Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 Trophy Roadmap
- Estimated Trophy difficulty: 7/10 because of Dark Rot Permadeath Mode and if cheesing it with PS+ Backups (harder without PS+ Backups)
- Approximate amount of time to platinum: 20 hours, but highly skill-dependent on Dark Rot Mode
- Offline trophies: 13 (1
, 10
, 2
, 0
) - Online trophies: 0
- Number of missable trophies: 1 – Dark Rot Complete, if you die 4 times in Dark Rot Mode you lose all progress. Everything else can be done in Chapter Select.
- Glitched trophies: 0
- Does difficulty affect trophies?: Yes, must beat game on Dark Rot difficulty
- Minimum Playthroughs: 2 (one playthrough on any difficulty to unlock Dark Rot Mode, then a second playthrough on Dark Rot)
- Free-Roam / Level Select after Story?: Yes, there is Chapter Select after the story but no traditional free-roam as the game is linear
- Supports Manual Saves?: No, only 1 Autosave but there is Chapter Select and Checkpoint Restart
- Release Date: August 12, 2025 (PS5) / May 21, 2024 (PC/XB)
, 10
, 2
, 0
)Introduction
Welcome to the Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 Trophy Guide! First, you will want to do a playthrough on any difficulty and find all collectibles. This will unlock all trophies except the one for Dark Rot Mode. After the first playthrough you unlock the Dark Rot Permadeath Mode. This is a new addition to the PS5 version of Hellblade 2 and didn’t have an achievement in the original PC/XB list. In this mode you can only die 3 times. On the 4th death your entire story progress is reset. You can make it easier by backing up the save to PlayStation Plus Cloud before/after every combat encounter.
Step 1: Play through the Story, Collect All 18 Lorestangir & 17 Hidden Faces
Simply follow the Hellblade 2 Collectible Guide and you’ll get everything as you play through the game. All trophies unlock automatically from the story, except for “Glimpses of the Gods” (find all 17 Hidden Face Collectibles) & “Tales of Midgard” (find all 18 Lorestangir totems). These require you to find all 35 collectibles in the game. The Hidden Faces look like rocks in the shape of faces, you must zoom in on them with 
/ 
to reveal a shining tree you must inspect. The Lorestangir are big wooden totems with red runes on them, look at them to trigger some dialogue.
If you miss a collectible you can still grab it via Chapter Select. After finding one of each type there will be a tracker in Chapter Select. There is also a tracker on the Collectibles themselves when you look at them, which tracks them in their real in-game order so you can see exactly what’s missing.
While you are allowed to play on any difficulty for this step, you may want to consider playing on hard to prepare for the Dark Rot playthrough.
Should you get stuck on any puzzle refer to the Hellblade 2 Walkthrough (also includes all Collectibles).
Step 2: Launch a Chapter with an Alternate Narrator
After the story you unlock alternate narrators. Simply change the narrator under Settings > Audio > Narrator. Restart any Chapter. If it doesn’t unlock try starting a New Game.
Step 3: Dark Rot Mode (Permadeath Mode)
Dark Rot is the new permadeath mode in the PS5 version of Hellblade 2. There wasn’t an achievement for it in the original PC/XB achievement list.
Dark Rot mode is unlocked after beating the story once on any difficulty. Then you must start a new game on Dark Rot difficulty. In this mode you are only allowed 3 deaths for the whole game. With each death the dark rot will spread further up to Senua’s head. If you die a 4th time it’s game over and your save gets deleted, then you need to start the playthrough again. The combat difficulty is set to “Dark Rot” by default and can’t be lowered. This combat difficulty is harder than the original “hard” mode. You will die in 2 hits by regular enemies, and sometimes in 1 hit by firebreathing enemies.
The game still has checkpoints and creates saves, allowing you to back up your save to PS+ before/after fights and reload it when you die. It’s not recommended to attempt this without PS+ backups as it’s too punishing.
- While outside of combat it’s safe to close the game and won’t count as a death. You can make cloud saves under: PS5 Settings > Saved Data and Game/App Settings > Saved Data (PS5) > Upload or Delete from Console Storage > upload save > in previous menu click “Sync Saved Data” and make sure this is TURNED OFF so it doesn’t automatically overwrite your cloud save when closing the game. To restore save click “Download or Delete from Cloud Storage”.
- If you take damage during combat encounters, quit to main menu and click continue. This is faster than downloading your cloud save every time. Usually this works fine and doesn’t count as a death, but sometimes it will count as a death. As long as you also make a backup save before every combat encounter you can always fall back to that if anything goes wrong.
Useful Tips, Tricks and Guides:
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 Trophy Guide
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Non Plus Ultra Collect all trophies. |
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| Earn all other trophies to unlock Platinum. Unlike the Xbox/PC version, the PS5 version requires beating the new permadeath mode “Dark Rot Mode” too, which makes it significantly harder. | ||
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Tales of Midgard Collect all the Lorestangir. |
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This requires you to find all 18 Lore Totems throughout the story. They are big wooden totems with a red glyph on them. You must zoom in on them by holding /  . There is a tracker in Chapter Select. Each one you complete also changes the rune on the totem from gray to red, which are added in the order they can be found throughout the game. If you are missing a red rune you can quickly narrow down which Lorestangir totem you are missing exactly.
