Support NeoGAF

[Draugoth]

Hellblade 2 reviews embargo is set for 1 hour before it's official release on May 21.





Apparently it's so they can avoid spoilers

 

[adamsapple]

Great, don't want any accidental spoilers.

 

[ViciousAgenda]

Is that the same as other MS exclusives?

 

[Puscifer]

They're either really confident or really scared. Doom 16 is the only good example of this happening I can remember.

 

[feynoob]

Very normal tactic

 

[rofif]

Yeah it will be trash.
7 years to develop 4h long cutscene about internal voices...
Don't get me wrong. I absolutely loved hellblade 1. The poem about Dillon mid-way through the game is beautiful..
But somehow I lost all hype for the 2nd game.

 

[Gudji]

 

[Arsic]

Here come the bootlickers with examples in the past where it worked out fine. Even though the majority of the time this is done it's to hide the mid to shit review scores and issues.

 

[Sethbacca]

Embargos that expire this close to the drop is never a good sign, but it's nice to see this game finally coming out after having seen previews of it seemingly forever.

 

[rofif]

Great, don't want any accidental spoilers.

Yeah that's not why they do it you know...
spoiler - Senua will hear voices and do crazy eyes !
I am playing it myself too. Will even get 1 month gamepass for it probably lol

 

[MagiusNecros]

They're either really confident or really scared. Doom 16 is the only good example of this happening I can remember.

It's being sent to die. Confidence in their product would see reviews pop up 1-2 weeks before.

 

[Luipadre]

Dont really care. Everyone and their mother is gonna play this one on game pass anyway. Im sure it will be great for those who liked the first one

 

[Gambit2483]

They're either really confident or really scared. Doom 16 is the only good example of this happening I can remember.

I thought if you're confident you drop embargoes like a week before release...not 1 hour.

 

[BlvckFox]

 

[SEGAvangelist]

They're either really confident or really scared. Doom 16 is the only good example of this happening I can remember.

Doom 16 embargo was a Bethesda thing for all their games, though.

 

[adamsapple]

Yeah that's not why they do it you know...
spoiler - Senua will hear voices and do crazy eyes !
I am playing it myself too. Will even get 1 month gamepass for it probably lol

And this is how COPE works people

 

[hyperbertha]

Great, don't want any accidental spoilers.

And this is how COPE works people

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Disaster Imminent

Sucks, too. I still think it looks pretty. But it really does seem like it's gonna be a 5-hour DLC with almost nothing expanded on from the 1st game. Hope NT'll be alright if it's a commercial bomb.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Hahaha!!! I guess it is just a UE5 tech demo.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Great, don't want any accidental spoilers.

Yeah it would be a shame to spoil their preorder #s

 

[Jaybe]

As of yesterday morning, no reviewer had received review codes. Wonder if they finally have them.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

Who is going to spoil it? No chance of a physical copy being sold early for a start.

 

[hyperbertha]

surely someone wouldn't lie on the internet? Surely they would admit the real reason they do it is for delaying reviews so as few people see it before buying.

 

[HeWhoWalks]

I expect it to review fine. 80s range (83-87). It'll be judged on what it is - a game with a relatively quick completion time, that looks stupendous, and doesn't cost much.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

As of yesterday morning, no reviewer had received review codes. Wonder if they finally have them.

It's to avoid spoilers, obviously.

 

[Deerock71]

Hellblade 2 reviews embargo is set for 1 hour before it's official release on May 21.



Apparently it's so they can avoid spoilers

 

[Nydius]

That's a straight up bullshit excuse. Plenty of other heavily story-driven games have come out with embargoes several days before release that didn't "spoil" anything.

So yes, it's still nothing but cope. Waiting until the last hour to let professional reviewers express their opinion on the game is a massive red flag.

 

[clarky]

If they are aiming for mass panic attacks it may just work.

 

[Elbereth]

Hope it's good. Microsoft does not need any additional bad PR…

 

[Punished Miku]

Honestly very strange and makes it seem like they're not confident. Guess we'll see.

Trying to give them some benefit of the doubt here, and think outside the box - maybe they're trying some new release approach since it's digital only and available cheap and on subs. People can pick it up in 1 hour if they want and there's really no delay. Get the game trending on social media when it's available for purchase / sub. Wouldn't be the 1st time considering Hi-Fi Rush.

If they are truly this sensitive about spoilers (which every trailer suggests is the case so far), I am definitely not reading any reviews until I play it. Sounds like it'll either be amazing, or a disaster. Taking a couple days off from this site when it comes out too.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Pretty sure those that spoil after receiving a code, don't care about the embargo . . .

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

As of yesterday morning, no reviewer had received review codes. Wonder if they finally have them.

They're sending PS5 codes first

 

[Mr Moose]

Such confidence.

 

[Robb]

Usually not a good sign..

 

[clarky]

Great, don't want any accidental spoilers.

Hopefully the moaning bitch cops for it, she needs to quit the whining and man up.

 

[NonPhixion]

I mean even a trailer is a huge spoiler for a 5 hour game.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

oh boy

 

[Oddvintagechap]

Here come the bootlickers with examples in the past where it worked out fine. Even though the majority of the time this is done it's to hide the mid to shit review scores and issues.

let them have something.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Redfall'd in internal test scores

Expecting The Order type scores, 6/10

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

sarcasm detector broken?

 

[Thief1987]

I mean even a trailer is a huge spoiler for a 5 hour game.

"game"

 

[ShadowkillXNA]

Xbox/Microsoft gaming are oh so very pro-consumer, Sony/Nintendo would never, ever, allow a review embargo to end before a games release date, even for a two hour game that's a sequel to an overly simplistic, very niche game from last gen.

 

[begotten]

Lol @ the mental gymnastics in this thread.

Rebirth which more people were talking about and had much more sensitive spoilers had it's review embargo lifted one week before-hand.

But Hellblade 2, the 5 hour movie that no one is talking about, need to protect that lore and have it 60 minutes out.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Think it'll have more reviews on PS5?

 

[SlimySnake]

Not a good look, but lets face it, we all know what kind of game this is by now. It will be hellblade 1 with better visuals.

 

[DR3AM]

RIP Ninja Theory

 

[H-I-M]

So the lowcost Sony inspired cinematic experience is going to be a commercial AND critical failure ?

I'm scared for the studio's future.

 

[Jaybe]

That's a straight up bullshit excuse. Plenty of other heavily story-driven games have come out with embargoes several days before release that didn't "spoil" anything.

So yes, it's still nothing but cope. Waiting until the last hour to let professional reviewers express their opinion on the game is a massive red flag.

Yes, it's just laughable. Many story-based games have lengthy review times and reasonable embargos. Any reputable reviewer getting a review code will have an NDA they respect. Game reviewers honor requests that certain story spoilers are not covered in reviews and limit footage permitted.

Most likely the team was trying to patch up bugs and performance issues for the review copy/ preload until the very last second they could reasonably get it out for, that they wanted to ensure they weren't docked points for.

 

[adamsapple]

sarcasm detector broken?

Killed before CoD comes out.


-


Pre-load for the game is also live now, 40GB.

 

[bender]

1GB per minute of gameplay.