Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

juegazo

Gorgeous game with an incredible and sympathetic main character. Very well paced, a quick-ish experience that never overstays its welcome. I encountered a common glitch of getting stuck in the tunnel during the Fenrir sequence, but as others had reported, steering hard to the left resolved it. A lot of games can get fatiguing towards the end, the feeling of, 'yes, yes, I know, get on with it', but that never happened to me with Hellblade. I worried too, that the puzzles would grow wearisome. They almost did, but there were always new things being added and the sections to me didn't feel overlong. The masks in particular I really enjoyed. Combat is admittedly repetitive, but as I'm always more focused on story rather than combat, I didn't have an issue (though I re-mapped dodge and melee to reflect other games I was more familiar with), I'm always a story and puzzle person first, and so didn't find the combat to be much of an issue. The care put into Senua is honestly astounding, I was never annoyed with her, from the moment the 'infection' started, I went from curious about her, to wanting to do everything I could to help her see her quest through. She's tenacious, brave, smart, all while still being allowed to be soft. The writers were never afraid to portray her vulnerability along with her strength, and never blamed her for her illness. Better still, it was portrayed as something that didn't only destroy her life, but as something that helped her see things better in ways others can't. You could say that she was in a way defined by her psychosis, but never damned for it by the narrative. Each next step of her goal I felt hell bent (ha) on getting her there. The few side characters were also quite good, seeing Dillion and Druth, the people who supported her despite her differences was very touching, not to mention Druth's stories and anecdotes fascinating. Her parents were in equal measure devastating and terrifying, as the game required. Galena's end and story were tragic, and while it would have been an easy, cyclical, and understandable end for Senua as well, I'm glad that it wasn't. From a technical standpoint, it was so clever to have them be unanimated film recordings put into the game, adding to an uncanny feeling as they invaded or soothed Senua's mind. I play a lot of horror, and have to say, the labyrinth escaping the people set to burn her was VERY ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ SCARY, the sense of dread and panic instilled so quickly was very good. I got frustrated, but it was because I was worried for Senua and hated seeing her so frightened. I felt bad every time I failed her. The blind trial was also well done, I loved it. The music in the final sequence was incredible (called Hela on Spotify), and the boss rush so so satisfying. I'm sure everyone else ever who has played the game has gushed about sound design, I'll still add to it and say that headphones are a MUST, and God I got chills the first time hearing everything and feeling surrounded. Cannot recommend enough, Ninja Theory accomplished something unprecedented and so utterly singular.

this "game" definitely feels like it was made for the sony crowd

I love this saga. The devs put an amazing amount of research into developing the worlds (based on real schizophrenic episodes of those surviving with that condition) , the voice acting is fantastic (The whispering ladies did amazing.), the 360 degree mic they used is scary good, the visuals are stunning, the transformative world is encapsulating, and I don't regret spending a cent on 1 or 2. 2 needs to be optimized and i would have liked more content, but i was still willing to play through it at 30fps because of my love for the series. I definitely recommend these games. Any discount from full price is a steal (and I'm glad i paid full price for both.)

I enjoy the story, but the game is just so buggy on my high-performance PC. I am constantly lagging, no matter how much I change my graphics settings, and sometimes when I run/walk into certain objects, I get stuck. Even at the end of Chapter 11, when I'm trying to cross the beam, I get stuck and can't go to the other side.

Mindblowing

Absolutely stunning game from start to finish. The game design and presentation are top quality and frankly a stunning achievement for an independent studio. The story is engaging and original, providing the main draw for a game not quite like anything I've ever played. I've seen many critique the combat and puzzles for being narrow and repetitive, and there certainly is something to that, but both worked well for the game in my opinion, both thematically and due to its relatively short length. Overall I can't possibly recommend this game enough for those looking for an atmospheric and emotional experience in a unique setting (with quite a bit of interesting history and mythology mixed in as well).