardless of what the score is or whatever. Play it, play it, go through this experience because I do think there is something there for you to enjoy, I really do. And especially again, with dealing with psychosis,

dealing with mental health, that is an aspect that we just simply don't see enough in gaming. Yeah, but, uh, This is tough, right? Because again, like, everything you just said, Paris, right? Is it real? Is it not? As a conversation we also had about Hellblade 1, right?

And it's, because it is psychosis. My thing about all of this is, I'm trying not to spoil it, right, and get around it or whatever. But it's like, does it really have anything to say about that? Like, it's letting you, it's worked with Cambridge, it's done all the stuff. It's trying to represent psychosis in a video game, right? So I get the voices and I get not known. knowing what's real, but when I get to the end of this story, even Hellblade 1, I wasn't like, wow, you really said something here about this and changed the way I really. It was just, no, this is all cool tech and it's interesting that like you're so up front of like, oh, yes, this is psychosis, this is what it's like for so many people. But we get to the end and it's not like I felt on either of these projects that I walked away. Like I have a different understanding of someone dealing with this. Am I wrong? Am I alone in that? I think that's, I think it's very, it's very interesting because Hellblade one, I think I was more invested in as almost more of an emotional experience than a narrative experience.

Like I was falling along with the narrative and I enjoyed the story. But I think it was just what she was going through and how they were putting us in those shoes that really drove it home. And I think the things, things to add in with Hellblade 1 too, because, you know, we want to talk about the combat puzzles and all that stuff and how that feeds in, right? Like I mentioned that the puzzles in this game feel a bit more handholding than the ones in the first one. There's also the aspect in the first game. And maybe this applies to mainly just the way I played, where early on, they lie to you in Hellblade 1. And they imply that if you lose too many times, they're going to lose your save data. And for me, that added so much tension into the overall experience where even though the combat wasn't as complex, the combat was also a thing that I had issues within the first one, that added level at the very least had me way more engaged where I'm like,

okay, but I'm not gonna die. Like, I can't die too many times because the rod is gonna go all the way and like fucking kill me. And so all of that added to feeling and all that added to emotion. Whereas Hellblade 2, again, I'm kind of on the same level in terms of the beat to beat what's happening in the story. But I'm also missing the emotional resonance that I had with Hellblade 1. I don't know if that's just like the way they present things, the things that happen.

There's also like an element of FMV that they have in Hellblade 1 that they don't have at all in Hellblade 2. I missed it. Yeah. And like, I kind of missed that too, right? I think there is so much that they're throwing at you in that. first game to kind of catch you off guard whereas help blade two kind of you know keeps it a bit more even and i think part of that is just where sinu was at in her journey because you know hellblade

one was so fucking taxing help blade two is coming after that maybe she's healed a little bit and so i don't think they're going as as wild with that stuff but but yeah like i didn't i didn't feel it rich is kind of a weird way to talk about it in terms of narrative or whatever right because narrative you want to talk about was the story good the story here is so cerebral and so amorphous that it's, I don't really care about talking about the story. More so I'm like, did it work for me emotionally? Did I feel, did I feel what Sunua was going through? Or did I, you know, feel something by the time I finish this game? And I will say the ending worked for me. The last 20 minutes of the game, I really enjoyed what was happening. I really felt the note that it ended on.

But through most of the game, I just didn't have that emotional resonance. Mike, what about you with emotional resonance and having something to say? Yeah, I mean, having something to say it didn't feel like to me, I walked away having a better understanding of mental health and maybe the issues that they were going to portray in this that I thought they would. But I did walk away going, man, I liked a lot of the messaging, right? I think we have a more matured Senwa who has grown and now needs that belief from others and in herself. And like I said at the beginning of this, I felt like we saw that. There was moments there where I was like, oh, man, I really like what you've done there. and I like how she is now empowering not only herself, but others, right?

And I kind of see that moment. You see those moments go through, and she is delight. And I think I believed that. I was in that for the whole ride. And I really, I resonated with that of like, here's someone, if you've gone through Hellblade 1 into 2, you've seen now grow. You've seen a moment turning in this story that it's really tough to not spoil, right?

But like, there are moments here where it's like, yep, I see this. It's happening live in front of me. And I believe in that. well ladies and gentlemen we believe in you if you believe in us you should get the kind of funny membership of course of the kind of funny membership you can watch all of our programming every show we do and we do a lot ad free of course you get the ability to watch us record the afternoon podcast like today's

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all you have to do is super chat over on YouTube.com slash Kind of Funny games like Onomis Prime did. I get combats not the focus. But how do you have the studio who did the DMC reboot, Heavenly Sword and enslaved, and have it so bare bones in both games? I have a follow-up question to this, actually. Okay.

