Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (2017)

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a haunting and unforgettable experience, a challenging journey into Senua’s fractured mind that demands patience and rewards with an introspective yet visceral story and qualitative visuals.

The core gameplay of Hellblade revolves around a brutal, visceral combat system blended with lighter puzzle-solving, with some context to the Norse mythology. The game’s mechanics utilizes the concept of “voices” - constant, internal dialogues - to drive the narrative and even assists in combat encounters, an interesting design choice to subdue the UI dependency. The difficulty has been made with a flexible option to adapt to my combat performance, if no specific difficulty level is set. Regardless of the difficulty level, in my opinion, the visual feedback and the scenic direction makes the sense of accomplishment powerfully earned. The game’s replay value depends on how much your exploration yearns to discover and unlock runes, where each piece retells the bits of Norse mythology, some more or less familiar for a myth nerd like me.

Visually, Hellblade is an atmospheric eyecandy. The graphics consistently deliver neat, dynamic scenery, especially within the mythology-inspired environments. Furthermore, the art direction perfectly captures the bleak, unsettling atmosphere and the decaying grandeur of the dark age era. While the pacing can be deliberately slow, punctuated by lengthy, cinematic cutscenes focused on Senua’s struggles, externally and internally, I think these moments have served well to illustrate her past and psychological torment. These observational sequences aren't for impatient players; they are integral to the game's immersive and contemplative nature.

Ultimately, I find Hellblade to be an indie gem whose devs took a daring decision to dig in on taboo subjects like mental illnesses, as told in their documentary clip. The game’s emotional core - Senua’s desperate quest for her love's return - resonates well, and the narrative’s unexpected turns kept me constantly engaged in this intensely personal, albeit bleak, story. I wholeheartedly recommend this game to players seeking a truly unique and emotionally resonant adventure.

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is something different. It is a psychological thriller that really involves you, the player, in the head of a mentally troubled woman on her quest to hope and salvation.

In Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice you play as Senua, who suffers from severe psychological trauma and watched her village and her beloved being slaughtered by the Northmen. In order to save the soul of her boyfriend Dillion, she marches on a quest to confront Hella, the goddess of the Underworld and free his soul. Along the way, she needs to confront her demons and other, literal demons and Norse Gods that stand in her way.

The gameplay is third person with a fixed path to the end goal. Along the way, you find many Lore Stones that teach you events from the past and Norse Mythology. There are no items to find and collect besides the Lore Stones, but in a game like this, that is fine. This game is all about the story.

The graphics in this game are amazing. They are very detailed, nicely polished and the Norse theme is very well implemented. The combat animations are great, and the attack patterns are spot on. For a game of this age, it looks very impressive.

Senua’s troubled mind has many voices that are constantly arguing, tormenting and humiliating her. These voices never stop and are always present through your headphones. They come from all directions, and each one is as clear and unsettling as the previous one. They laugh at you, demotivate you and really give you the feeling that you are worthless. The way the developers implemented this sound design deserves only praise. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is one of the few games that impressed me this much witch is sound enhancement.

The combat is relatively simple and with some dodging and well-timed blocks, you can never really lose. The camera is fixed on one enemy at a time, and the voices inside your head warn you when another enemy behind you is about to strike. The camera itself can be very annoying when fighting in tight spaces, because it sticks to the wall and messes up your vision.

My only problem with this game were the rune puzzles. Although I like challenges, the cryptic nature of what you are supposed to find was very annoying sometimes. Many times, I had to consult the internet because I was just to retarred to figure out what to do or were to go.

One thing that I need to give the developers credit for is the fear inducing mechanics in which you get punished for dying. Every time this happens, the rot and corruption of Hella spreads a little further on your body. After dying too many times, you need to start over the entire game. This, however, is not true and nothing actually happens when you die a lot. But the fact that you do not know this in the beginning is a fine way of making you play the game with extra care. Well done…

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a short game, but the experience is more than worth it. I would definitely recommend this work of art.

