Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

This is not a game you play for the mechanics. This is a game you play to experience the story of Senua, a woman troubled by her own past, seeking a way forward. I wish not to spoil the story so I won’t go into any more detail. Buy the game and experience it for yourself. It is well worth the full price and it’s a damn good deal when on sale. I wish other developers would do as good a job at storytelling as the makers of Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice, we’d all have way more enjoyable storylines to play that don’t exclusively resolve around saving the world or something of the like. This gem sure beats any game I bought to date in terms of story and story execution. Like so many others here already suggested, I’d also recommend getting good headphones on while you play, sound is SO important in this game. All in all I'd give this gem an 11/10, a definitive must play.

Even if it hadn't gotten the depiction of psychotic mental illness right, and by all accounts it does, Hellblade is still an engrossing psychological horror story about a Pict warrior who travels to Hel to resurrect her beloved. In so doing you'll learn more about Norse mythology and relive memories of your troubled past, all the while dealing with the voices and visions that constantly plague you and threaten to overwhelm you. A lot of effort was put into making this game and it shows. For instance, the developers made use of binaural audio (the use of a headset is recommended) to give the sensation that the voices are in the room with you and thus give us a glimpse of what Senua has had to constantly endure throughout her life. Voice acting was, to my mind, excellent across the board as was Melina Juergens' performance as Senua. The mocap really managed to get across the nuances of her facial expressions and the warring emotions inside of her, be them fear, pain, anxiety, anger, joy, or sheer relentless determination. Fun fact about Melina Juergens, she's the studio's video editor and not a professional actress! Colour me impressed. It's a purely narrative-driven (and linear) experience, clocking at around 8 hours for a completionist run, so it may not be for everyone. Combat is restricted to a single melee weapon but it feels powerful, if perhaps a tad repetitive (not that I cared when I was slicing enemies left and right). Progression is also determined by your resolution of certain puzzles that seem to reinforce Senua's psychosis. The game also features a great soundtrack, composed alongside its development, that hopefully will be released soon. All in all, it's an exceptionally well-crafted story for a game half the price of an average AAA title. Personally, I think it's a serious contender for GOTY, not simply because of its respectful handling of a subject matter most developers would rather pass on, but because it's a great game on its own right.

A great game, about mental illness. Playing Senua's Sacrifice, has been a very captivating and intense experience. It has also been a short experience, but that is not a bad thing. This game should not have been longer.

I started playing this game in VR on a Vive headset. It looks great in VR and it really immersive. During the opening sequence in canoe in - by old habit - dropped my hand to touch the water. I really felt I was there. That said, after a few a while I got to feel really motion sick and even after some breaks I was unable to continue. The 3rd person camera is moving around a lot and it almost made me puke more than once. So in the end I ended up completing the game in 2D. Great game. A shame about the motion sickness i VR. With better camera work it could really have worked in VR.

First of all, sorry if my grammar is bad, english is not my first language. That being said, I want to say that Senua's Sacrifice is more than a game, is an experience, starting for the quality of the audio in the game. I've never in my life felt so in deep with the game thanks to the audio, you feel Senua's fears, you cry Senua's pain. Voices, sound effects, everything feel so real, so well crafted. You can say that you are Senua in the game, but from my point of view, Senua is who is letting us, the player, experience her journey of sufferment and understandment of the cycle of life. Death is part of this world, part of Senua's world, and during this journey, part of ours too. It's a dark experience, but one that is satisfying. Gameplay-wise it's pretty good, not too complex to make you miss the point of the narrative investing time improving, and not too simple to make us feel weak, real. I really recommend this game to anyone, there is no wrong decision, no wrong path, is like I said in the title, it's an experience of a lifetime that you need to live.