Hellblade 2 is getting an enhanced edition that brings back the fake permadeath system from the first game, but there's every chance it's real this time

Angsty Icelandic hiking simulator Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 will get an enhanced edition in August, adding yet more graphics to Ninja Theory's visually stunning, mechanically wanting sequel. But it also brings back one of the more controversial features from the first game, namely, the icky black rot that crawled up Senua's arm each time she died.

"The Dark Rot from Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice has returned and offers an additional challenge for Senua on her quest to Iceland in this optional game mode," Ninja theory wrote in an announcement on Steam. "The Dark Rot will grow each time you fail, and if it reaches Senua’s head, her quest is over and all progress will be lost."

In Senua's Sacrifice, the presence of the Dark Rot implied the game had a permadeath system, ending Senua's adventure prematurely if she died too many times. But it turned out to be a bluff. The rot would never actually reach Senua's head, and the system existed mainly to add extra tension to combat.

The big question, of course, is whether Ninja Theory is bluffing this time around. The wording the studio uses to describe the system is similar to before, yet unlike in 2017, Hellblade 2's dark rot is only present in an optional mode. Hence, Ninja Theory could give the dark rot the teeth the studio only pretended it had in Senua's Sacrifice.

As for that visual update coming to the enhanced edition, Ninja Theory doesn't specify what graphical extras it will add, only that it will take the form of a new "very high" graphics setting the developer claims will "push the visuals even further". Expect all those volcanic rocks to look even more detailed, in any case.

Ninja Theory also confirms Hellblade 2 will be Steam Deck Verified once the enhanced edition arrives. I've no idea what it'll look like on Steam Deck, but Ninja Theory does have a knack for technical wizardry.

Alongside this, the enhanced edition will also bundle in improvements to photo mode and a developer commentary. All of which is welcome, but personally, I would prefer it if Hellblade 2 was "enhanced" by making it more of a game. The original wasn't exactly a work of systemic genius, but the sequel pares things back even further so that you're barely in control, even in combat.

It's also a sequel that struggles to justify its existence more generally, as Robin Valentine explained in his Hellblade 2 review." Senua simply feels out of place in her own sequel," he wrote last year. "Where the first game was deeply personal to her character, in this story she feels like she's wandered into a sidequest in a setting she has no connection to."

Hellblade 2's enhanced edition arrives on August 12.