And I might already have an answer my brain, but I'll still put it out to you. Okay. This game, Helbley 2, in terms of what is doing in tone, what is doing in subject matter, what is doing in terms of how serious it is as a story it wants to tell? Would having a combat system like devil may cry be fucking insane? Like, you know, I, there's, I, the cinematic approach to the combat is totally appropriate for the kind of story they want to tell.

Is there a balance there? Like, is it, is God of War the answer? Like, what is... I don't think any of those are the answer. And so the answer to the question, right? right is like and have it be so bare bones in both games because again like it or hate it all art should be like that this is their vision i don't think anybody got in the way of what ninja theory's vision was for this they believed in this combat system in this puzzle system and they ran with it

right and so that's what they wanted this to be would god of wars combat system have been better it would have been different right and i think again this game you know is it real is it fake is it all in her head is it not like is so grounded right and they obviously no spoilers for this one but last one right we get into all sorts of monsters and we're talking to hella and all you know i mean like shit's out there but it is grounded in the way that you are still just senwa right like you are just there boots on the ground trying to survive with your sword like i like that i enjoy that aspect of it and that's that's the thing about the combat that i think is fascinating because you know i name drop god of war because you could say god war is a serious story as well yeah but god of war at the

a god. Yeah, you're a fucking god and you're a fucking superhero and you have like this a head on your waist that's making jokes the entire time. Like it's just totally a different game. Like when we get action games, most action games have this level of levity and goofiness. And, you know, there's a pulp to it because it's action. You're jumping around. You're doing all this shit. As Nathan Drake, you're fucking gunning down 100 people because that's the tone of the story. Hellblade in the tone. It is so, it's grounded, right? It is gritty. It is realistic to what like a fantasy nor realistic thing is. It is realistic.

And so I'm almost of the mind, you mentioned this is Ninja Theory's vision, and I believe that, but I'm almost in the mind of like, hey, like, also don't feel like you have to do combat, right? Like, just because it's a video game doesn't mean that you have to do video game-y things, just as long as it is interactive in a way that is more engaging.

Like, don't feel like you have to force the combat. Not every single video game needs combat. Yeah, I mean, it's an interesting one right there. I like the combat for what it is, for the story that it is, for the tone of it I think it fits very well. I think they elevated the combat from one to two in a way that I preferred. I did not like the combat in one.

It always felt like I was in this little puzzle cage and it was just the same guys with the deerheads coming after me. I liked all of the enemy variety in this. They felt very humanoid most of the time and it felt cool to see them live and in person. And like it felt different than the first one in a good way for me. I thought that wore off real quick though. Really? Yeah. I liked every moment.

I liked as well if you die. sometimes the fight scenario will play out differently of people bumping into you, certain fights now coming at you, you approaching another one in a different way. And I always felt like if I wasn't having, if I was at the disadvantage, I appreciated the mirror being on my hip where I could build up the mirror and I could break it and I could stop time and get out of that fight. Every single one of those felt like my freebie get out of jail card. Is this guy punishing me too hard?

Is the fire? I can't read the fire right now. And I'm getting blown on there and I'm dying. is that guy axing me too many times I just can't dodge it. Hey, I got the mirror on my hip. I appreciated that because I liked it. I liked dodging. I liked that they had the dodge in there.

It felt cool to have the one step dodge. It felt good to have the double dodd where she would roll on the ground and get around that person. The counter was good. I think I agree with you, blessed. There was moments where it didn't feel quite right. But for what I wanted, it felt good enough of like I could counter that. And of course, these enemies are way stronger than Senoa, right? Like there are moments where your counter doesn't really matter.

They're going to push through you and you're going to get fallen back and you're going to have to reset. So I liked that. And again, something you mentioned at the very top in your piece that I don't think we've doubled back to. And I do want to compliment, right, is that again, I did not enjoy the combat here. I did not feel like I needed to play it. I did not feel like this was fun. And granted, are all games fun? No, but like in this moment where I'm hitting buttons, I should be like satisfied and I'm not satisfied with it.

However, death animations, kill animations, the animations they do. do-doo where, you know, you're fighting someone and they pull the you or they put, you know, like, that all was like, wow, this actually is really cool, but that was another one where I felt like three or four fights in, then the seams start to show like, oh, okay, this is every fight. It seemed cool and it was different

in the front, now I'm going to do this forever, because this is, again, a one-trick pony kind of thing on what we're doing with it. Jordan Middler, a reviews you see, friend of the show, of course, put in his synopsis of his three out of five review, something else I thought that spoke to what we're talking about, at least some of us. Hellblade two is a mechanically dated game carried by

incredible presentational flair. I think that was another, go back to what we're talking about, right? Of like, it's, why put the combat in there? This is the vision for the combat, but like, it doesn't feel up to snuff

with any of its competitors around. So if you have such strong stuff surrounding it, why I feel like you have to do it? Yeah. I digress. Let's go to another question over here. Let's go to just a review

from Docs the Fox. Of course, Superchat, YouTube.com, slash kind of funny games, just like you can. It says, Molina deserves an award. award for her performance here. She was incredible. Combat was super visceral. Also, shout out to the

dads with kids. Shorter games are welcomed. Thorntly enjoyed it. Well, shout out to anybody with kids, whether you're a dad, mom, or someone else. You know what I mean? Short games are great for anybody, even if you don't have kids as well. Again, I think early on when we were talking about it, people started trying to bring in the length as if we were complaining about it, which we never were, right. Cozy Mayer comes up and says just because the game's short doesn't make it's bad this is super chat. Does Hellblade 2's shortness feel appropriate for the story

