I love this interpretation of Hellblade 2!! From my perspective, both psychosis and magic coexist in this universe, so the mental illness side of Senua is not contradictory to her path as a seidkona. In that way, it kind of reminded me of Stephen King’s universe, like in "The Shining" or "Doctor Sleep," where mental illness and psychic abilities are intertwined; some special people are capable of seeing and hearing "beyond the veil," but it always comes with psychological costs, like madness or trauma. In my perspective, giants were real because people believed they were, like a collective projection of a shared fear that materialized into monsters. After all, the game focuses a lot on the "lies" told by the Godi to maintain control, so it would make sense for them to be born from fear. Also, I agree with you that they could not be just some hallucination, as the characters were fighting them for real. Anyways, Senua’s Saga is meant to be ambiguous and interpretative so we can find our own answers within our own experiences of the game, and that makes it wonderful :D Again, loved your video :D nice phase and lovely aesthetics
Totally love this! I guess it adds to the point that a lot of mental illness was explained away as magic, or even demonic in the worst cases, until we better understood them. But I agree that in this world, it's a bit of both in a really respectful way.
This is such a great video. Its made me think a lot more of what the developers wanted the story to be as well. I really hope they go on to make some really cool stuff along this vein other than Hellblade.
an excellent video and the final conclusion "it's a matter of perspective" is amazing. I personally have a lot of questions, I think the people who appear are real but about the giants I have a theory: I think what they are really fighting in the second giant are the draugr, there is a part where you hear someone shout "Draugr", maybe I hear it that way. well it's just one thing that supports my theory xd
Thank you! I love that theory and that we can all have so many haha. I really hope they do a developer documentary or something in the future to give us all the answers!
Oh my God that was the best review I think I've ever seen! I loved every second of it. I love the game so much. Your psilocybin take was SO SHARP. I took LSD recently and I definitely had an acute psychotic episode and right after realistic visuals that would blend with the environment. I can relate to her now.
Thank you so much, I'm glad you liked it! I still feel like I'm reaching with the mushrooms, but I appreciate your insight into that (I've never had a hallucination or anything haha) :)
Tbh I am VERY Dissapointed that the Game did NOT make it 100% clear what and who the Giants are since they were the *MOST IMPORTANT* Part of the Game! The End was a letdown for me... Hellblade 1 did a Far better Job of making you doubt what's real and what is not with a fair share of ambiguity Good Video though!
Thank you! I totally get that, it seems from reviews as well that there's a few points of disappointment on this one. I personally loved the game, but I totally get what you're saying and I hope Ninja Theory does another documentary or dev log explaining it all.
I will never understand why people want to hear exact answers from artists/creators. Art is not a literal explanation of emotions and the beautiful thing with pieces like this game is that everyone can have their own interpretation according to their experiences. So, learn more over time then come back to that game, book, film - whatever - you'll appreciate it more.
@@JAGtheTrekkieGEMINI1701 That might be true I don't remember clearly the first game but still that doesn't mean they'll apply the same formula to the next piece. I get people's complainings about the pace, storytelling, combat etc but I can appreciate the game for being what it is.
@@hsynsrky And I expecterd a similar experience.... But when the Credits rolld I Had still so many Questions! Something i did Not have regarding the 1st Hellblade and I really liked that
You didn't understand the game. There's no giants at all. There's no hiddenfalk. Senua was digging through long abandoned caves only because she believed in them, and her mind have been giving her pictures according to it. Same with fighting giants. Draugr are real but they probably not looking that inhuman. They are criminals and cannibals exiled from villages for their crimes. One of the narrators said that, I'm not making it up. All people in the game have been believing to Senua's rituals because they all share the believes in giants that causes cataclysms. So basically we see the whole plot in the real world through a prism of Senua's defected. perception.
I'm guessing you didn't watch this video before commenting, because you're just reiterating the exact same points I made to argue against my understanding. 1. I did not say the Hiddenfolk are real people living underground. I said their lore comes from Fae and that *if* any part of them was real, it is within the hidden plane Senua can access through her visions as a Seer, which to me was more of an acknowledgment of what people with Psychosis experience with hallucinations existing on the same plane as reality (as she's able to change the environment around her through her visions). 2. I did say the Draugar are real humans, and not the supernatural undead, and I also brought up their history coming from cannibalism (including footage from the very part of narration you're bringing up). 3. My argument for the giants being real were based on how other people besides Senua interacted with them. If they're not real, what were the small army of people fighting on the beach? What were Senua and the companions running away from and escaping in the Red Hills? I also said there are parts of interactions with the giants that are real, and others that are not (such as travelling to their realms, or the third giant in it's entirety). An important point considering we have to view everything through the lens of Psychosis as well as the mythology in the game's universe. And on your last point, since we play the game as Senua, it is obvious that it's through her perception, another point I made multiple times throughout the video you didn't watch.
I love this interpretation of Hellblade 2!! From my perspective, both psychosis and magic coexist in this universe, so the mental illness side of Senua is not contradictory to her path as a seidkona.
In that way, it kind of reminded me of Stephen King’s universe, like in "The Shining" or "Doctor Sleep," where mental illness and psychic abilities are intertwined; some special people are capable of seeing and hearing "beyond the veil," but it always comes with psychological costs, like madness or trauma.