Very few games end up really feeling like proper experiences, something that presents something visceral and intimate in a way that even literature/films fail to do. Senua's Sacrifice does exactly this. It uses a combination of beautiful and dark visuals, with an incredibly well made audio experience that ends up feeling oppressive and anxiety inducing, in a way that is perfect for what they're going for. You really feel what the main character of the game is feeling, which is so incredibly rare to see.

Just a really well made game that I'm glad was able to be pulled off considering how difficult something like this is.

Now that's more on the innovative, experience front, which is absolutely a masterpiece in my eyes. But that's not all that makes a game. I feel like the gameplay and story were also well done, but also felt a little lacking in areas. Some of the puzzles felt a little annoying to get through after you faced them for so long, and I feel like I only really got into the feel of the combat near the end, by which point it was kind of redundant (also idk, being ganked by like 8 enemies just isn't my cup of tea usually). The story itself was incredible, in the sense of how beautifully metaphorized and emotional it all was, though I feel like the ending just felt a bit lacking in areas. Like the final fight just didn't feel as detailed as some of the other areas, and the moment of acceptance while expected, felt like it lacked the amount of emotion we saw for other parts. But that's probably just me nitpicking.

Still, this is such a cool concept, and I feel everyone should experience this game once in their lives, it will blow your mind. It's much more horror based than I expected, but that just kind of adds to how cool it ends up being.

I may replay and review BECAUSE I literally stopped played during the final boss fight. Got the next-gen xbox at the time and just never went back and finished… however I do want to give some praise to the game.

As an Indie game, made from a small studio, this game is beyond impressive. The graphics, immersion, combat, music/ambience, voice acting, and story depth were all at a high level above most AAA games.

This game portrayed it was created by developers who truly love to make games. While it lacked elements that only large studios’ could afford, the creators knew how to construct an incredible story-driven with the game limitations inherited and WOW they delivered.

The game did have a few flaws I don’t think are important enough to dive into since I would rather just express how amazed I am. Additionally, I am so happy to see how often I’ve seen reviewers mention this game is underrated and deserves more praise. I actually played this game before seeing any review or talk about this game solely because I saw it on game pass and thought it looked badass, and it resulting in me feeling like… a badass.

I hope to see more games that are even just half as cool as this game by this company because I would like to support them.

A well-packaged hyperrealistic environmental maze that emulates the effects of psilocybin mushrooms.

Not only are the graphics and sound design amazing, but the lighting is masterful in such a way that makes Senua's Sacrifice otherworldly.

I have Celtic heritage, and Senua's Sacrifice and Heilung both elicit a special feeling of pride. These media feel forbidden because they are such quality depictions of Germanic genetic memory. From my experiences it is my belief that psilocybin mushrooms gives one access to their dormant genetic memory. The primary proof of which being the broken fluency that occurs when speaking in tongues. The menu of Senua's Sacrifice features a song sung through chanting in tongues, which, in me, elicits a sense of resonant deja-vu. It feels like Senua's Sacrifice is an acknowledgment of a suffering which has built up over centuries.

The story only has six characters. The advisor friend, Senua's husband, Senua, Fire God, Valravven, and Hel. The highlights of the game are moments which one bears witness to. The deities feel very real, in a sense that it feels like one is witnessing Hel's true form when she is visible, and Senua's eyeballs seem to be real human eyeballs.

The gameplay in Valravven's portion was very refreshing. The common gameplay of fighting onslaughts was truly grueling. A brilliant simulation of willing one's self out of despair. In the late game, however, it was just too much and too repetitive and became agonizing.

Senua's Sacrifice represents the concepts of immolation and metempsychosis. Very complex concepts on the edge of science. Senua's fate was extremely satisfying for me to witness because it was a following through on the exploration of these concepts. I forgive the unnecessary stress of Hel's portion because of Hel's ultimate relationship with Senua.

While the combat and some of the puzzles tended towards the repetitive (and the combat has no tutorial, completely unexpected for a 2017 game), I found the setting intriguing and the atmosphere unique and affecting. It's not easy of comfortable to be inside a psychotic's head, and I it felt very oppressing at times, but that just means Ninja Theory did what they set out to do.

I'd definitely call this game a piece of art.