Ninja Theory wanted to tell? Yeah, it was right on the money. It's a little two-parter. You can beat it in two nights or maybe make it three depending on your playtime. But I really enjoyed that there's an act one, act two, we're in the finale. Like it felt very clear of where we were going. I think

there is a moment in the middle where I was kind of like man, we're doing this one more time, but okay. But then like at the end when you get the final reveal and you go oh okay like this is the understanding of who these things are what we're doing I liked that nice little wrap up

I think it's worth calling out to that Hellblade too is a $50 game is not like a $60 or $70 thing It's on game pass as well It's on game pass as well Moving on here another super chat Unless Paris do you have anything to say about the length You were happy with it? No yeah where I thought it was was appropriate

Uh O diddily ooh To me the combat slash puzzles don't bring the game down. Those things are for quote unquote games. To me, this is not a quote unquote game. It's a narrative experience. See, this is where I'm going to push back again when we just talk about things that

we're critiquing. I do feel they could have done. I'm like, look, the puzzles didn't need to be freaking cocoon. I'm not saying that. But they could have done more with the puzzles. And that doesn't take away from the experience that Ninja Theory is trying to take us on through this. Sure, the combat could be what it was.

But I do think they could have given us a little more of a challenge, make us think a little more with the puzzle design. There was one where I was kind of, huh, but even then, it only took me a few minutes to figure it out. And then I was, you know, moving on throughout the game.

So that would probably be my biggest pushback in this, that it could still wouldn't have taken away from anything to have had more challenging puzzles at all. Yeah. And I think, you know, there were a few in there that I found enjoyable. And again, it's similar to one of the positives I gave Hellblade 1 of walking into these big arenas. I'm like, oh, man, I could easily get lost in here and fuck up this puzzle.

And I didn't because it was so intelligently designed. Same thing here where it was, oh, man, like, I need to go all the way, like basically a spiral over to that part over there by this cave. But when I got over there, I went for the treasure. And so now I'm, oh, shit, fuck, what do I need? It never happened. I was always able to get myself. I may get turned around. Like, what do I need to do?

But I'd figure it out and get there. but then like the ruin puzzles are a different story I feel for what you're getting out of it yeah I've been seeing the sentiment of you know Hel Blade 2 is in a game it's a narrative experience and so I'm able to look past like the puzzles and the combat and stuff I'm I'm curious on where that comes from is it because it tell hell Blade 2 tells a unique story because like the balance of cut scene to combat the puzzles is like any other game right like that's the thing that I don't I don't buy I think just because the combat and the the puzzles are a problem for people doesn't automatically go,

like you don't automatically go, oh, but you know, that stuff doesn't matter. It's just a story. Because you can say about any game, right? That's interesting. I think it's people who are reading these reviews or have already played it, right, and have their own,

their literal scale, not a review scale, but a scale, right? Where to them, the story characters, whatever, outweigh the problems of this. And that's fair. And that's fair. And I have those games as well. Interpret and review however you want to.

I don't buy it. It's a video game. It's on Xbox Game Pass, not Xbox Narrative Pass. So it's like, I'm, I am on the panel, no offense, I don't know fully Paris's things, but like, I assume that I am the fucking king of the Greg games of the narrative, the narrative walking sim visual novel. Oh, it's a girl going through adolescent in. Like, I love that shit.

I wish this game was more honed in and focused on, no, no, it's just a telltale game with beautiful graphics or something where you're not doing the fighting. We're just going to focus on the story and what's going on and your relationships. I would prefer that because I don't feel like it is good at what it does with combat and puzzles so stop doing that. And I think for me, the games that I look at as narrative experiences that I still love,

things like immortality or things like Life of Strange, true colors, those are still video games, right? Like there's gameplay to immortality, the arranging and finding and like queuing them on the keywords. That is gameplay. Life is Strange,

walking around the town, talking to people, making decisions. That is gameplay. Feeling their feelings. Feeling their feelings as well. She's an empath. She sees your colors.

It's like a mood ring. Yeah, like it's all gameplay. And so I think that's still, it still has to come into a conversation, especially when you have as many puzzles and as much combat factored in as hellblade 2 does. So I'm a person. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's the life of a remote person on this.

