Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (2017)

The first Hellblade entry is a dark and deeply emotional action-adventure game that sets itself apart through its bold exploration of mental illness. The MC is called Senua, a Pict warrior on a harrowing journey into Helheim to save the soul of her lover, all while battling psychosis. The game uses haunting visuals, atmospheric design, and an outstanding binaural audio system to immerse players in her fractured mind, making the experience both unsettling and unforgettable.

Visually, the game impresses with its cinematic presentation, detailed environments, and motion-captured performance, whose portrayal of Senua earned widespread praise, very impressive even for standards at the time since this was not an uncommon practice. The sound design is especially impactful, with voices constantly whispering, taunting, and guiding the player, simulating the struggle of living with inner turmoil. This combination of art direction and performance elevates the narrative far beyond traditional video game storytelling.

However, the gameplay itself is more straightforward. Combat consists of light and heavy attacks, dodging, and parrying, and while functional, it lacks depth and can become repetitive, though this is really not the main focus of the game. The puzzles, which often involve matching shapes and runes in the environment, fit thematically but risk feeling redundant over time, so puzzles are definitely a standout on this one. Despite this, the simplicity allows the focus to remain on atmosphere and story rather than mechanics.

This game succeeds not as a traditional action game, but as an emotionally charged experience that blends myth, psychology, and tragedy. Its bravery in addressing mental health, paired with exceptional production values, makes it one of the most unique and memorable indie titles of its time. This is truly one of the most unique games the industry has provided, and a must-play for everybody. I highly recommend playing this one using a high-quality headphone for the maximum optimal experience possible.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a game I've been meaning to get to for a long time, so it feels great to finally knock it off the ol' backlog. I'm coming away from it feeling a mix of satisfaction and disappointment, but thankfully mainly the former.

From a visual standpoint this game feels like a crazy art project gone totally right. Senua and the player are under constant assault by shifting lights and blurry shapes that make this experience an overwhelming spectacle for the eyes. Yet it never feels like it's trying too hard, I think. Those visuals feel apt for the experience the game is trying to convey. Early on there were a few moments where smoke and flame particles seemed to be floating on nothing in a way that felt unintentional and a bit distracting but otherwise this game still looks amazing.

Of course, the sound design is where Senua's Sacrifice has earned most of its praise. Having gone down a binaural recording rabbit hole ages ago I was very happy to see a game make use of this technique-- especially to such creative effect. Having a chorus of voices playing tug-of-war with your emotions as you play is really really cool. I love that they never lean too far in any of the many directions they tug in and also sometimes are helpful, such as when they warn of an incoming attack during combat sequences. They'd often chime in with absurd concerns and worries that I myself was thinking, which made it feel a bit like the game was reading my mind.

Oddly enough though, I somehow didn't feel that the binaural element of their integration in the game quite landed for me. I rarely felt as though I was hearing voices in the room with me, as I often have while listening to binaural recordings. Maybe it's the fact that I could move around the camera and the voices wouldn't shift relative direction with it? That was a bit disappointing, but only because of how hyped up this particular element of the game is. The effect is still decent and I love the ludonarrative interplay it supports.

While on the topic of sound design though, I feel like I should briefly tackle the subtitles. Look. I understand subtitling this game was going to be an impossible task from the get go with how many voices are often coming in at once, but even putting that aside this game features some of the worst subtitles I've ever seen. They're often wildly inaccurate to the actual dialogue to the point where they don't even work as a summary of what was said, they're full of grammatical errors and typos, and they're totally out of sync. They also of course fail to cover even half of all the dialogue happening (which I can't really blame them for). I couldn't bear it and turned them off within the first half hour. I would have liked to see more effort put into the quality of these, even if there was no way to accurately represent every line of dialogue.

Having no subtitles made taking in the game's plot and characters a bit more challenging due to an abundance of unfamiliar Nordic names being tossed around; often muttered and screamed with little regard to their intelligibility. For the first few hours I had the characters Druth and Dillion so tangled up I thought they were the same person, which feels silly now in retrospect but was a legitimate issue for me early on.

