Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Artistically it's the greatest experience I ever had playing a video game. Audio is exceptional, visuals are great, some transitions in cutscenes are breathtaking. Atmosphere, story and immersion, I really felt the troubled mind of heroine. Headphones are a must. Best play in dark. Some may say that gameplay is repetetive, but for 7h30min I've played I never felt that.

Look. The five stars are not for any major advancements in gameplay. I know, usually gameplay is king, yadda yadda yadda. This game is the exception to the rule. Look at this more like a dark, terrifying and emotional roller coaster ride. The audiovisual presentation is stunning and highly immersive. And the story sticks with you, long after the credits rolled. Highly recommended, especially on sale.

Very interesting game. Great graphics and sound. The combat can be a little difficult due to the tight camera angles you have to abide by. I can recommend this game, and if gotten at the GOG sale price it is a no brainier. I ran this game on Linux via wine\vulcan\dvxk and it looks very nice and runs very smooth. I had no crashes nor any noteworthy bugs.

Wasn't sure if this was for me, but it looked pretty and discouted. Looked kinda Tomb-Raiderish, looked like there's combat and exploration. Turns out combat is just the same mob spawning in front of you over and over and over and you have two attacks you can keep spamming. if combat is done so poorly, you might as give an option to skip it, as there's no satisfaction in spamming the same button. Most of the game is moving around an area to line up random objects into a shape. Whoopdie doo. And just generally lots of what we now call poor design choices all over the place. Hugging a ladder for a few minutes, trying to figure out what button to press on the KB because the game is esthetic and won't give you button prompts. Having to stand around doing nothing if you triggered an audio interacion where a stone will tell you some background story. If you try to move away to keep exploring, you won't be able to hear it. Constantly taking away control of the camera and movement. Looks pretty though. Maybe there's a speedrun I can go watch to avoid having to play this.

Just finished playing this. I bought this 5 months ago,and shelved it in favor of other activities. Being honest: I wasn't expecting much from it. On the surface, it looked like it might be a second rate Tomb Raider clone with some mental health undertones thrown in. Having just beaten the game, I can say I was egregiously wrong. This game is, quite simply, a phenomenal experience unlike any other. Unwavering in its intensity from start to finish, the game throws you into a world filled with despair and anguish, and challenges you to be good enough to make it through. The storyline is exceptional. The cast is exceptional. The game is exceptional. With that said, the game is not a happy one: trigger warnings for mental illness, body horror, acrophobia, and general intensity. Much of the game's involves the emotional trauma of the main character, and you spend much of the game inside her head, hearing her thoughts, and experiencing her emotional state as if it were your own. This is, again, exceptionally well done...and can be jarring in just how intense it becomes. Gameplay wise, the game is hard: there is very little hand-holding, quite a lot of moderately challenging puzzles, and somewhat unforgiving combat sequences. More than once, I went from leaning back in my chair casually trying to solve a puzzle, to sitting up, aggressively gripping my mouse, and yelling at the screen as I dispatched a group of enemies. The combat system is a little tricky at first, but quickly becomes second nature, and adds an exceptionally fun aspect to what is an otherwise extremely intense game. While not for everyone, I personally loved this game, and consider it easily one of my top favorite games in recent memory. I would wholeheartedly encourage anyone who's looking for an intense, visceral gaming experience, to give this a try.