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Defining Duke, Episode 177 | Our Hellblade 2 Review Is HERE - Did It Deliver?!

🕑 Added 2024-05-23 16:00:24 +0000 UTC

Comments

Marco Maluf

Senua - Overrated Gene - Goat!

David P

We need a timestamp in the description for when cog talks about destiny 2 so I can precisely skip that part each week Love you though Cog

Michael Mashpotato

Gene…. Play KH Dream Drop Distance on the 3DS like a man. Your thumbs will be fucked after 😂

Bailey Callis

Bro it's so tough being an assassin's creed fan. People are so nasty about it, way waaaay overblown.

Bartevious

Gene “I’m not gonna spoil it then precedes to spoil it the next sentence” Park 😂

Gooch Gobbler

I really loved the game, thought it was something really cool and different and didn't overstay it's welcome

Fotis Lyto

I don't know man, I'm thinking that if hellblade was a Sony exclusive he would not even look at it a second time. Colin does something similar but at least when a Sony game is bad or he doesn't like it, he says it without running any defence.

Owen S

As someone who loves both movies and video games, I find the cinematic games incredibly unsatisfying because I think movies are way better at being movies than video games are. I find a lot of podcasters I follow that really like cinematic games, very rarely watch movies. I wonder if Matty will come to a similar conclusion as he watches more and more movies for Retro Rewind

Yiorgos

When I hear that a game is about mental health issues, I roll my eyes. I could care less and not what I look for in a videogame. I think Gene was spot on with his critique

Chris Van Buren

I agree with Gene, ninja theory is overrated. Hellblade 1 was great, but 2 was meh. I don’t get the obsession with this studio.

Chris Van Buren

He’s not wrong on the game.

Saint947

I too dream of sleeping more than 6 hours as a >35. I worked night shift for 7 years, and early on in that chapter of my life, my circadian rhythm was so fucked I slept for 22 hours straight; I have no idea how my bladder didn’t explode. It remains the weirdest experience of sleep in my life lmao

Mr. Scott If You're Nasty

Geez, I thought the critique of #DDHellblade 2 was going fine until Ninja Theory was basically called talentless and abysmal story tellers. Additionally, saying their portrayal of mental health was cringe seemed way out of left field. They consulted with mental health professionals, scientists, and people who suffer from mental health disorders. It really went off the rails here, in my opinion. I was surprised there wasn't more pushback on some of these more personal critiques. Any crying over this studio being laid off, God forbid it happens, would seem a little insincere after this. Personally, I don't get how you like the first one and not this one. It's the same or better in almost all facets, but I understand that's my opinion. #DDHellblade

NeO JD

Hellblade 2 would’ve been better off as just a walking sim or choice making kind of game for sure. The Unreal Engine 5 tech demos had better gameplay. Love this new trend of having a different 3rd chair every week. #DDHellblade

Russell Robinson

Dustin stretches out his for meeee too and I hate it.

Bartevious

Graphics do not make a video game good or bad, unless the graphics are so poor you cannot make out what’s going on. They are additive, they are not part of a gameplay loop, they are not part of any gameplay systems, they do not effect how you play a video game. Graphics are a lot more akin to a soundtrack than they are how a game actually plays.

Carlos Hernandez

i’m so glad i don’t take Gene seriously when it comes to game reviews. Bad take after bad take

Not John Cena

Saying that Ninja Theory is talentless is absolutely insane.

Zac

Oh my goodness cog liked Hellblade 2? I am shocked, SHOCKED. Well not that shocked...

Omar Rosa

Gene would be a great third chair

Daniel

Great episode! I know you always push back against a third host, but even a rotating third chair makes the discussion immensely more varied/diverse.

ByWatterson

"I totally get how this isn't actually a video game. But for MEEEEE"

Breno Bezerra Bluhm

I’m honestly just glad that the divisive Xbox 1st party game of this year is Hellblade 2 as I couldn’t care less about this game. I tried the first one twice and it didn’t click for me. Still very hyped for Avowed and Indy tho, the end of the year should be great for Xbox! Also glad Cog liked so we could see another perspective and I loved Gene’s rant about Ninja Theory 😂🤣

CUMSoftware

I’m a black Malaysian lesbian with a skin pigment disorder and I must say I couldn’t feel more represented with Xdefiant.

AgentOfChaos904

For Call of Duty on game pass would it not be fair to say that Call of Duty makes its money back mostly on microtransactions?

Chris C.

I have PlayStation 5 and Xbox series s and I’m sticking with call of duty on PlayStation. I have no problem paying $70 every year. It just feels like we are setting up Xbox for serious failure with COD on game pass.

Russell Robinson

Gene said is Ninja Theory going to be your salvo to PlayStation. That's hilarious 😂.

Big titty drinker

Also can we stop with the hipster persona of trying make yourself seem like you have good taste by attacking games for being pretty? Like I get it already but graphics are just as important as other facets of games , especially for gamers who look for immersion as one of the most important factors when playing a game. I can’t tell you how fucking annoying and pretentious you sound when you get on your soap box and do your little “ HuR DuR GrApHiCs dOnT MaaATTER.” Graphics are an important part of any game and one that excels at it should be celebrated. This holier than thou attitude that some have towards it is dumb as fuck

ByWatterson

More like three years

Hammertime44

Regarding the Assassins Creed Shadows controversy, even if it’s historically accurate to have a black guy in Japan, all samurai except for one is Japanese. If the idea is supposed to be that we’re playing as a average samurai in Japan why would Ubisoft have any other reason to focus on a random black guy other than ESG. Cogs argument about representation rings hallow becuase you should not only be able to feel connected to a character if their the same race as you.