I can't say that I found the characters, including Senua herself, particularly compelling. The story itself feels like one I've seen before and the ending left me a bit underwhelmed, especially the odd sequel nod followed by a truly awful credits song that felt like listening to poorly translated poetry. But I don't think that all that works too much to the game's detriment. Where Senua's Sacrifice really shines is in the way it portrays and forces the player to engage with its main character's affliction.

Oh god I haven't even talked about the gameplay. Well, uh. It's fine. The puzzles are a tad bland but work in the context of the intended experience. If you're playing on Steam do yourself a favor and set up Steam Input to change the run button to a toggle because Senua moves criminally slowly even when running for how wide the areas she has to traverse are.

The combat is also... fine. It feels fluid enough and there's a surprising depth to the combos you can pull off, but it never felt worth engaging in beyond spamming light attacks into a couple heavy attacks with the occasional melee to break an enemy's guard. Maybe a harder difficulty would have pushed me to do more, but I wasn't here for the combat. There was more than I really wanted as it is. The boss fights are pretty cool though. They stand well apart in a game that otherwise lacks enemy variety.

I don't see myself playing the sequel to be honest. This is the type of story that wraps itself up nicely and feels excellent as a self contained experience. It said what it wanted to say. I can't imagine the second game providing any kind of meaningful expansion on what Senua's Sacrifice offers, so I'll probably skip it unless I somehow become convinced it's worth my time.

I decided to replay this game not only to get a refresher on its story but, more importantly, to see if my thoughts had changed since I had last played it, couple years ago. And what I found is that they very clearly haven’t.

At its marketing core, Hellblade is a simple concept wrapped in a simple game: a 3rd person narrative-driven action-adventure game with a short length, tight scope, linear level design and stripped-down-to-basics gameplay. What makes it special then is how it manages to blend all its simple aspects into one very compelling overall package. Atop of it all, of course, rests Hellblade’s incredible binaural audio design. To this day, hearing all these different sounds in whispers from all sorts of directions, some of which do feel like they’re coming from within your mind, is nothing short of impressive and (sorry) surprisingly immersive. It also has no business looking as good as it does, which for such a relatively small studio at the time, it was naturally only possible due to its narrow focus and linearity. Which, on the other hand, is precisely why apparent shimmering around Senua’s model and some low quality textures sprinkled throughout the levels stand out so much in comparison.

The technical side of things, and in fact everything else, exists in Hellblade to serve its story. Ninja Theory set out to share a journey of loss, grief, denial, inner demons and acceptance that, although firmly rooted in well-explored Norse mythology, manages to capture a very personal, intimate tone and deliver a satisfying conclusion. Most of this is achieved by its main ‘gimmick’, meaning the binaural implementation of sound to simulate bouts of psychosis. How the game handles mental illness was the flagship of the package every time it was talked about, and although slightly reductive in my opinion, it does feel adequate as a descriptor: there’s nothing fun about Hellblade. Everything you see and go through - sights, sounds, walks, fights - feels like the gaming equivalent of an ordeal, something you regard as unpleasant but need to get through anyway. The game’s design choices, such as a very close 3rd person camera perspective, the sluggish character movement, the lack of tutorials or the (frequently) complete absence of a HUD - which I always appreciate in games - are there precisely to ground you in that somewhat unbelievable, almost dreamlike world, something that adds weight to your ‘presence’ in it and, consequently, to your feelings of discomfort. That’s one of the strengths of this game, and also why it will never be for everyone.