But you know, my thing is I feel like because the visuals are so top in, the sound design is so top in, the performance is so top in, you almost want to excuse some of the weak points of the game, which is the combat and the puzzles. And that's kind of where I am, just on a personal level. Those portions of the game were so freaking good that I am happy that I had this experience playing the game. And then I go, sure, this could have been better, that could have been better. But I'm happy that I was a part of it, that I got to do it so much.

So obviously, I played it twice at this point, right? So I think it does the job of what a video game is supposed to do. And all of the stuff that we're talking about, and that's very subjective, clearly, just looking at the reviews right now. But for me, it did the job. It did what I needed it to do to have an enjoyable experience. So again, I will give kudos to Ninja Theory on those aspects of the game.

But sure, there's things they could have improved. Speaking of Ninja Theory, we have a super chat from Nico. Nico! It's a GTA for reference. now the Hellblade 2 is out Do you think Ninja Theory or any studio ever acquired by Xbox has become a stronger

studio since Microsoft bought them? Oh. Michael, I want to kick to you. Do you think that you played this game and you're like, oh, clearly Ninja Theory is on another level because of Xbox? I would hope so. I would assume so. In my mind, yes, they have, right? They got the support and backing and hopefully the dollars

to allow them as much time as needed to make this their perfect game and their perfect vision, right? Like, I think you look at this, right? And for me, this is going to be something that we talk about, in my mind of when we're talking about great games that push the medium forward that are amazing, Hellblade 2 will come up in that conversation. But what I always say, right, is like Xbox needs a third-person narrative adventure that sets the tone like an uncharted in The Last of Us. This is not that, right? And so we're going to look at this walking away going,

I think globally worldwide gamers, people are not going to give this the love that it deserves and check it out and experience this and what they've done. But I think Xbox gave them, hopefully the platform and the stability, most importantly, to say, hey, take as much time as you need, you're still open for business and alive here. And that's a big deal for me. Before you get off the hot seat, my next question is, do you think, do you worry? This was not a universal 10 out of 10 game of the year. Oh my God, they crushed it.

Do you worry about Ninja Theory in light of what we've seen with Xbox and layoffs and stuff? No, not at all. I don't worry because, of course, we did hear earlier that they have been approved for their next one, so they will keep making games. If I was to be in a worry, it would be a different worry of what should be happening is I would go in there and say, hey, you guys have the tech, you have the vision, you do great stuff. Now make me an uncharted like that. Make me a game that people want to play like everybody's bringing up with gameplay,

but still keep the visual and audio, figure it out. That's what I would tell them. Okay. Can you answer that question? Yeah, please, Paris. to the second part of what he just said, excuse me. I don't think Ninja Theory.

Yeah. I don't think Ninja Theory is in trouble or anything. I think they're fine to answer that part of the question. But we obviously know the reality of what's happening in the last few weeks, you know, with some of the Bethesda studios. And then we've heard the quote that Matt Booty said. And I think this is probably the type of game that he's talking about in this sense of

it's a smaller game that, It will probably be award winning and be prestigious, right? But I think the one thing that Ninja Theory, whatever their next one is going to be, is they can't have. I shouldn't say they can't because clearly they gave them the time to do it, but they probably wouldn't want as long of a development cycle for the next next game to come from them. You want the visuals, you want the audio, whatever, if it's going to wind up being a sequel to this. But they probably don't want them to take five years to get this game out. They probably wanted in, you know, three years as an example.

But I think this is the type of experiences now that Xbox has so many studios under their watch that not everything has to be the big AAA high seller, but you want things that people are going to be talking about. Because regardless of the scores or whatever, we're talking about it. People will be talking about this game. And like I said, Molina for sure is probably going to win some awards for this for her performance. but they're probably going to get awards for sound design, things like that, you know, technical achievements and all of that. So it did the job in that sense. So no, I don't think Ninja Theory goes away and you want to see what they're going to do next.

And if they're not safe, what are we doing? No, I mean, that's my point. Is that not the same thing as Arcane Austin? Like, we're coming off of Arc in Austin and Tango GameWorks, and it was the same thing of like them not being safe. I think even the opposite, the options that are on the table all depress me. Like, you know, you mentioned, like, toward the end of your statement that, you know, you, as Xbox, you look at them and go, make something that's like an charter to make something. I think you don't look at it.

You don't acquire a studio like Ninja Theory to then go, hey, make it an charter or make something, make a horizon, make a God of War. And I think that's what Phil has done this whole time is he's held off doing that, right? But there's a moment here where we've all kind of looked and gone, maybe you should be saying that. Maybe it's time to step up and be like, stop doing that. Like, isn't that squandering what you, what Ninja Theory is in the studio? I agree. I agree. But, you know, we're getting to a moment.

You just brought up. But this is the problem with consolidation. They made a high-fi. That's not, people around the globe celebrate that, but it's not a massive mainstream game. It didn't do the marks that it needed. You look at, of course, Redfall, that was a flop. You shouldn't have made that.

