Half of Hellblade 2 players on Xbox have made it past the first boss, 87% haven’t beaten the game yet

Around half of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 players on Xbox Series X/S have made it past the first boss, while only around 1 in 10 have finished the game so far.

Hellblade 2 was released on May 21, and while it was generally well-received critically it’s still considered quite a short game, with user submissions on HowLongToBeat averaging at around seven hours to reach the credits.

Despite this, according to global achievement data analysed by TrueAchievements, 87% of players who have started the game on Xbox Series X/S since its release have yet to unlock the achievement awarded for beating the game’s final chapter.

On top of this, according to the data, only 52% of players have unlocked the achievement awarded for beating the game’s first boss, which happens around half an hour into the game, suggesting around half of players have started the game then stopped fairly soon afterwards.

The site notes that more players are finishing the game on Steam – whereas only 13% of Xbox players have unlocked the achievement for beating the game, 37% of Steam players have unlocked it.

Meanwhile, while only 52% of Xbox players have beaten the first boss, 84% of Steam players have.

The discrepancy may indicate the difference between players buying the  game and accessing it through their Xbox Game Pass subscription, where they may be more inclined to take a risk on it and try it out with the knowledge that they won’t be losing money if they don’t like it.

On Steam, the game costs $49.99, meaning players who buy it and play through it will be more inclined to reach the end and get their money’s worth.

On the other hand, the game was made available on Xbox Game Pass on the day it was released, suggesting a number of console players may have started the game to try it out, decided it wasn’t for them and stopped playing, affecting the global achievement data as a result.

VGC’s Hellblade 2 review said it was “a mechanically dated game carried along by its incredible presentational flair”.

“Fans of the first game could perhaps split it across a few nights for a better experience, and Melina Juergens’ performance deserves to be seen,” we said. “It also deserves a more engaging experience, however.”