As for the issues most folks seemed to have with Hellblade, namely combat and puzzle design, I personally feel they were a bit blown out of proportion. Yes, combat is simple and enemy design isn’t very varied, but again, these are visibly by design, and had they been any different we wouldn’t be talking about the same type of game. As much as this game gets filed under the action adventure genre, calling it an action adventure game is anything but a disservice when trying to figure out what Hellblade seeks to do. The way I personally see it, this title is meant as a literal and metaphorical calvary of the self, one that’s constantly being tested by external struggles as much as internal ones. Combat, as such, is just an extension of this: Senua isn’t meant to be a warrior. She’s someone who has learned how to fight but now has to take it to the next level, but the next level for her is still a far cry from anything achieved by a common hero in a common action adventure game. She’s got a sword, she can kick and dodge, she can parry and she can channel some inner focus, but that is the full extent of her ‘powers’. Because of this, I absolutely feel Ninja Theory went with the right approach: narrow combat arenas with a small amount of well-designed enemies that serve as a backdrop for a simplistic dance of swords and axes, with an equally simplistic, yet punchy and engaging feel to hits given and received. Now the criticisms to puzzle design is something I can understand and relate to a lot better. But more in the sense that they eventually become a nuisance due to their repetitive nature, which is further hindered by some sections with very little gameplay, some frustrating backtracking and slight level design issues. As much as I get what they were going for, it’s hard for me to shake the feeling that some of these amount to little more than padding for the sake of it.

That said though, it’s nothing that seriously dampened my appreciation for Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice as an overall package. This is a game I’ve replayed a couple times now, and every time I play it, my fondness for it gets renewed. I’m not sure how broadly I could recommend this - and at this point I also feel that most everyone who wanted to play this already has. But in case you haven’t, and if any of the themes mentioned here sound appealing to you, This is more than worth a try, as long as you’re not expecting a heavy action-oriented experience. 8.5/10

I honestly can't understand what people see in this game.

Pro: -Good graphics

Cons: -Cliché story in a Viking context, you need to save your lover, the one that you barely gonna see his shadow in the game... We are doing practically the same puzzles and fighting the same enemies from the beginning until the end. The difference is while you advance you gonna face with more enemies simultaneously. -Unskippeable cinematics, not even the credits (come on...). But wait, the worst part is that the protagonist screams in every single cinematic. -There is no connection nor empathy with the protagonist. -Full of "who cares?" and "what am I suppose to do?" moments. -One of the things that bothered me the most is the super slow pace of this game, even when you press the run button is SO f******* slow.

I was scared to play Helblade. When the original reviews came out for it I was intrigued but didn’t think a schizophrenic horror puzzle game would be for me.

I was wrong. I finished this 8 hour game in 3 evening sessions and can’t wait for the sequel. Where I thought the voices in Senua’s head would be cringeworthy or repellent, I found them to be evocative and comforting. The jump scares were restrained and allowed the truly disturbing setting to be the star. And the puzzles were the kind of environmental puzzles I like.

The one complaint I have is that raytracing in the game still causes stutter so bad I had to turn it off. Thankfully, the game still looks great without it. In the future (or in a follow up), I’d love to see a fully path traced version of this world. The lighting is so powerful in some areas that realistic lighting would make the place real.

Hellblade is absolutely stunning and probably one of the best games I've ever experienced. You are a celtic woman who descends into hell through a super atmospheric, gothic viking world. On the way you're told about germanic mythology and have to solve riddles and fight absolutely scary Odin-soldiers. The fighting is allright, nothing special, but it feels very immsersive. I frankly very much enjoyed the riddles, where you have to find germanic runes within the landscape. It makes your surroundings feel vivid in a very innovative and creative way.

The decision to make it a tweaked roguelike that deletes your progress after an undetermined death count is so genius game design, I have no idea why this is not more common. I would never play a hardcore char and I dislike roguelikes because of the roguelike mechanic, but this is different. Letting the poison creeping up your arm after death feels so painful and punishing and actually makes you afraid to die more often, it makes death feel meaningful and have an acutal impact without stealing your time.

This game is not only the best merge of indie game design and triple-A graphics ever, it's also one of the best horror movies of all time if it was one.

I have no words, this game is one of the best I've ever played and it's heavily underrated.

I don't think any words I write would truly do Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice any justice. It is honestly one of those games you have to experience for yourself. I will warn you that this game explores mental illness and death but it does it in a thoughtful and considered way. You can tell that the developers spent a great deal of time researching these topics, treating the subject matter with the respect it deserves.

