Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - Review

Polygon has reviewed the action game Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice:

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice review

The developers of DmC take on human psychology in this enlightening action game

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice uses everything in its arsenal to perpetuate feelings of dread, anxiety and fear: camera perspective, light, sound, visuals, combat. There are no scary monsters, no jump scares, none of the traditional horror fare. Instead, it taps into something infinitely more terrifying: human psychology. And it is wildly successful.

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Developer Ninja Theory worked alongside a team of mental health specialists, professors of psychology and people recovering from psychosis to convey their experiences. The depiction of main character Senua’s hallucinations and delusions feel vivid, honest and terrifying. From seeing literal fragments of reality to wandering mazes guided by a grieving ghost, every little thing you do skirts the line between myth and a terrifyingly inescapable reality. Every battle and puzzle ties back into the underlying themes and experiences of psychosis.

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"Hellblade is both a psychological terror and an enlightening experience"

Hellblade is not an Orphean quest to retrieve a dead lover from the underworld. It’s not some epic tale of revenge. It’s an education and contextualization of being psychologically different in the time of Vikings and Celts. Nearly every facet of the game — whether it’s combat, puzzles or exploration — is deliberate, pointing back to the overarching theme of what people called “cursed” during that time. Hellblade successfully weaves metaphors of grief and loss into fundamental game mechanics and rich folklore, and through these I felt like I truly was able to understand how someone else sees the world.

Score: 8.5/10

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In my opinion this is a must-play for everybody. It shows that games can be art and meaningful. Same as other mediums.

Big ups to Ninja Theory taking on this taboo topic in a unique setting. I also recommend to watch the video feature AFTER you played the game.

Not an RPG but a very important game!

Sounds like SJW speech.

It's a masterpiece( though if you're looking for gameplay hours/money sort of thing, look elsewhere).
It has Naughty Dog level of polish, but much, much, much more compelling theme and storyline,while gameplay directly complements it.
Really hope this takes off and we start seeing highly polished, but more creative, mid budget games, make comeback.
Lot of old franchises could be resurrected this way( looking at you, Capcom).

Originally Posted by BoboTheMighty
Lot of old franchises could be resurrected this way( looking at you, Capcom).

Hear, hear!

I'm impressed at the level of quality of Hellblade. I've considered picking it up myself, and after few glances over gameplay it immediately caught my attention.

Originally Posted by ChienAboyeur
Sounds like SJW speech.

This is something you would say if you have never known somebody dealing with mental illness or never had to deal with it yourself.

By playing this game you can get a glimpse of what it feels like. You will need a certain degree of maturity though, which I doubt the average 16 year old Dark Souls player has.

Originally Posted by Darkheart
This is something you would say if you have never known somebody dealing with mental illness or never had to deal with it yourself.

By playing this game you can get a glimpse of what it feels like. You will need a certain degree of maturity though, which I doubt the average 16 year old Dark Souls player has.

I wouldn't sell the kids short, or give adults too much credit. I've known 12 year olds that are sensitive to mental health problems, and middle aged men that like to act out on forums, wittering on about SJWs.