Adam Barnes

People hating on Cog is wild. It is entirely possible that the man really does like Hellblade. As a Sony fan who doesn’t own an Xbox, I’m here to tell all you fanboys to go back to the Sacred comments and leave these guys alone for fucks sake 😂

Joshua La Rosa

Great point, how well would this game fair once other games graphics are on par… I don’t think it will be getting 8s or 9s from anyone

Joshua La Rosa

What’s this, 3 weeks of Cog running defence …

Adam Razak

Gene is preaching to the choir when he's trashing this stupid obsession with one-shot camera takes some games have. I really like the two new God of War games, but both would be exponentially better without that goddamn one-shot camera limiting the story, cinematography, and world navigation.

Conor Campbell

Hellblade will suffer once it's visuals become the standard in gaming. It's cool now, but not much reason to revisit in the future when Gears, God of War and more look this good with 15-40 hour campaigns packed with action. Gameplay is king, the best stand the test of time regardless of visuals

Andy T

I’m with Gene- I really do think ninja theory used the mental health aspect as a shield to deflect absolutely any criticism. At the end of the day HellBlade 2 is a very good looking tech demo. Not a fully fledged game. I say that actually finding it pretty cool myself.

Ryan Zimm

Did Cog say "play session" or "playstation" in response to the Elden Ring streamer? Sounded like Session to me, but then Gene heard the latter. Cog to nice to correct?

Danio

Chris mainly does it because it is funny I think.

Big titty drinker

I hate to be this guy but Prototype was a mid ass video game. This pedestal Chris / Matty put that game on absolutely baffles me. Shit was ass B .

Danio

I also am dissapointed by Hellblade and Ninja Theory's output in the last 10 years, but some of the comments are disgraceful. Let people enjoy things that you might not enjoy! Grow the f up!

Henry Velasco

Shout out to Splinter Cell Chaos Theory

Diddy’s Dong Quest

This is gonna look so good on PS5 pro!

Jimmy G

I kind of felt for Cog in this episode. It sucks when you want to talk about a show/game/movie you love, but your friends hated it. It is what it is, though. That’s my life as an Assassin’s Creed fan. It’s brutal out here. 😅

Jimmy G

Both can be true? You can think that they wasted too much time on graphical fidelity at the expense of everything else, but what’s done is done and you can still be hopeful that they’ll do better with the tools in the future.

Vanzant

This game is definitely divisive. Im with COG on this. I enjoyed what this was. Edit: Matty come on… the possessed mad scientist obsessed with graphic fidelity is bad for the industry. Then you say, I can’t wait to see what their tech is capable of in the future. Which is it?

CUMSoftware

Who in the fuck on xbox wanted Hellblade 2 to begin with? Yeah! That’s what I think of when I think Xbox…. Fucking hellblade! Lol! So much wasted time from these studios. Cheap garbage

Cai

The reason other studios can’t reach the same level of fidelity and audio as Ninja Theory is this. They aren’t sacrificing everything else in order to focus exclusively on those very shallow elements.

Ember's Arcade

Man can’t have a different opinion than you without being a shill?

Edwin Magana

Shill Cog in full effect. Had him on the ropes, but he always finds a way 🤣

inlovewiththecoco

You think the fans gon let you disrespect hosts, homie That display of rage gon be your last post, homie

Saint947

Ding ding ding— It’s utter bullshit; pure DEI pandering.

Michael

Going to start it tonight and will just enjoy it for what it is.

Saint947

It’s fucking horseshit that they title the episode HELLBLADE 2 and then try and con you into having to listen to the whole episode to find the review. Thanks for doing the legwork-

Saint947

WHY THE FUCK IS THE HELLBLADE 2 REVIEW NOT TIMESTAMPED— WHY WOULD YOU MAKE IT THE FUCKING TITLE AND THEN TRY AND CON PEOPLE INTO LISTENING TO THE WHOLE EPISODE INSTEAD OF TELLING YOUR PAYING AUDIENCE WHERE TO FIND WHAT THEY ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT—

Bogey

God damn Gene went IN. No mercy

Something Is Rising And It's Not The Shield Hero

So are we going to actually get a spoilercast from the dukes?

Brandon V

Completely missing the point of the outrage over AC: Shadows. It’s mostly about the REASONS they are doing it. No one gives a shit about the historical accuracy if they weren’t trying to gaslight us on the history of Yasuke.

Caleb Peacock

29 too matty, and my wedding and college graduation will be around my 30th. Big things ahead but I wish I could idle at 29 for a few more years.

Meatball

My dude is living life at x32 speed 🤯

Have you considered considering considerations considerately considerate

Best episode of Defining Duke yet!!!

Ryan Zimm

For anyone wondering when they discuss Hellblade, it is during the "What we're playing " segment". I'm also not feeling Hellblade 2. Loved the first one, but I'm finding this one too sluggish, and the story kind of annoys me.

Forrest Hunter

Bro, I’m 38 and have been lamenting the inability to sleep in for several years. It sucks. God forbid I stay up late on a weekend because my ass is waking up at 6:30a, regardless.