» Hellblade 2 All Collectible Locations (Hidden Faces & Lorestangirs) |
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Glimpses of the Gods Reveal secret paths behind hidden faces. |
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| This requires you to find all 17 Stone Faces throughout the story. They are rocks in the shapes of faces that blend in with the environment. You must zoom in on them by holding / , this reveals a hidden path behind the face leading to a shining tree. Zoom in on the tree to count as a complete. There is a tracker in Chapter Select. Each one you complete also adds a yellow dot on those shining trees, which are added in the order they can be found throughout the game. If you are missing a yellow dot you can quickly narrow down which face you are missing exactly.
» Hellblade 2 All Collectible Locations (Hidden Faces & Lorestangirs) |
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The Next Sign Survive the shipwreck and capture the Bjarg slavemaster. |
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| Automatic story-related trophy, cannot be missed. Unlocks at the start of Chapter 2. | ||
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The Man in the Middle Rescue the stranger from the draugar ritual. |
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| Automatic story-related trophy, cannot be missed. Unlocks after Chapter 2, Sub-Chapter 5. | ||
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The Hidden World Find the entrance to the realm of the Hiddenfolk. |
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| Automatic story-related trophy, cannot be missed. Unlocks at the end of Chapter 3. | ||
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Returned to the Earth Speak Ingunn’s name, and release Illtauga from her rage. |
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| Automatic story-related trophy, cannot be missed. Unlocks after Chapter 4. | ||
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The Storm Calmed Speak Saegeirr’s name, and end Sjávarrisi’s isolation. |
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| Automatic story-related trophy, cannot be missed. Unlocks after Chapter 5. | ||
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A Guiding Light Guide your followers through the forest to reach Borgavirki. |
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| Automatic story-related trophy, cannot be missed. Unlocks after Chapter 6, Sub-Chapter 1. | ||
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End the Tyranny Expose the Godi’s lies and end the tyranny. |
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| Automatic story-related trophy, cannot be missed. Reward for finishing the story. Unlocks after the end credits when back in the main menu. | ||
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Worth a Thousand Words Open photo mode. |
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You open photo mode by pressing  . As soon as you open photo mode the trophy unlocks immediately, no need to take a picture. If the menu doesn’t come up, try pressing the button repeatedly in quick succession or try at a different location. |
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Seeing Things Differently Launch any chapter with an alternate narrator. |
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| Alternate narrators are unlocked after finishing the story for the first time. Then go to the Main Menu > Settings > Audio > Narrator = The Others / Druth. Now go to Chapter Select and restart any Chapter, or start a “New Story” from the Main Menu. Alternatively, during a Chapter in progress you can pause the game and activate the different narrator from the settings which will restart the last checkpoint. If one of those methods doesn’t unlock it try all those options until it pops the trophy. | ||
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Dark Rot Complete Complete the story in Dark Rot. |
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| Dark Rot is the new permadeath mode. This trophy wasn’t part of the original Xbox/PC achievement list. It’s a new addition to the PS5 version and the reason why the platinum is significantly harder than the 1000 gamerscore.
Dark Rot mode is unlocked after beating the game once on any difficulty. Then you must start a new game and choose Dark Rot. In this mode you are only allowed 3 deaths for the whole game. With each death the dark rot will spread further up to Senua’s head. If you die a 4th time it’s game over and your save gets deleted, then you need to start the playthrough again. The combat difficulty is set to “Dark Rot” by default and can’t be lowered. The combat difficulty is harder than the original “hard” mode. You will die in 2 hits by regular enemies, and sometimes in 1 hit by firebreathing enemies. Luckily there are some exploits that make this easier. The game still has checkpoints and creates saves, allowing you to back up your save before fights and reload it if you die. With these tricks it’s a 7/10 – 8/10 difficulty, without it’s close to impossible. Don’t attempt this without regular PS+ backups. Exploits:
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InnesJack says
Dark Rot mode / Permadeath!! So not cool that they added this. Completely unnecessary. Looks like an F U from Microsoft to PS players.
Marcellus says
It’s not that bad, If I could get it you also can
NoHeroes94 says
Wow, wasn’t expecting dark rot mode to be this brutal. Have the original 1000G on Xbox, may not bother tbh.
George says
Seriously? 7-8 with an exploit?
Mac says
It’s not that bad since you can pause/save before and during fights to restart if needed. If you can get through chapter 2 you should be able to make it through the rest of the game.
Cam says
Man they really needed to make that rot trophy a DLC trophy! Ain’t no way I’m playing through this thing again with its boring gameplay ramped up to be even more annoying!
Mac says
The fights are what makes that playthrough exciting.
Lars says
Is there any boss Fights or super hard enemies that are nearly impossible in Dark Rot mode?
Or is it more keep trying and back up save and be patience and then you can make it?