I personally enjoyed my time with Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice but I understand why for some this game is not for them. Not only does focus on serious subject matter but the gameplay is rather limited. There is a small amount of puzzle solving and combat but for the most part, you are just joining Senua on her through the underowrld. However at the end of the day, it is the story that Hellblade wants to tell that is the focus of the game.

Overall, I think that Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice acheieves what it sets out to do- tell the story of a celtic warrior who struggles to come to terms with her psychosis. If you are looking for a unique gaming experience that explores a subject rarely looked at within entertainment media, then I highly recommend you play Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.

The voices in your head, the brilliant opening, top notch characters animation, the gaelic world, shape shifting, visual distortions, no HUD, no tutorial, no contextual displays that are not part of Senua's world, the narrator of Norse Mythology, the mixing of FMV with the world generated by the Unreal 4 Engine, the oppressive and disturbing environment, the crescendo of the final battles until Hella, the best sound design of a game that I have experienced, the music (especially in the end), the clunky but very effective and beautiful to look at battles, the story, Senua's struggle with her condition (which we nowadays know its an illness, but just imagine it at the Viking Age). Everything beautifully executed. The nearest I came to an interactive movie and the nearest I came to experience hallucinations, especially the aural ones.

Ninja Theory was already one of my favorite studios after Heavenly Sword, DmC and Enslaved. For me, this is their best game so far and one difficult to surpass. Absolutely gorgeous game. One of the best I have ever experienced.

There's no much I could say about this game that hasn't been said and I'm not felling particularly inspired to write a lengthy review, so I'm just gonna leave some unconnected thoughts.

• Almost every aspect of the game successful creates the oppressive atmosphere the developers intended to convey. This makes it a hard to play game, but fulfilling nonetheless.

• The whole mental illness concept is strong and well delivered, but I feel that mixing it with a norse mythology background undermines the message a bit. Not only the mix of so many themes doesn't feel very cohesive, but also it makes it harder than it should to connect Senua's experience and story with the contemporary experiences of psychosis.

• That said, I loooved having Durth telling me about norse myths. Some of them were very streamlined (Sigurd's story in particular is much longer) but that's keeping with the oral tradition in which they lived. The written stories we have now are a distillation of generations of storytellers, each telling one part of the story and probably each having a different version.

• While I appreciated the link between pareidolia and the perspective puzzles, the mechanic felt overused. In most of the puzzles that weren't trivial, the only challenge was running around the map trying to find where each Rune can be seen. Sometimes they felt more like padding than genuine gameplay.

• Combat is simplistic but it achieves it's role of being tense. After each battle I could feel every muscle of my body relax again and my breathing returning to normal. Sometimes I even had to pause the game for a few seconds to come down. Some encounters felt overly long (and the lack of enemy variety exacerbated this feeling) and, again, felt like padding.

• Adding to the tension is the thread of permadeath. There, I think the developers had the most ingenious idea. Having unlimited "lives" takes away some of the edge of gaming but having to start from the beginning in a story driven game which is sometimes not fun to play is not an option. The solution of telling the player there's permadeath even thought there isn't strikes the perfect balance.

• I've seen some articles that criticise the game for not representing the social aspects of mental illness and how much of the suffering comes from how other people treats them. First of all, this is false, as the story does reference how Senua is believed to be cursed by the townsfolk and is filled with self guilt by people blaming her for the plague that striked the land. What it is true is that this aspect of mental illness is not elaborated upon. But it's unreasonable to expect that every aspect of the human condition has to be addressed in every single game, movie, book or whatever piece of fiction. This game's focus is not that.

• I do take issue with the ending of the Hellblade Feature in which the narrator postulates the notion that mental illness is the source of originality in our society and thus, needed in some way. There are some aspects of this romanisation of mental illness in the game also. Mental illness makes people suffer, it reduces their quality of life and autonomy. Is not "thinking differently"; everyone thinks differently from each other in some regards but only some have a debilitating problem that makes them a danger to themselves or others or that makes their life miserable.