And that's from the top, they shouldn't have done that. You go down the list. Ghostfire Tokyo was not a good game. That's why we're here at this moment. It's like someone eventually is going to have to look at them and say, you got to stop doing this, make the game that we need to sell. This is what we're to either, the concern, right? I've talked about on most of these shows since the Xbox last and closed studio closures, right, of like the fear that it's Microsoft putting the screws to them.

All right, we just spent $6,9 billion on this, fucking make money from this. Like, is, you know, is the party over of being able to come in and fund the art house project, right? When you're in indie studio, when you're senuous sacrifice, Hellblade 1, right? It's so much easier to have a level of success. And oh, my God, we destroyed this. This is amazing. And then you bring that in here and for seven years work on this game and get. get here and it's another 80 on Metacritic.

You know what I mean? With people up and down all over the place. And very few of the reviews being, oh, combat was awesome. Even the ones that are giving it, the nines and eights are like combat, well, I shouldn't put words in all these months. You can go read the reviews and stuff. People do like the combat. But it's like that idea of like Xbox, I have to imagine, just wants a fucking win.

Not a win with an asterx, not a win. Well, if you like Bethesda games, yes, you'll forgive Star, field's problems or we're patching it, you know, nearly a year later and this, that, and they just want to fucking celebrate something. And they can celebrate this and I've seen them doing tweets and stuff. But again, it's the same argument of like, yeah, you can do it, but there are these other reviews that are there. And there's always negative reviews I know, but I feel like this is a very interesting

divide of like, I'm going to let it off the hook for the things I don't like because I loved this so much. And other people be like, I love that stuff, but I can't let it off the hook for this. What's up, Paris? Oh, to what Greg is saying then. I'm asking Greg directly. Fucking bring it on. The games that we know of, what's the game then?

Where they just get the pure win? What do you think that game's going to be? And that's my same question, right? I don't think you find that game through the acquisitions that they've been making. I think maybe you thought that Bethesda Game Studios we're going to give that to you with whatever their next big thing is. And maybe that still is going to happen with Elder Scroll 6. Or maybe you consider that to be the case of Starfield. I definitely know because that would be the same argument, right?

where I think Starfield again was so polarizing and not, you know, whatever. But like, I think Elder Scroll 6 has to be a fucking slam dunk. Fall Out 5 has to be a slam dunk, but we're talking so far down the line. Now you look and it's like, I'd like to say Indiana Jones, right?

But like, we'll see. Will it? Like, you know what I mean? This is a conversation we've had on the movie side of kind of funny. Well, do people give a shit about Indiana Jones? They make the movies. It doesn't seem like it, but this is a game.

Will it be different? People want it uncharted. I fucking, I don't, I don't love Indiana Jones. I enjoy the film's fine. I've never been in Indiana Jones. guy like I'm dressing up like them but the game makes me incredibly excited yes fuck yeah let's go i think my thing too with this is that hellblade two based on the way people

are based on the metacritic based on the way people are talking about it i think if you are Microsoft if you're Xbox and you acquired ninja theory in 2017 and look at how people received hellblade one you don't look at the hellblade two reviews and go oh we didn't expect this like this is the exact same way it went with hellblade one of a lot of people being like oh man this is art this is incredible this all this stuff and then all the other people have been like, yeah, don't vibe with the combat. Oh, man, this is different. And I think you're probably going to see the same in terms of what the commercial success of it is. I don't think Hellblade 2 is going to sell gangbusters. I think it's going to do probably a little bit

better than what Hellblade 1 did. And yeah, as Microsoft, you're making an acquisition like Ninja Theory. You're making acquisitions like double fine. I think you look at any of these studios that are of that ilk and go make something that's mainstream that's going to hit with everybody. You're fucking up the acquisitions. You're fucking up the acquisitions. You're fucking up the consolidations, right? I also think you're making a worse games industry. If you're converting these very special independent studios into something that are going to, like, studios that are feasibly going to be hit machines for you or aren't going to exist because they can't be hit machines for you? And so you really hope, right, that this

Activision Blizzard spins up the way they want it. And call of duty, call of duties it gets a gazillion dollars. It's the biggest entertainment launch. That da, da, da, da, da. Diablo's latest season. Everybody's saying Diablo's back, even though I never thought it was gone, but doesn't matter what I think. Now everybody's putting up headlines that it's back. And you hope that that expansion this summer, right, is fucking amazing. You hope that that Starfield expansion shattered space that I can't fucking wait for because I've been re-addicted to fall in. Or it's a Starfield.

I have so much to tell you about my fucking trial, my trials and tribulations out there. Me and Barrett tearing up the universe, you know what I mean? Don't worry. We cleared his husband's name, Mike. Anyways, is that going to be the one of this is incredible. You know, fall at 76, they got another expansion coming. Is that going to be something? Like, these can be those things, but again, like, they just want to win.