PowerPyx says
Some encounters are very unbalanced and take a while. It’s not so much single enemies that are hard, but the longer encounters where it’s tricky to not get hit. With patience and practice it’s doable though and overall the game is short and doesn’t have many combat encounters.
SCinder says
Nice touch, I’m definitely gonna buy on a deepsale with the dark rot being a thing. Well done devs
Cuthpaste says
They added permadeath to Xbox today as well, with an extra achievement. This is a really weird game to add a mode like this to and makes me not want to bother on PS5.
Petardo says
First game was overhyped IMO but I liked it, this one (while very beautiful on XBox) is garbage, even with a supereasy Plat I’d stay away from it, with a BS-shouldn’t-be-added-Dark-Rot-trophy I seriously advise you to just watch a 4K gameplay video to check the graphics and be done with it.
Kamy says
I don’t understand why they have to make their trophy games so hard to get platinum, I’m speaking in general of course about any game, like many 10 out of 10 difficulty, I strongly think, That is absolutely counterproductive for any game that has a platinum, I have seen over the years millions of copies less sold on very good games just because they had trophies impossible, everyone is free to play at the difficulty they like best, getting very difficult trophies often makes the games too frustrating… See the games with the very easy plane trees, Even if they are ugly, they sell more than triple A+ ones, this is reality and not my personal opinion, some accept the challenge, others give up on directly purchasing these very difficult platinums, That being said, we mostly give up on buying such games as trophy hunters, but they lose millions of dollars for these stupid trophies… I have seen with my own eyes, the sales, in decline and millions of dollars lost for this very reason, look at Ps5 and Ps5 Pro, the main reason for the loss compared to Ps4 and Ps4 Pro, over 2 million less sales, for a slim Ps5, just a little more powerful at 799 Euros… And above all, in addition to the high price, the stand is separate, the disc player is also sold separately, 1050 Euros minimum for the finished console, here is the example, if all we write to the team that created this game, telling them in thousands of emails or letters, that we want this rot trophy out of the plane tree, you see how I remove it immediately, this has already happened on many games… Now it would really be time to rebel against certain policies of Sony too, which is also interrupting PlayStation Stars and making us lose points to buy 5 or 10 euro PSN cards, For me it’s time to create a community of people who all join together and put to the vote everything we want and don’t want, they have to do what we say, because we pay them, without we, they would no longer exist, believe me we can keep them in our hands as we want… And it is right that the players are happy with their purchases, spending a lot of money on games that many sometimes they are worth less than 1 euro… I hope many people agree with my reasoning, because only in this way, they can no longer take us for a ride… Hello everyone…
Iman says
100 % agree
ozo says
Right i see Jumping Tacos trophies are for you
Anonymous says
Yea Dark Rot Mode Should have been a DLC trophy like PC and Xbox. Adding it as part of the Platinum was a poor choice and bad move by Ninja Theory.
This is a business after all. You want to make more money, make it more accessible.
I know this will only affect Trophy Hunters, but that is still sales they won’t make because of the bad choice.
Kamy says
Well done, it’s all absolutely counterproductive to selling much, much more! I completely agree with your comment and thought, obviously, read my comment, that’s exactly what I meant. You mentioned it in this post. More people wanted to buy it, but when they saw this absurd trophy, they kept their money in their pockets, avoiding it like the plague. Bravo!
2bNs says
So, how do i know when to quit out to make a backup save? Can you quit out right when an encounter begins to fall back to the most recent checkpoint or would a quit out during a fight count as a death?
I’m on my first playthrough and noticed that sometimes an encounter gets interrupted by a short walking section. Can you make a backup save inbetween single enemies, if there’s a walking section between them? Take the very first encounter on the beach as an example: You fight a few enemies, walking section, harder final enemy of that encounter.
MaaXz says
When a battle sequence begins, you can exit and upload to the cloud. it saves before each fight. So it worked perfectly for me
Rance6 says
Did the 1000G on Xbox. Would have spent the money to pick it up on the Playstation, but not after they made Death Rot mandatory for the plat. Too bad.
Bunkerbudy says
Good enough of a reason to not play it again.
Marcellus says
Just got the Platinum. I’d say it’s a 4-5/10 with cloud save. Without it certainly would be an 8/10.
Marcellus says
For Death Rot mode, always go back to menu when you take damage at the point Senua falls on the ground, this is the time need to pause and go back to main menu, then you can choose continue to restart the battle without the death counting.
It’s not so difcult as it seems, there are some parts you’ll face a lot of enemies but they always come 1 by 1. You just need to memorize theirs attachs and always defend when possible. Only attack when their guard is open.
Puqwan says
Does using self play during darkrot difficulty unlock the trophy. Can someone confirm?
GZARZAMeth says
This wasn’t nearly as difficult as people were fretting about. Yes, without cloud saving and the ability to quit to the menu to restart fights with full health, it would have been one of the most absurd achievements ever. But the good thing is, we CAN do that, so it makes the experience much more bearable. Just learn how to time your dodges and know when to attack, it’s a challenge for sure but not impossible.