Hellblade is one of the few games that I loved yet never wish to play it again. Or despite loving it as much as I did, I never want to play it again. Hellblade presents one of the more visceral experiences I have encountered playing video games. It heavily employs various forms of disruption to disrupt game play and affect the player. I think that, without a doubt, Hellblade is phenomenological one of the most difficult game experiences I have faced. Unreliable visuals and audio constantly plague the player, and the game turns what would effectively and typically be seen as distanciation in any other text to actually engage the player in a feeling of shared psychological experience with Senua, rather than distancing the viewer/player from the game. Effects that would normally disrupt gameplay and highlight the game as text, thus preventing immersion, have the opposite effect. They heighten immersion and the visceral sense of the game as something very real. It is sobering to realize that you are telling the voices in the game/your head to shut-up as you try to survive a beast that attacks you from the dark. Senua wasn't alone in her torment, I wanted the voices to quiet as much as she did. I think if someone had been in the room with me while I played they would have been concerned given the number of times I spoke back to the voices.

I thoroughly appreciate the experience that Hellblade provides. I cannot speak to whether the game effectively or sensitively engages with mental illness such as schizophenia. But I can say that my affectual relationship to the game was one of raised anxiety. Everything felt wrong, and off, and sometimes rushed and never comfortable or reassuring. Hellblade is forceful in its use of imagery, audio and mechanics to assail the player until they feel worn down, maybe even broken. The game itself is, thankfully, not long but its affect and effect are. They stay with you after you finish the game, and I dare say they are what prevent me from wanting to endure that experience again.

They're not taking notes, I thought. All those man hours on the phone convincing potential consultant neuroscience professors and real psychotics that an issue-conscious game can be more than a game of pong wherein the paddles periodically can't move because of their major depressive disorder; to be shipped out of their way to watch their lives represented as a Viking ghoul getting duffed up in the chest cavity.. someone get these guys a PAD!

Senua's headdress is off the scale

That's the rumbling worry just below the surface, isn't it? There's veritable Hel(l) to pay if you get this wrong. Gamification of mental funkiness (and fully embracing the anti-stigma message, I mean funky) needs to be baked into the goods as visceral affect, not some visual effects.

Thankfully, this is a HAUNTING game. The haunting house that haunting house employees have to go into to get their kicks. It's a tightly scripted cinematic tour de not forced. The shop window is the shop and this is a tightly scripted experience with mental illness all quarter winds and centre. Sound design pitch-perfect, performances incredible and the kind of shots and imagery that film will be calling the police there's been a break-in over.

Mixing in live action is the kind of bluster reserved for a game that knows it looks good

Enough about the gentry, you say, for gameplay is king, queen, and country. Combat struck a power chord with me. It has no aspirations for mastery beyond usability, but by never breaking your over the shoulder front row seat, it's claustrophobic and personal. Three's a crowd and if it were less forgiving in your ability to recover like a downed boxer being counted down, it would be intensely challenging. Like most everything in the game, it's never treated with tutorial and is something you work out yourself. There's been a lot of media attention over permadeath. It's an interesting aside, but for numerous reasons, it's not as important as you'd hope. It does what it should - succeeds in hanging over you at times, like a heavy chandelier in a condemned building.

In extreme danger of catching a cold

The other side of the mechanical coin involves puzzles that may be thematically integral, but can grate by playing hide and seek with the player. They're not taxing and not offensive, but as a major part of the gameplay loop, they're the adverts before the show; like colouring in the sky whilst you work out what colours the house should be. Exploration remains cable car ride marvellous thanks to the home run in its environments and the constant colouring by the eerie choir of binaural voices in your head.

And at points you'll be overwhelmed. Four voices will swarm you at once. Terrible sound mixing here, you think, until you realise that you're actually experiencing psychosis through interactive medium. Bloody hell, you say, they must have been writing notes on their hands.