They just want the fucking dominoes to fall. And like, I'm with you a thousand percent for the record of like, yes, when you buy Ninja Theory, you're going to expect this. When you buy double fine, you're going to expect that. Don't fuck it up. Don't get in there and muck it up and go do this. But it is that idea of what I got written in here right from Markey Johnson. That Blessing said it perfectly. The problem is consolidation, particularly for Microsoft.

They've not been good stewards of these studios, right? Like, I just worry about Microsoft coming down, crunching on them and changing what they are and making them do. it and eliminating people. To me, it seems like they haven't crunched on anyone. They've given everyone the freedom to make whatever they want. I'm sorry, I can buy you. I can my two points there. I'm saying that my point is I'm worried that the fact that the games haven't produced

the way they haven't been hit makers, that then Microsoft gets involved and fucks up Xbox's vision. It's an interesting place of we're ending this review. We're on this review to talk about this game and now we're talking about Xbox in the big picture. It's always funny we get back to this, right? Of like the mixed feelings of Xbox. It's wild that we're here again.

but I mean, you bought an art house studio, as blessing said, to make art. They've done that. You've elevated their tech within the mocap studio, the audio range to provide them probably a whole lot of money to buy all this stuff and giving them the power to do this, right? Should we not be celebrating what they just made, right? Now the issue is, well, it's not a hit. It's not good enough.

Well, now we're just getting in the shareholder territory of like, well, then you should be making fortnights. You should be making call of duties. And filling the team have fought hard not to do that. But there will be a moment. If that's what we want, they're going to turn and do that because I could easily look at this team and say, make me uncharted, figure it out,

and they'll do that, right? Hey, machine games, make me more of Wolfenstein's and dooms. Do it, you know? Eventually, there will be a moment where if that's what you want, that's what's going to happen here. But they should, they've fought so hard to keep all these so far. I mean, we should be celebrating that in my mind, unless you want Fortnite's, and they haven't made Fortnite yet.

You look at me like, I want it. I'm looking at you, and I'm saying, yeah, they fought this hard to get there. Where's the fucking win? And I just mean, and I'm not even, I'm not, I'm, I say this out of fear for them. I like the vision Phil and team have talked about for so long. I love Xbox being everywhere. And this isn't a win though? This isn't a win?

A stunning visual, incredible game that pushes the medium forward. That's not a win. Like, I guess the flip side of this is like, why aren't we celebrating this as a win? You bought Ninja Theory to make another Hellblade. You gave them all the money. they produce something incredible in front of all of our eyes. Maybe it didn't hit on the combating gameplay side, but they pushed this forward.

That's what you wanted, right? Yeah, Greg. Answer it. No, I think it's so simple. No, I mean, yeah, they push like two out of four aspects forward. I get that, but that's a 50% win ratio. It sucks. We have to say to ourselves right now as game.

Did the order 1886 push Sony to a different level? If this isn't a win here, then you're just clearly saying to the world, just make Fortnite. Like if we're not going to celebrate these moments, then you're looking at them going, ah shit, man, like you did this, you elevated that with that studio, and you kept them open and alive with all your money. But you know what? Not good enough.

You're telling me they're not going to look at you and go, okay, well, it's time to make that. This game did not elevate gaming. It elevated visuals, yeah, a thousand percent. That Xbox Series X is the only time you've ever looked at that Xbox series X and said, damn, I didn't know this console could fucking do that. Now, for the record, I always heard of my Xbox Series X twice a year. So there's a lot of times.

I didn't know what to do that. Right now, this is near the top. You might bring up two other games, but like this is clearly one of the big three posters childs for this generation of pushing this console forward. To prove to me why I need this console, this is one of those marquee titles. Wow.

And that's a win. Can I jump in on this? Because I love this back and forth that both of you were having. But that's, we lost photos on you. Bring it back to last year when Phil came on Xcast. See, this is the thing. With Arcane, it sounds like

they didn't intervene enough, but then you say they, you don't want them to. So what's the balance? That's kind of where they have to figure it out. Like with Ninja Theory, to me, I think Ninja Theory made the game they wanted to make. I don't think Xbox jumped in and told them to do anything. This is what they wanted to do, which is what we want. But then at the same time, there's the business side of it to where, all right, you got to make a profit. You got to have revenue. What, what games are supposed to do that? Which ones don't? So they have to figure out that balance, I think. And to Mike's point, we don't just want Fortnite.

100%. I am happy this game exists. Warts and all, we need these kind of games to go along with the fortnights and the call of duties of the world. So for that aspect of it, absolutely I think this is a win for Xbox. It shows that they're not afraid to have these type of games come out. They're not afraid for this game to have, hell, what is it? a five, six year development cycle or whatever it was, right?

