Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

I was thinking about buying this game for so long, but i would not hesitate to get it second time. Perfect storyline, features, mythology and everything.

I can give fair plaudit for this as an ASMR walking simulator, for which this venture is unique. But that stings a little since there was plenty of space for this to be more. There's no denying it: the audio and motion capture craft on display here is top class and serve as a demonstration of what Ninja Theory could be capable of if they jettison the theatrical pretense and spin a better yarn. The one on display here is unbearably kitsch for taking itself this seriously. As a game, we're talking about Nordic alphabet detection and align-the-lines minigames (akin to my least favorite mechanic in The Witness). It's a puzzler, in other words, and quite easy to fall off the rails since those puzzles are abstract, vague, or I would even call mischievous. There's a handful of sporadic fighting sequences, but not enough to feel like a walkthrough amounts to much less than the game itself. The Orkney island setting and psychosis theme is rich. The technical execution is wonderful. But to be a worthy journey, we deserve more meat on the bones and a tale that isn't an eye roller.

This game definitely is not for everyone. It's full of dark emotions and suffering. The presentation is fantastic. There is a lot of very powerful imagery, but the real killer is actually the audio. Imagine running around with those obtrusive voices in your head that just won't go away. You get a glimpse here how terrible life could be. Ambient effects and music are top notch, too. Gameplay-wise be prepared for longer streaks of exploring and environmental puzzles stichted together by combat arenas. Now, the combat left me indecisive. When it works, it feels great. It's not as simple as some people have described it (you have a quick and a strong attack, and a kick to break blocks as well as block/riposte yourself; you can also run-attack and charge your attacks, and there's a dodge, of course), which felt great to me (I play mutiple games in parallel and therefore always have troubles remembering combos). What I found problematic was that the dodge was kind of unreliable. Sometimes Senua would only make a small 'hop' or wouldn't do anything at all, and I could not find any indication as why to that happens. Additionally, the combat usually dragged on too long for me. There's a particular point in the game where you fight an (not really) endless stream of enemies (well, maybe like 20 of them, I didn't count, they just kept coming) which really annoyed me, breaking immersion. YMMV, though. Senua's story unfolds over the whole length of the game. We learn about her past and her struggle with 'The Darkness'. My only wish, story-wise, would be some more personal information on her and Dillion, but it all circles around her psychosis and how they (and some others) dealt with it. A little more 'useless' background would probably have led to caring even more for her. All in all this is a fantastic experience, but as I said, it's not for everyone. Do some research before you buy - and and prepare for a journey you won't forget anytime soon.

Hellblade tells a story about suffering, sacrifice, darkness and endeavor. Following the story of Picts warrior maid Senua, you embark on a nightmarish and mind-twisting journey to Helheim, to save a beloved one’s soul. However, many things aren’t what they’re supposed to be for Senua’s mind, for she’s suffering from severe psychosis. No other game, up to this point, managed to devour me—getting me so immersed—like Hellblade did. This game just pulled me deeper than any other game has accomplished in recent years, and I, mentally, switched off everything else around me and Senua’s reality became mine. The sound design and visual presentation is outstanding. The non-linear storytelling totally nailed it. Its presentation is intriguing, captivating and keep you ever so interested in what happened (to Senua) and how everything will turn out. As for the gameplay I was kind of surprised of what interesting ways they came up with. In other parts, cynically spoken, you could call it 'walking simulator', but I was so immersed in the world and Senua's reality that I didn't mind. It doesn’t deliver any boredom even when ‘nothing’ happens. There is one thing to explore off the main paths, however: Lore stones. At first one might not see the entangled meaning of Norse mythology and it seems rather random. But keep your wits about you and you’ll come to realize the importance of those stories. The combat was enjoyable, although it lacks complexity and deep mechanics. Its responsiveness and simplicity made it a blast to play. It is quick, brutal, intense and it just works without any clumsiness. In that regard it is sort of 'flawless'; straight on point. Visual clues were used in a clever way and weren't spelled out boldly for you – there are voices telling you to "focus"or to look in another direction. It fits the theme of the game and it is an enjoyable change in a video game. No HUD, no text boxes or pop ups. It absolutely has become one of my favorite games by now.

+ amazing storytelling + setting, dark twisted norse world + senua is amazing character + some of the best voice acting and character animation i ever saw + sound design on another level - its too short, and simple gameplay and puzzles still get repetitive pretty quickly - no replayability whatsoever, 6-7 hours and you have seen everything this game has to offer - sometimes doors wont open and you will get stuck, considering its autosave only it can be gamebreaking Overall 7/10 unique but flawed