Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

A masterfully crafted piece. Strong narration, people really thought the story through. At times felt not like a game but rather like a movie even. Which not necessarily a bad thing. Combat was good enough, looking for runes was frustrating but fun. Great voice cast. I personally loved listening to lorestone stories. And that final battle. That epic music. Gave me goosebumps.

A gripping, stunning, and varied gaming experience that you won't forget quickly. The animations of the main character are outstandingly well done and particularly striking. The fighting system is much deeper than the game explains, so consulting an FAQ is recommended to fully appreciate it.

An amazing story of love, grief and facing your worst enemy - your mind. This game checks all the right boxes when it comes to a great game - the combat mechanics are heavy and gritty, you can feel the weight of your sword and the impact each hit on you takes. The story is rich and heavy, surrounded by a mist of misticism. The acting is absolutely superb. An absolute must have for anyone

I own this on steam. The visuals and atmosphere of this game are spectacular. That's covered in other reviews, I'm review with one specific gripe- In order to let a friend try it from the start I had to delete my own game. I was only about six hours in but this is downright stupid. Why not have at least 3 save slots, if not unlimited? There's no reason to limit save slots. It's not like I have limited hard drive space. All this does is discourage me from showcasing the game to friends (I can show them from where I'm at, but I prefer not to spoil later game content for games I enjoy).

I might be bias considering I had chronic panic attacks from the age of 9-17. They often lasted between 9pm-4am and made school nights very rough. I state this because the devs took the easiest route to represent mental illness: hearing voices and seeing falsehoods. They aren't consistent with the behaviors, making it an annoyance instead of a true challenge for the player. Just imagine a hot microphone obviously clipping (which used to mean poor production value), and have multiple voices in both ear channels. It's basically light ASMR. I felt like they used a woman for the sole purpose of making people feel sympathy for the character. They often used up close camera shots so you could see her emotions, but did the classic technique of never revealing her thoughts until they wanted you to hear a trigger emotion. Considering this was all done in mo-cap, this isn't as impressive as some believe. Many games use mo-cap, but they don't dwell on the expression of emotions as much as this game attempts. The worst part is the game's attempt at an ending. There is no ending except the statement of having to cope with mental illness. It's dumb, pretty, and a waste of your time.