That the end result, sure, it may not have certain things it didn't do to push the industry forward. But from a visual standpoint to what Mike is saying, it's the best looking game I've seen on the Xbox Series X. This is a game they can push out to the front and go, this is what this hardware can do. This is where we're trying to take visual fidelity. I'm sure the coalition is looking at this and going, well, God damn, we better make it. make sure the gear six looks as good because ninja theory just showed you what unreal five can do on this

console so just on that aspect alone i think this is a win for xbox because they can use this to show what xbox game studio games can do whether you think it's a 10 out of 10 or a 6 out of 10 uh i'm going to be the person that's on both sides but i do think that you guys are both right in some instance right i think this is a is considered a win if you're looking at the Xbox that acquired Ninja Theory went, hey, we like what you did with Hellblade, and we like what you've done as a studio, we like what you're doing with technology, and seeing them take the time, put out this product, I think you look at the split nature of it in terms of reception. I think you look at the current Metacritic. I think you expect how many people

are going to show up to it and buy it, right? Which isn't going to be like the craziest number of people, but I think the fans, and I think enough people will probably show up and buy and have like a regular reception in terms of what it does commercially. I think all of that is a win, but I also think that when I say it's a win, I am talking about Xbox pre this last year. And this is the point I'm driving it. As far as what the video game industry has turned into, as far as how money is tightened up, as far as all the layouts and studio closures, in the last few weeks, the new stories with Xbox and Microsoft have been that, you know, it seems like Microsoft as an entity is putting

way more scrutiny on Xbox post-activision Blizzard acquisition as they did pre. I think pre-activision Blizzard acquisition Xbox would have looked at this and went Yeah, fuck, you guys did great Like you guys did exactly what we wanted you to do I think right now Microsoft's looking at them And it is talking the way that Greg is right now

Which is no, we need a fucking like hit though You know, I didn't That is why you look at Archie and Austin and Tangle GameWorks I think that's how you lose them Is they go to Xbox and go Hey, get the margins up, close down some people I think right now you need to

As Xbox prove to Microsoft That you have big moneymakers you have big hits, you have studios that can produce that kind of thing. And I think any studio that isn't poised to be able to produce that kind of thing, I think they are in danger, not necessarily because of Phil, Sarah, and that team looking at like, oh, man, we can't do it. Yeah, I think it's their bosses. I think it's the Satya and Adela's of the world being like, yeah,

but Hellblade didn't sell the way that we need it to. We didn't sell like a call of duty. It didn't sell like a how PlayStation's doing God of War Inspired a man over there. I think that's kind of where the split nature of it is. 100%. Yeah, yeah. We're in an interesting place for Xbox because we don't celebrate their, wins enough, but then when we do get a win, we say it's not good enough. And so there's this weird

dynamic shift of Xbox right now where they are purchasing these studios, trying to nurture and elevate them. And when we get a high-fi rush, we celebrate it. And it's great. We get a redfall, and it's the worst thing on planet Earth. And they just, they're in this constant ebb and flow. And now we get a game that probably, in my mind, should be celebrated. This game should be like, hey, you did the damn thing. Great job. But Xbox isn't going to be seen like that because it's got an 81 on Metacritic, and they're going to go, oh, man, that's just another midgame from Xbox. Unbelievable, right? When it's like, hey, that's another great game that should be added to the Xbox catalog

that can justify your game pass purchase, maybe a console sale, right? It's just bolstering the team. And they're coming out with these games where, like we said so many times, you're hoping for the domino to fall, but like the dominoes keep missing. But there's also, there's wins in those dominoes. You have a Fortune Horizon 5. That's a game of the year contender. You have a Microsoft Flight Sim that changes.

technology as a whole using cloud. You got games like Halo Infinite, which sure they didn't stick the landing in live service, but God damn, that game was fucking good, right? And we didn't give that enough love. You look at Psychonauts too. That's a great game under their umbrella. You go down the list, it's like,

there's good games in here that should be celebrated, but every time they miss, it's like, oh damn, Phil, you guys suck at this. You're never going to get it right. It's a weird place to be, man. I get it. I'm on both sides, right? I love Sony.

I love Nintendo. I love Xbox. It's just a weird place to be like, PC sucks. You know what I mean? But it's like, hey, that's where we're at, you know? That's where we're at. Fuck you, Paris.

I like my PC. You know something we didn't talk about, we didn't talk about on this. Because I know we kind of, hey, it looks great on the series X. We know it looks great on PC. I played it on the series S. Looks great. Yeah. It plays great.

I mean, it's definitely, again, another W for them. The little box that could was able to play this game at a, at a great visual fidelity. So anybody on the Series S will have no issues playing hell late too. I tell you, it was a shocking experience

when I went on the road and I took my series S with me and I plugged in and played Starfield. They're like, oh, right, this doesn't do 60. Whoa, fuck. That's crazy. I've been feasted my eyes

on Starfield since that patch. I got there. I was like, oh, damn, fuck the one. I flip my time between Xbox Series X at home and then playing at work, I'm playing on my portable, or my portable, my gaming laptop.