In my perspective, giants were real because people believed they were, like a collective projection of a shared fear that materialized into monsters. After all, the game focuses a lot on the "lies" told by the Godi to maintain control, so it would make sense for them to be born from fear. Also, I agree with you that they could not be just some hallucination, as the characters were fighting them for real.
Anyways, Senua’s Saga is meant to be ambiguous and interpretative so we can find our own answers within our own experiences of the game, and that makes it wonderful :D
Again, loved your video :D nice phase and lovely aesthetics
It's such a great interpretation! And way more thought out than I would've done. I've got a lot of processing to do this week!
Totally love this! I guess it adds to the point that a lot of mental illness was explained away as magic, or even demonic in the worst cases, until we better understood them. But I agree that in this world, it's a bit of both in a really respectful way.
This is such a great video. Its made me think a lot more of what the developers wanted the story to be as well. I really hope they go on to make some really cool stuff along this vein other than Hellblade.
We, as the people, all demand another Hellblade as well haha. But yes, I'd love to see what other stories NT has to tell.
Awesome video Jess!💜 I will play Senua's Sage one day!🙈😂
Yes 👏👏 I hope the streaming is going well!
@@thejesshinds Thank you, streams always busy hey. BTW I miss YOUR streams girl🥹💅
@@panicstarr I'm a video essay girlie now 😂 but there will be the occasional streams for big events still x
an excellent video and the final conclusion "it's a matter of perspective" is amazing. I personally have a lot of questions, I think the people who appear are real but about the giants I have a theory: I think what they are really fighting in the second giant are the draugr, there is a part where you hear someone shout "Draugr", maybe I hear it that way. well it's just one thing that supports my theory xd
Thank you! I love that theory and that we can all have so many haha. I really hope they do a developer documentary or something in the future to give us all the answers!
Oh my God that was the best review I think I've ever seen! I loved every second of it. I love the game so much.
Your psilocybin take was SO SHARP. I took LSD recently and I definitely had an acute psychotic episode and right after realistic visuals that would blend with the environment. I can relate to her now.
Thank you so much, I'm glad you liked it! I still feel like I'm reaching with the mushrooms, but I appreciate your insight into that (I've never had a hallucination or anything haha) :)
Very good video, you explained the "are the giants and companions real?" better than I could ever manage.
Tbh I am VERY Dissapointed that the Game did NOT make it 100% clear what and who the Giants are since they were the *MOST IMPORTANT* Part of the Game! The End was a letdown for me... Hellblade 1 did a Far better Job of making you doubt what's real and what is not with a fair share of ambiguity
Good Video though!
Thank you! I totally get that, it seems from reviews as well that there's a few points of disappointment on this one. I personally loved the game, but I totally get what you're saying and I hope Ninja Theory does another documentary or dev log explaining it all.
I will never understand why people want to hear exact answers from artists/creators. Art is not a literal explanation of emotions and the beautiful thing with pieces like this game is that everyone can have their own interpretation according to their experiences. So, learn more over time then come back to that game, book, film - whatever - you'll appreciate it more.
@@hsynsrky But the First Hellblade gave you pretty clear answers tbh
@@JAGtheTrekkieGEMINI1701 That might be true I don't remember clearly the first game but still that doesn't mean they'll apply the same formula to the next piece. I get people's complainings about the pace, storytelling, combat etc but I can appreciate the game for being what it is.
@@hsynsrky And I expecterd a similar experience.... But when the Credits rolld I Had still so many Questions! Something i did Not have regarding the 1st Hellblade and I really liked that
You didn't understand the game. There's no giants at all. There's no hiddenfalk. Senua was digging through long abandoned caves only because she believed in them, and her mind have been giving her pictures according to it. Same with fighting giants.
Draugr are real but they probably not looking that inhuman. They are criminals and cannibals exiled from villages for their crimes. One of the narrators said that, I'm not making it up.
All people in the game have been believing to Senua's rituals because they all share the believes in giants that causes cataclysms.
So basically we see the whole plot in the real world through a prism of Senua's defected. perception.
I'm guessing you didn't watch this video before commenting, because you're just reiterating the exact same points I made to argue against my understanding.
1. I did not say the Hiddenfolk are real people living underground. I said their lore comes from Fae and that *if* any part of them was real, it is within the hidden plane Senua can access through her visions as a Seer, which to me was more of an acknowledgment of what people with Psychosis experience with hallucinations existing on the same plane as reality (as she's able to change the environment around her through her visions).
2. I did say the Draugar are real humans, and not the supernatural undead, and I also brought up their history coming from cannibalism (including footage from the very part of narration you're bringing up).
3. My argument for the giants being real were based on how other people besides Senua interacted with them. If they're not real, what were the small army of people fighting on the beach? What were Senua and the companions running away from and escaping in the Red Hills? I also said there are parts of interactions with the giants that are real, and others that are not (such as travelling to their realms, or the third giant in it's entirety). An important point considering we have to view everything through the lens of Psychosis as well as the mythology in the game's universe.
And on your last point, since we play the game as Senua, it is obvious that it's through her perception, another point I made multiple times throughout the video you didn't watch.