Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

The game has very nice visuals and soundtrack. It's worth a try just for that. However, it's such a drag to play I had to take short breaks every 20 minutes. The game pulls your strings since the very first actual "gameplay" area (Valravn's forest) and unfortunately two gameplay mechanics introduced there will be copy pasted until the game's end with only one difference: they will be absurdly multiplied. Environmental perspective puzzles are nauseating with a necessity to "focus" all the time (which shrinks your fov to new lows unknown in the history) and it's hard for the player to actually "focus" on the screen thanks to ridiculous filter that shatters and multiplies all vfx. It's really nauseating. Combat is extremely basic and poorly designed. Most of your enemies (including shieldbearers), with an exception of bosses and tougher guys you meet in the second part of the game, can be staggered infinitely with sidestep -> one attack -> sidestep -> one attack loop. They will not retaliate. Ad nauseam. Beware playing on higher difficulties, because they only add more enemies and multiply their health pools, they don't change the actual gameplay. And that's the whole game. You walk around with painfully slow pace, you talk to yourself, fight a little and you find audio collectibles that throw nordic lore dumps with not connection to your story. Which brings us to the story. I kept thinking that somewhere at the end there will be some kind of plot twist, that would justify the visual theme (eg. Senua's father being actually right and her not being crazy - just possesed by dark magic or the story being a bigger struggle between the gods), but no. It ends just like you would predict after the first 10 minutes. Nothing of it is real, you fight with yourself, at the end nothing matters but you embrace your madness. What do Celts or Vikings have to do with that? It could be placed in Moomins world as far as I am aware. Disappointing.

"Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifce" seems very to be overhyped and the gaming experience was quite boring for me. Linear level design, no freedom to explore. Sword fight turned out quite rudimentary - but let me ask anyway why this element was necessary in this presence at all. I assumed it was about Senua's psyche, not a fighting game. Puzzles were pretty simple and unfotunatly always the same. Hellblade's gaming experience is like a feature film with a less exciting plot from the perspective of the main character tormented by psychoses. Without the fighting it would pass as a walking simulator. The constant babble of voices in Sanua's head almost triggered a psychosis in me. It just never stops. It looks pretty good and the sound design is pretty good too. The actress, who recorded Senua's movements did her job really well especially giving the fact that she has never acted before. The acclaimed research that was undertaken on the stories of the "Edda" and the "Völsunga Saga", and all the other backgrounds of the Hellblade story, can be copied from history books by anyone who can read - noting special, too. The part with the main character's psyche is a nice attempt to approach the topic of mental health - I'm just afraid that it was precisely this unusual openness to a socially taboo topic that led to success in the press and with the audience. It was probably more due to the audience's dismay than to the quality of the game itself. In my opinion, the game itself is far too weak for the success achieved - and would not have come about without the consistent emphasis on Senua's mental state and her psychoses. It is good when the game genre deals with socially difficult and quite serious topics. And that should be appreciated. But to me even this aspect failed and Hellblade wasn't able to to keep me on my toes. I'll try to get a refund - to me it's a waste of money, even when purchased on a sale.

While the world is wonderfully rendered, the protagionist, her movements and the voice acting are stella and the glimpse into what it is to have psychosis inspired, the rest of the game falls flat for me. Having been pensioned for OCD I can only imagine that the short repetitive game-play loop of puzzle, walk, fight in a small arena over and over again is trying to capture how fatiguing mental illness can be: if so they successed beyond their wildest dreams. Engagment is all. I neither like nor dislike linear games as a rule - it is a good way to focus a story, and to focus resources if a small studio. The problem is that I would start to get into a flow then another element - fight - walk - puzzle - exposition - felt like it was pulling me out of the experience when it occured. I feel the game would have gained much if there were other elements such as sneaking (around enemies - but are the there?) and puzzle elements involving working out what is real and what isn't, which (though psychosis doesn't necessarily involve hallucinations) is an element I felt the game was trying to convey. A more holistic experience of life with psychosis as it were. As mileage may vary I suggest getting it on sale

Ninja Theory hit all the marks, and deserves all the allocades for creating this work of art. Above all else, Hellblade, Senua's Sacrifice is an experience. Those that love an immersive story and setting will thoroughly enjoy Hellblade. Those that are looking for an action hack-and-slash will find something here, and if you're looking for more of a puzzle-game, there is something here, too, but Hellblade is a concert of these things and so much more. Distilled down into its basics, Hellblade is an over-the-shoulder-third-person action game where you explore areas trying to solve a puzzle to progress forward to the next area, and each area-puzzle has a theme that fits with both the setting and the narrative of your character's (Senua) progress. Phew! That's a lot to say and take in. Furthermore, these areas are peppered with combat encounters. Permeating all of this is the knowledge that Senua has visions and delusions, so her quest is as much allegory and spiritual as it is literal. Some complaints about Hellblade may be that the types of enemies are limited, and, similarly, the kinds of puzzles are limited, too. This can be considered true, but the enemies and puzzles you encounter in the game are fit to the theme of the narrative, and while the variety may be lacking, the game still does a good job of increasing the difficulty of what you encounter throughout the game - in other words, it's properly paced. If there is something that the game actually can be marked down for it would be how, when surrounded by enemies, they don't necessarily behave as they should - rather than all trying to attack at once, it will be whatever enemy you are focused on that will primarily attack, while other enemies will not attack as often as they should. This "feature" is one of the downsides of a game designed for cross-platform, a condition sometimes perjoratively labeled "console-itis." Overall, Hellblade is a well-designed game providing a rich experience - try it!

This game allowed me to experience something I never would have been able to otherwise. I have great sympathy for those who have mental illness but never actually had a taste of what it was like before playing this. There is no leveling up, no skill tree, no fast travel, no HUD, no bullettime button mashing, just a beautiful game that tells a great linear story. it is slowly paced at times, intense, interesting, and original. The game made me scared, hopeful, desperate, and see through the eyes of Senua. it is worth your time to play this game.