Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

I was blown away by this game. The story is very interesting and the soundtrack is so great, I still regularly listen to it months later. Graphics are great, gameplay feels satisfying. Art design is top notch. Definitely worth your money if you go into this open for a new experience. As a game, it can be sometimes frustrating or disappointing, with some fairly random puzzles and repetitive gameplay. But as an experience, it's very unique and amazing. And it does show that games can be a great format for these type of experiences. Easy 5/5, not a game I will forget.

I must stay that in my 33 years of gaming, this has been most probably my most unique and immersive gaming experience. It goes well beyond offering an interesting narrative and presentation, it employs a holistic approach that really succeeds in placing the player as closely as possible in the shoes of a young Pict woman suffering from psychosis. The devs have layered everything on top of the game's premise. Whether it's the maelstrom of voices swirling around you talking or screaming, or the audiovisual hallucinations blending with the action or the obsessive search for patterns in order to advance, it all relates to the psychosis manifestations of the protagonist. The writers have woven a grim tale of suffering, despair, loss and betrayal, masterfully delivered through the questionable reality of young Senua, a Celt warrior plagued by schizophrenia. The player is called to unravel the story that has led on her quest to restore the soul of her slain lover. Ninja Theory has done an excellent job in the game's presentation. expertly leading the player on the journey of discovery through in-game clues and brilliantly acted and directed cut-scenes. I can't stress enough what a high-end job they've done. This is auteur-level story-telling and visualization. As for the gameplay itself, in such story-heavy title, it is understandably the weaker link. In any case, the actual gaming is a mix of a walking simulator, puzzle solving and melee combat. The majority of the game is spent walking around, looking for passages in order to advance further. Puzzle solving consists of identifying patterns. Occasionally, enemies appear in the form of Viking warriors. The fighting mechanics are solid enough. Others have complained about it being monotonous. So YMMV. What NT have achieved in making is really commendable. They managed to create a thought-provoking, visually stunning and emotive experience, comparable to any AAA game out there, but on an 'indie' budget.

the game is broken, many errors and bugs, random crashes, freezes, stability problems are DESTROYING the immersion in the game. since 2017 there was no patch fixing this problem.

Great game with a unique experience. Awful PC port, from a performance point of view .

A true master-piece. I own 2 copies of this game but none of them are gog versions. One copy I got from Humble and other copy I bought in store. Now lets begin... Hellblade is action adventure with some easy puzzles. You play as Senua a kelt warrior who come to Nord lands trying to find Hella, Loki daughter... Game revolves around Nord mythology but it also shows her culture, way of living, Kelt religion and so much more... Why Senua? Who is she? This game rely mostly on pre-european culture, you don`t have to but it`s better if you do understand who Kelts were, how they lived, where they lived and sedra. So, Senua was Kelt Godess and very important figure in their culture. Originally she was protector of their families, so Kelts they would prey to her every night. They believed she would protect their family and keep their house safe. But for some reason they stopped worshiping her. We don`t know when that happened and why, history have no clue, there aren`t any written documents about her mostly because this happened so long ago. We are talking about bronze age of human civilization a period at least 600 years before the christ. Kelts had very early metalurgy they knew how to make weapons even then, we know that because of their settlements we found, but they weren`t good fighters, they lack military skills, they lost almost every battle against german tribes and that is why Kelts move all the way from South Europe to England. We don`t know when game is happening in what century, but we are pretty sure Senua came somewhere from France because Kelts migrated to England much later around VI century AD not before. Game is showing lot of things what she is wearing, how is she fighting, if you noticed she doesn`t use shield, those things tell us so much about her. Not enough letters to finish my review.... This is master-piece a must have game. Every aspect of this game is so well made and most important story is true, most of the stuff are even underworld.