Lana: I loved this game. Very unique and very fun. Also so scary that I had to let Rodrigo play for me at times. The only downside for me was the clunky controls, but because the game looks so cinematic it does make sense that not everything controls perfectly fluently. Also really great soundtrack and voice acting and a pretty short game, definitely worth giving a try in my opinion! 8/10

Rodrigo: honestly I played most of the fight scenes and boss fights during the whole game while Lana did most of the puzzles. I thought that the fighting was cool but got a little repetitive at the end, however the boss battles were crazy fun and objectively scary as fuck. The whole storyline was what got me though. Going through Senua's journey in her perspective was a rollercoaster of emotions to say the least. Soundtrack, graphics, animation all god tier and really immersive. Easy 9/10.

In the simplest terms, it's an atmospheric action-adventure game with puzzle elements. But what makes it stand out is the very deep psychological layer, where we're immersed into the mind of someone with severe mental issues. The game has a strong psychological foundation and, in my opinion, does a great job making the player feel just what it might be like to be in such a situation. Great story-telling and world design complemented this, to make Hellblade a gripping and immersive adventure into the underworld. And the combat system was surprisingly decent for a game of this type!

Simply the greatest game I have ever played. Not due to features such as mechanics or graphics, although these are pretty decent too, but because of the deep feelings and reflections this masterpiece manages to convey. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice tells a profoundly emotional story, one that develops on suffering, sacrifice, overcoming and an astonishing beauty.

This is done by offering the player an intense multisensory experience. Sounds and visuals both cooperate to build a penetrating (and sometimes disturbing) worldview. Senua unknowingly pursuits self acceptance, symbolically represented by her dead lover, to the depths of her soul. She faces fear, guilt, shame and despair with an admirable courage, which I'm sure inspired people in suffering all around the world. Beauty interplays with darkness to sew this excellent narrative.

One of the greatest things in this game is the remarkable diversity of facial expressions displayed in order to convey Senua's inner tempest.

Besides, this game offers some of the few unstigmatized perspectives towards mental health issues (particularly psychosis), something rarely found even nowadays. It teaches people who suffer in their minds to fully accept and love themselves as they are, and shows neurotypical players that living as a neurodivergent person can be an immense challenge, especially when isolation comes from society's continuous rejection, a challenge that deserves an outstanding respect.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a beautiful example of how video games are completely capable to address urgent subjects. By bringing mental health issues into discussion in such a careful and brilliant manner, Ninja Theory helps society to become more inclusive and respectful towards people who fight the hardest battles: the ones that are fought in the mind.

Finished it recently, and holy shit! It's like someone had an ingenious concept for a story that can be told only through a video game lens, and then they had to add actual game to this narrative, and it almost ruins the whole experience, like what's up with these never ending rune puzzles and constant waves of enemy clones, gaaaah!!!

But anywaaays... In spite of my issues... I still love this game!

Ninja Theory remains one of my favorite video game developers, and they just prove every time how insanely talented they are at creating memorable characters and fresh ideas, i mean... GOOD GOD! the tone of this game is practically unmatched, you can almost drown in this game's atmosphere, i know everyone is gushing over the sound design and it's for a good reason, it's so well done! The performance by Melina Juergens is fantastic, it's impactful and impressive as hell. the animation is top notch, as expected, If i could only rate the presentation i would easily give it a 5/5, unfortunately the game in this game brings it down a bit, it's repetetive, tedious and sometimes it feels more like a tech demo then an actual game.

I don't think this is Ninja Theory's best, but it definetly feels like the most personal game that they've made to date, as much as it frustrates me that it's not better, I still recommend it wholeheartedly for the experience,... and yeah play with headphones!

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a remarkable experience. The story, characters, sound, and visuals combine to create an intensely personal journey for not just Senua but also the player himself. In fact, it was so intense that I was only able to play it in short sessions of an hour or two at a time because more than that was just too much. Part of the intensity comes from the excellent soundscape. There is a message from the developers at the beginning of the game recommending that you play with headphones for the best experience, and I'm very glad that I followed their advice. Senua has a constant chorus of voices in her head, and headphones, combined with great post processing, give those voices an almost overwhelming intimacy. They are in your head as much as they are in hers, which is exactly the point because this game is trying to approximate the experience of having schizophrenia. Not having schizophrenia myself, I can't comment on how successful the game is at recreating that mental health disorder, but it certainly makes for a disturbing experience.