And I can't give you the specs right now. I know what the fuck brand that gaming laptop is. All I know. Bought in Chinatown, is this off the street. I'm not going to say what it is. That shit was barely holding together.

But it got the job done, though. Like, it ran the game. But I was like, man, I can't wait to play this on Xbox Series X when I get home because it looked really good on console. It was one of the few times as an Xbox gamer where I have smiled from ear to ear and I've been wowed by playing an Xbox game studio saying, damn, this shit is awesome, good for them, right? I do that all the time with PlayStation games.

I turn on Uncharted. I go, God damn, this is the best. I turn on Last of Us. This is Rocks. I turn on the Robo Dino game. I'm like, yo, this game rocks, right? On Xbox, I finally get that. I'm like, yo, this rocks.

You got a talented studio. Let's nurture them. Let's give them the money to back this up. If they want to tell freaky-diki stories, you tell those freaky-diki stories. If you want to look at them and tell them, make a mainstream goddamn banger, you tell them to do that.

But this studio should be protected and, like, celebrated. And I hope, you know, I hope that six months down the line, they're not getting canned, right? Because that would suck. I usually give them a year. They'll pour it to place. Station then they'll get it. Mike, I'm celebrating them.

I think it's a win. Thank you, homie. Let me get two questions before I get out of here from the super chats. All right. Chris wrote in and said, I've never finished Hellblade 1, but don't want to risk spoilers and such from Helblade 2. How much does it matter to play Hellblade 1 first? Thank you. I mean, in terms of the story, not much.

There's a great recap that they do the very, very front of you that plays and tells you the whole story to give you what you need. Yeah, I don't think so. I mean, you also just get to it, Chris. Like, why? Why? Just go. Do it. And just finish it.

It's the same kind of game. And then final one, CJ says, this is something we touched on that they've said they're working on another game, the next game or whatever, what this one is. CJ says, and we'll go down the line, Mike, to me. Do you want a third game?

And if so, what to change? I do not want a third game with Sunua. I would like them to do something different. I think Project Mara is supposed to be some weird psychological horror game. I would like to see that. If that's what that truly is, I'm into that. Paris.

I have to hedge. I both because I do one of a third game for Hellblade, but I also want to see them do a Project Mara-esque something different as well. I'll answer it this way. I would love to see them do something else first and then come back to Hellblade. Let's put it that way. Bless. I hope we don't get another one.

I almost didn't want a second one. The only reason why I'm like, all right, cool, let's do it, because they seem like they wanted to make the second one, but I still think that Hell Blade 1 is a standalone type thing. and Helblade now Helplade 1 plus 2 as a standalone thing works. I don't need any more of this specific story. Yeah, my, I like Ninja Theory as a studio, right? I haven't connected with these last two games,

but again, I do think that they are technical powerhouses and do some amazing stuff. So I want them to go and do whatever they want to do next. I'd be way more interested in a project tomorrow, right? If they were going to come back to Hellblade, I would want to see them go, listen, we're not the best at combat and puzzles, so let's remove one of them,

making just cinematic. How do we do a more walking sim, whatever the hell kind of thing and fix that one? Or they hire the cocoon team to come in and do the puzzles. Then you'd be bitching that they change what the DNA of Hellblade is.

You're right. So you can't win. Can't win. Stop making games, everybody. There's no way to win. Ladies and gentlemen, that's the kind of funny games cast review of Senua's saga Hellblade 2.

As a reminder, Mike gave it a 9 out of 10, called it amazing. Paris gave an 8 out of 10, called it great. And Blessing and I gave it a 6.5 out of 10 and said it was okay. What did you think? Let us know in the comments below, of course, because you can't, you're, I mean,

you can do it in the live chat right now, but like we're shutting down a live chat. So that's it. But guess what? If you wanted to watch live with us and be part of the show and do the super chats and all that jazz, you can catch the kind of funny games cast each and every weekday live on YouTube, Twitch, and podcast services around the globe. Thank you so much for joining us. Of course, so many of you were saying this is a great conversation.

We had like 2,500 people watching through. throughout. Thank you so much. Just on YouTube. And chat was so polite the entire time. Yeah. They weren't bad at us or each other at all. I digress. Remember, like, subscribe, share, follow. If you have the means, a kind of funny membership would go a long way. You'd get good karma because you'd be supporting an 11-person independent operation in a very tough field. But of course, you're $10 would also get you all of our shows ad-free.

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I'm going to talk to you about ex defiant. We're going to talk about it. Sancho West is there too, I heard. Sancho West will be there. Blessing after his lunch with you will be there. It's going to be a great time. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, until next time,

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