Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Combat is heavily reliant on timing. The last 1/3 of the game is in an area with rain and many other effects that make the frame rate drop significantly (not that it was much stable the rest of the game). In this same area, a new enemy is introduced that requires extra timing and reflexes. If you are going to to threaten the player with "fail too many times and you will lose your progress" you better deliver on the whole combat experience.

In this game, you can clearly see that devs genuinely wanted to make a really good game. And they succeed, the game is great and definitely worth of money. But, but it is good to know what kind of game are you buying. At first, the gameplay is very "console like". You are slowly walking/running in a small corridor, and in some places, there is arena fight (which is ok). That is all. You cannot jump, there is almost no interaction with objects in the game, you cannot move anything (only doors and bridges), take anything, the world is very static. Puzzles are nice, but the variety of puzzle mechanisms is not too high. Although there are many characters communicating with their voices, the world is mostly deserted. I have a similar feeling from Darksouls and I do not prefer this abandoned places. The less one knows about the story is the better. But the narration is definitely impressive, it raises interesting thoughts and that is exactly what a good story should do. Just concerning the main character, she seems slightly "insufficiently portrayed" to me. In the sense that even after finishing the game, I was not able to tell what kind of personality she has. I do not know who is she. You see a lot of things which she experienced, but very few of reaction which would give her some personal attributes. This is maybe an intention, it allows for the player to easier be "in her skin". But I like much more the other approach because it allows one to care about the character and his story. Here, I care much less if she succeeds, because I did not know her, only know that a lot of people hurt her, she is scared and she has a strong will.

I love the whole concept behind the game. The implementaion of the visual and audio design is amazing. But the final experience was really boring.

I'm very fond of how this game structures some scenes. Few of them are very powerful. The whole picture doesn't impress me, though. And the gameplay, especially fighting mechanics, is a letdown. I think it's more of an indie statement than a fully realized work of art.

The whole idea of portraying the world in this game is perfect, appeals to me. But some levels (like 3-symbols maze with fire chasing you) take away the immersion by being simply not designed well to the situation. When I'm dying for the 5th time in a game like this on the same stupid level because I block on an invisible column, it's not scary or tense anymore. It's annoying and takes away immersion and pleasure from experiencing the game.