Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

I had such high hopes going in to this game. I'd heard it would be an emotional game that dealt with mental health issues, which sounded really interesting and unique. I was excited to play it. If only the game had focused on that, instead of trying to shove in action and puzzle elements as well, I'm sure I would've loved it. Instead, I uninstalled it after 3 hours of play. I will say that they nailed the atmosphere for this game. The graphics are gorgeous and moody, the sound design is also appropriately unsettling. Unfortunately, the combat controls are clunky and slow, making fights a chore to get through - even on easy mode. Even more annoying, each boss fight is accompanied by a long unskippable cutscene beforehand, and with the way the autosave system works, you're forced to rewatch them if you decide to exit out of the game and come back to the fight later. Eventually I realized that I wasn't even that invested in the main story either; I was far more interested in the Lore collectibles telling the mythology of the Norse gods, than I was of the actual game's story itself. Senua's story is your typical fantasy quest of a warrior who has to fight/get revenge on the gods in order to rescue her lover. The mental-illness selling point of the game involves Senua hearing voices in her head...wow, how original [/sarcasm]. Honestly, by the end of my playtime, I was more annoyed at the gimmick than emotionally invested in Senua. The developers might've have some interesting ideas, but IMHO the game was marred by clumsy execution. If they'd focused on fine-tuning the story rather than trying to wedge in the action elements, it might've been a good game, but as is, this game isn't worth my time to finish.

Well, the nordic theme with runes and gods and the graphics are the only thing I like in this game. The game is a kind of Playstation type - you just go, interact/open doors, fight, go, interact/open doors, fight and again and again. Similar Ps game is a God of war, which has a great story and nordic theme as well, but there still you just go, interact and fight. Such games should stay on consoles, not on PC. And you fight the same type of enemies most of the time, which are overpowered and the game becomes nervous. After you die, you can start the sequence from the beginning. So if you want to enjoy the nordic athmosphere and concentrate to the story, it is not so.

Gameplay wise it´s mostly a puzzle game with a fair share of combat. The puzzles weren´t difficult but have a lot of backtracking. The combat is functional, very limited, but fitting given the context. Technically, this game does some interesting things laying real life video to portray characters. The writing, the supposed big selling point, is somewhat disappointing given the praise it got. The concept is interesting, but I don't think it's well executed. I couldn´t connect to Senua; a dull character until she shows some growth at the end. I find the optional stories you can listen to at times more interesting. The developer makes a big deal about this game showing psychosis, but if they didn´t frontload this information it wouldn´t be hard to think, as I did, that all Senua´s episodes are just part of Hel´s trials and torments. The horror wasn´t really there, save one section in the mid game where I actually tensed up a bit. The use of the voices in her head to convey information to the player is interesting, though. All in all, it's fine. If it's on sale you'll get your money's worth if you're into slow moving psycho thriller puzzle games.

With the coming of Hellblade 2 i feel like i could do my part and leave a comment to the first game. Many people already pointed out the repetitive gameplay, which is true, the game fights really are repetitive, you'll see the same movesets again and again, but the feedback is still satisfactory to the end. Levels are also very linear so be prepared for walking simulator in the lands of Viking madness. It's a good thing that the game is short (5-8h depending on your ability to speedrun and your will to get all collectibles), there aren't that many levels, and the amount of bosses is actually enough. Puzzles are uninspired but at least they are not really challenging and you don't have Atreus screaming his lungs every 2 seconds to help you with them. The story is good enough. You're basically one of the voices in Senua's head and since you're "new" you'll have the pleasure to discover many things. I am not a fan of flashbacks explaining the background as the story goes on, but it's good here. What's really the main selling point for Hellblade is the visuals. You could just take screenshots of the game as you progress and it would still make a good wallpaper. The faces have lots of emotions, the setting has insane details and the art direction punches your guts non stop. Each level feels unique, and cinematics should have deserved to be scene in theaters. Make sure to have at least the recommended configuration to play the game at max settings in 1080p, you won't regret it. The soundtrack is very cool, but i won't listen to it when doing parties or work from home. It's very an epic, somewhat depressing and sometimes violent OST, but it's worth listening as an audio experience too. Lots of work and love went into that game for sure. It's an insane audio-visual experience, a good story, but an average game if you put gameplay on top of everything.

After playing 3 hours and half I think I can write a review; I'm confident that the rest of the game will be more or less similar. This is not a game for action fans. There is no astounding gameplay, nor combat or puzzles. It's true: combat is repetitive, puzzles are quite boring. The action is just a pretext. It's all about narration and atmosphere, and in these two areas the game is perfect. There's a balance between psychological and magical that is respected in all the dialogues and in the whole narration. It's the story of a curse or the story of a schizophrenic girl? Or both? Or none of them? This ambiguity helps to search for a metaphorical reading, and the gameplay is all thought in that direction. All the actions you do, all the encounters and combats, have beneath them the power of a deeper meaning. So: don't ever think that this is a game for action lovers. It's not. But if you love deep (and quite disturbing) stories, told in a unusual way, this is a must play.