Never got to play this back in the day, I tried a few years back but the difficulty of the first level made me quit . However, I tried again and I'm glad I stuck with it, there are some great quality of life changes with this version that makes it feel like an entirely new game, of course is still challenging, but much more manageable. I completed the first four episodes almost without a hinch, except for this mision in episode 3 where you fight the giant spider on the sewers, after entering that room my fps went from 60 to 5 and kept there for the rest of that mission, and in teh fith episode the performance is bad, I get micro fps drops that are so annoying that I got a headache Overall is not perfect, but is still worth a shot, just remember: F2 (quicksave) is your best friend
Beatiful graphics, outstanding sound design and a thrilling story, an epic adventure with an underlying tragedy that mirrors reality, even in the 21st century The combat is basic but serviceable, the gameplay is minimalistic, some basic puzzle solving with no HUD, but don't let this fool you, it serves the purpose of the story SOPILERS AHEAD Many games have tried to portray mental illness, usually relying on the macabre and grotesque, trying to hide the "truth" in a plot twist. That is not the case in hellblade, since the very beggining you notice something is not right and as you progress through the game the backstory is slowly revealed, there's no plot twist, there's no secret, just memories of Senua's past, slowly showing you how she was abused by her father, found her hope just to be stigmatized by her condition and finally suffered a relapse due to the trauma of Dillion's death. Because the psychosis and schizophrenia its just a backdrop, and the true journey of Senua is a duel, mourning in anger and fear the loss of her love, the only person that saw beyond her "curse" and gave her hope and peace. The sound design is amazing, sometimes I just had to stop moving just to look around and hear the voices, with their mostly negative remarks, there's no HUD, but the voices tell you all you need to know "look" ""you're in danger" "behind you" "focus", I think this decision by the developers was genius, it makes you feel more immersed, and after 9 hours of hearing them nonstop you start questioning your own sanity. I loved when Senua talked directly to me like if I was just another voice inside her head, or how strange I felt whe I was looking at the final cutscene form Hela's perspective. I truly loved this game, I am pleased I finished in a single session on the hardest difficulty, at the end I was as tired as Senua looked but all I wanted was to hug her and tell her everything was going to be ok There's no true permadeath (told you there were spoilers)
A little too late, but I finally got to play this classic After 56 hours I finally finished it (i played on normal since I didn't know what I was getting into) and I must say it was a good game, and in case you don't want to read the text wall bellow: Play it, it's worth every penny What I like: - The character and graphic desing, that icy wasteland in the epilogue was beautiful - The music: the boss theme is metal - The voice acting, Geralt is monotonous, but Iguess that sort of thing happens when you are an amnesiac - The writing: you got everything, drama, action, and comedy - The combat: yes it can be stiffy, but once you find your rythm and start mowing down groups of enemies with ease it gets quite satisfying, specially when you are using the full potential of your signs and potions - The power fantasy of being probably the most promiscuos badass (I wasn't expecting that) what could have been better - I should have played in the hardest difficulty, normal proved to be too easy, I only died once and it was early in the game when I was learning the ropes, most of the time I used potions/oils/runes out of curiosity - The inability to carry every crafting material present in the game, many time I had to throw away mats because of this, not game breaking since I rarely brew potions, but I felt it was a waste nonetheless -The inability to carry weapons in your bags to sell later, and yes, I am nitpicking because I always had enough money for whatever I needed, but still - some of the signs are effectively useless, hex sounds good on paper, not so much in practice, specially when Aard and Ignis are enough to dispatch most enemies Overall the game is good, I had a lot of fun, I should have played on hard so I could have used all my abilities to thei fullest, I'll most likely revisit the game in a year or two to play it on hard, change my story choices and focus in other signs, who knows, maybe I missed half the fun the game had to offer