The game aspects include light puzzle solving and combat. The puzzles aren't difficult, which I appreciate because if they had been harder they would have damaged the pacing of the narrative. They are a reasonable difficulty and they fit the narrative very well, by which I mean that they don't feel out of place, it makes sense that they exist in this world. There isn't a lot of combat, it probably comprises less than half of the game time. That being said, what is there is deceptively deep--even hours into the game I was still discovering new combinations. My favorite aspect of the combat is a mechanic where you can be knocked down by an opponent and struggle to your feet to continue the fight. But you are now injured and you aren't as fast, and the voices in your head keep telling you that you're hurt and you can't win. This really ramps up the intensity of the combat encounters, and winning a fight when you're injured is a very satisfying expeerience. There are a couple of frustrating fights in the last hour or so that just go on for too long, but you can change the difficulty at any time. I lowered it to "easy" for the last section so my frustration didn't ruin the game's ending. But that didn't detract from what an excellent and unique experience this game is.

Rating: 6/10

This game (and a future review I'll do) are weird ratings for me, so maybe in these two instances the score is less important. By the way, I'm not one of those people who say that scores don't matter because I think numbers are an awesome way to reflect on what you think so long as you have a good system in place. For the record, a 6 out of 10 is decent, meaning I ultimately would recommend it. It's just that Hellblade is a mixture of amazing and shit in such a way that very few games are.

It's a gorgeous game that rivals others; it has environments that are beautiful yet gloomy, and more importantly it accurately depicts the events of the game. So many games look pretty, but few require their environments to tell the story as well. In this way it's akin to a walking simulator, though there's too much conventional gameplay involved to be one.

With that said, you spend a lot of time walking (or running) very slowly through areas that have little going on. Again, if this were a walking simulator it would fail because there's not a lot to see or do besides find some mythology stones and solve puzzles. There's so much downtime that this is bothersome.

Also bothersome are the puzzles. These are just lazy, uninspired nonsense from a mechanical perspective. I understand that they make sense towards the narrative (more on that in a second), but they're boring. A developer should not make their game a slog like Ninja Theory did. I almost stopped playing a bunch of times because I couldn't bring myself to solve the type of puzzles that they were requiring me to solve. At best these should be optional, secondary puzzles that you can solve to get more stuff, not the focal point. Taking some of the least interesting types of puzzles and making them important is a problem throughout. The fact that they are repetitive comes across as padding, like their game wasn't long enough so they have to make you do the same thing over and over.

When you aren't walking slowly (ugh) and completing annoying puzzles there's the combat element which is fine but also with issues. It feels heavy and satisfying, and I love how she reacts to near-fatal damage. However, even the combat starts feeling a little bit like a chore because enemies overstay their welcome. Nowhere is this worse than in the boss battles; it only took one before I was getting frustrated by him not dying. It's not that they're overly difficult, it's that it gets tiring. This seems to be a theme with Hellblade.

I never encountered the save erasure so it didn't affect me, but what a dumb thing to do in a game like this. Again, I understand how it ties in, but that doesn't make good. I would have been really angry if it had happened to me. A roguelike is one thing, a game like this is entirely different.

I almost gave this a 4 out of 10 because so much of it was irritating me, but it is such a glorious attempt at portraying mental illness through sound, visuals and plot that I couldn't bring myself to hate it.

The sound design is some of the best in gaming, period. Lots of horror games want you to put headphones on, but I rarely listen because there's no real reason to. Here I did listen and not only did it push the story forward, but they threw in neat ideas like the voices telling you when there's a bad guy behind you. I can't praise it enough, and as a side-note, I like ASMR a lot so the opening sequence was really relaxing to me.

The plot itself is also strong and gets better as you go on. At first it's just a cool little Norse mythology influenced tale, but it grows into more, and I won't go on about it because spoiling it would kill one of the main reasons to play this.

I just wish the good in Hellblade wasn't buried under so much junk.