Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is an ambitious game that has challenged conventional development at just about every juncture. Free from the shackles of publishing partners, studio Ninja Theory has taken full advantage of independently funding its project to retain complete creative control, disregarding marketability in order to tackle sensitive themes and shape the game precisely as it was envisioned.

Touted as an independent AAA, Hellblade aims to deliver a high budget presentation at a low cost and short length. With the game prominently dealing with psychosis, Ninja Theory has exercised thorough research into the effects of mental illnesses with the help of psychiatric professionals and first hand accounts from afflicted individuals to craft as authentic of an experience as possible for its players.

Set during the Viking era, the story revolves around Senua, a young Celtic woman struggling with a form of psychosis referred to as the darkness that distorts her reality into a living nightmare of endless voices and menacing apparitions. Seeking to restore the life of her lost love, Dillion, she ventures north to Viking lands so she can infiltrate Helhiem and confront its gatekeeper, Hela, to barter for her lover’s lost
soul.

The Good

Throughout her journey, Senua is accompanied by an arrangement of voices whispering into her ears, auditory manifestations of all Senua’s thoughts blurting out at once in her mind, from uncertainty and despair, to encouragement and perseverance.

While it is at first somewhat jarring to hear disembodied voices fill the air with snide mockery that’s a touch too silly, it doesn’t take much exposure before their presence blends into the ambiance and they become an integral part of the quest.

The voices make very direct observations and demands to Senua, and serve as a very effective substitute to on-screen instructions or HUD prompts, giving warning of incoming blind-sighted attacks or informing her of what to do and where to go.

However, this advice is not always reliable, as Senua’s conflicting thoughts often succumb to fear and provide false instruction, telling her to turn back or warning her of non-existent dangers, causing players to potentially doubt taking otherwise rational actions.

Among the voices are lingering figments of people from Senua’s past, such as a man named Druth, who claimed to have escaped from the darkness of Helhiem and gives Senua guidance to gain entry into Helhiem.

Runic markings scattered across the land will trigger Senua to remember stories Druth told her of the northmen and their gods, such as the foretelling of Ragnarok or the death of the god Baldr. These intriguing tales of Nordic myth seem to resonate with Senua as they draw similarities to her own experiences and relate to the struggles she faces.

Gameplay is primarily comprised into three main elements: combat, puzzles, and experiential set pieces. Combat is simple but engaging; with easy to grasp mechanics decorated by nimble choreography that makes each fight entertaining and satisfying. Light attacks deal quick strikes that are difficult for enemies to avoid, which can be followed up with a slower, punishing heavy attack once the opponent is staggered.

Bashing foes with a melee attack will break their guard, and activating Senua’s focus meter will enable slow motion for her to get in some easy hits. Defensive options include blocking and evading to duck and weave around enemy swings, as well as a sprint to charge aggressively at foes. All of these mechanics culminate to make Senua feel like a highly capable warrior overcoming surmounting odds despite the weight of her demons.

However, this does not make her feel invincible. Every time Senua is defeated, the rot of her darkness spreads further through her body, which claims to erase all saved progress if it reaches her mind. This threat alone has tensions riding extra high and puts everything on the line for every single encounter.

The visual direction, audio design, and overall presentation is simply outstanding. Senua’s character is really brought to life thanks to animated facial expressions that convey her fear and pain, with subtle details like the erratic movements of her eyes. Enveloped in atmospheric lighting and weather, the desolate northern landscape is composed of a variety of distinctive regions that, while equally uncomforting, are each unique in their own flavor of twisted madness.

One area is as consumed in flame as it is the disturbingly piercing shrieks of people burning alive, while another swampland hauntingly echoes the ominous song of Valraven as an unnerving taunt to Senua.

Other areas become agonizingly tense, such as delving into a torch lit bunker with gradually distorting voices resonating down branching corridors, or wandering into a forest both blind and unarmed while narrowly fumbling past equally sightless enemies dispelling vile gurgling sounds. The darkness will faze into reality without warning and prompt her inner voices into distress, causing Senua’s world to metamorphose into a gloomy, dismal existence, which serves as a fitting metaphor to the experiences that individuals with mental illness must go through each day of their life.

The lengths Hellblade has gone to authentically represent real occurrences of psychosis is an absolutely admirable achievement, making it intentionally impossible for players to discern what elements of Senua’s reality are actually physically present, and what are manifestations of her psychosis.

The Bad

The introduction is simply a slow burner, as the narrative takes a few hours to really pick up the pace. Hellblade takes an enigmatic approach to storytelling, which succeeds in generating mystery around Senua’s identity and her purpose in the abandoned Viking lands, but also as ends up leaving players in the dark on a lot of backstory and plot details that the game struggles to clearly convey even by the time the credits roll.

In addition, gameplay elements initially feel incredibly segmented and disconnected from one another. For example, combat encounters are telegraphed way too obviously by empty, open areas that happen to show up right after completing a puzzle.

Majority of Hellblade’s puzzle solving involves seeking out specific shapes and symbols hidden in the environment to unlock sealed doors, however, these perspective puzzles feel overdone and too strung along, using linear map design to funnel the player towards the solution with minimal deduction required, making the environments feel small and isolating.

Luckily these gameplay aspects do meld together much more naturally as the journey progresses, and the puzzles improve vastly once additional mechanics come into play such as reality altering illusion gates and shadow casting with torches.

In regards to combat, the amount of enemies in each encounter will increase as the game progresses, to the point where the latter hours of the game become a total onslaught of enemies. This does not bode well, as combat fatigue begins to set in and expose the simplistic strategy to fighting that is normally masked by its dazzle and flashiness.

There are also plenty of bugs littered throughout the game, from small mistakes like chronic subtitle errors, camera collision issues, and audio cuts, to more inhibiting glitches like briefly getting stuck inside a ladder and even an instance of falling through the ground outright.

While the smaller instances of imperfection are easy to forgive, many players may be deterred by the disengaging structure at the start of the game.

The Takeaway

Despite a sluggish start, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice grows to be an incredibly engaging adventure, slowly and subtly digging its claws into players like the rot spreads into Senua’s mind. Its effective implementation of psychosis goes far beyond that of a merely glorified PSA; it serves as the foundation for this largely personal story that could not otherwise be executed.

Like stated at the beginning of this review, Hellblade dared to deviate from the status quo of game development, and has surprisingly seen it paid back in spades. Though the visit into Senua’s dark, morose reality may only be brief, it’s a poignant and surreal trip that should not be ignored.

Love it

With an engrossing story, gritty setting, and spectacular combat, Hellblade is an exceptional experience that’s quite unlike anything else.