Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Qualifications: I played and finished this game once on a GTX 1080 on a 4K monitor (downscaled to reach ~60fps) with headphones. I probably chose the default difficulty. I played this with a controller. Visual/Audio: This is a beautiful game and if you can play it at full 4K I heartily recommend it. Being AA, there is some minor wonkiness but nothing horrendously broken. If you can, play this game with headphones not only because the mixing is great but also because it's used to great effect in combat later on. Combat: If you think you're having issues with the combat, feel free to look up a guide as the game doesn't tutorialize anything and tries to communicate purely through audio/visual means. Thankfully, the combat doesn't demand too much from you, but that also means you shouldn't expect much variety either. My only real gripe was with the visually ambiguous lock-on which can cause frustration when it's not clear whom Senua will actually try to hit. The camera is also claustrophobic so you'll need to get used to a snappy auto lock-on camera with a very low FOV. I suggest leaning back with a controller. There were also puzzles and I almost forgot to include them. They take up 80% of the game and are kind of blandly simple. The only times I got stuck were because I missed a hallway usually. Story: I am not in any position to discuss the mental health topics portrayed in this game but at least I can say that the portrayal was effective and is well-woven into a Nordic odyssey reaching down into the depths of Hel. However, I do have to admit that while the latter levels reach great peaks in level design, I kind of lost the emotional thread by story's end. Part of this was because the ending felt abrupt but also because the "demon-on-your-shoulder" just sounded really hammy and cheap compared to everyone else's performances. Miscellany: There are lorestones that give lore. They're kind of dry and sometimes interrupt otherwise tense downtime.

I played through this on Gamepass and I absolutely loved it. Bought it again on discount here on GOG just to support the developers when it went on sale. The combat isn't anything to write home about, but the storytelling is really good. They did an excellent job and the acting is top tier for a video game, in my opinion. The main character is so well portrayed and is so easy to empathize with that it is very easy to ignore the more monotonous aspects of the game, like the combat or the "puzzles". The puzzles are probably the worst part of the game, but they're not that bad. It just results in a lot of loading screens. Stick with it for the storytelling, atmosphere, and character development. That is where this game really shines.

Good graphics. The storytelling was really good, except that I had to watch the feature film in the menu to understand what the game was about, that it all was in her head. I would propably have enjoyd the game more if I knew this from the start or got to know this in a thought through way in the game. The combat was good when facing two enemies at max, but it was lacking when facing three or more. You're constantly targetlocked to enemies and can't run freely when in combat.

One of the best games i've played, amazing story, great level design, fun combat mechanichs. The way the story develops and the message it brings it is some of the better i've seen.

Hellblade looks great most of the time, sometimes only good, sometimes stunning. Ninja theory was always good with character design, use of shaders etc., so Senua's visuals and animations are surely state of the art. But she's the only human character in Hellblade that even has a 3D model. In her lengthy visions and flashbacks, all other human characters are 2D videos fitted into the 3D scene. Even this effect is less somewhat concealed by blurring etc. it's one point where you clearly see that Hellblade is not a AAA title. Gamewise it's a mixture of adventure elements with arena fights. Like typically you need to open doors by finding runes in the area featuring riddles like superposition or shadows. Sometimes you can alter reality by portals, looking through masks or getting the right angle to arrange a splintered window. These parts are mostly great with a few well designed puzzles. Then there are some annoying parts where you need run through burning labyrinths, find you ways through changing mazes or sneak in total darkness through hordes of monsters that will kill you at once if they spot you. The game design is very linear where you progress from area to area and can't make detours other than to find a hidden runestone here and there. About every time you enter an open space or larger room, an arena fight emerges, where you are attacked by monstrous warriors that (re-)spawn in the arena. Through the game, harder types of opponents appear (shielded, with axes etc.) but there are only like 5-6 types in sum plus a few bosses. So the difficulty is mainly raised by the number of opponents which gets very annoying and chaotic towards the end when you are surrounded by five or more opponents. Still, your own abilities don't evolve in the game. No new combos or moves to be learned. Just two sword strikes, dodging, melee and focus (bullet time). Still, it was a captivating experience, but I needed ~10h and a lot of that was passive contents like flashbacks.