A tense singleplayer experience. Requires your full attention to navigate this dark and intriguing world. The story is good, but I found myself lacking some context to certain things having not played the first one. Still well worth it.
This is a narrative game that deals in the teen space as many others in the genre. The voice acting is great and the overall narrative is very intriguing. The abbreviated dialogue choice boxes are also excellent in that you never select an option expecting to say one thing and end up saying something else. However, I have to admit that sometimes I found it hard to follow, especially after not playing for a while and jumping back in; so I would recommend to others to play it over a short period of time. There is a good variety of endings on offer, so your choices do have consequences.
Aside from looking and sounding gorgeous, the game also plays very smoothly. When everything clicks together and you perfectly time a ridiculous combination of moves you feel good about yourself. That said, every now and again you will frustrate yourself at certain points that you can't seem to get past. The story is simple, but in the same way a fairly tale is simple. It is told well and with few words needed to create a surprisingly emotional ending.
Senua's Sacrifice is unique in many ways. Its visuals are very impressive, especially for a smaller studio like Ninja Theory, and the combat is snappy and tense. The world is strange and unnerving, and based heavily in Norse mythology. Senua's greatest achievement, however, is its ability to communicate the experience of psychosis so effectively to the player, predominently through the use of its excellent sound design. I hope to see more games play to the narrative strengths of the medium, taking a leaf from Senua's book.
The game finds beauty in a pastel of greys with a few sharp colours that pop out from the environment. The sound design also follows this minimalist tone, as your footsteps click-clack across the concrete. The game invites the player to place their own interpretation on the events within, but does not provide so little information as for it to seem that there is nothing to interpret.
