Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Reviews
Embark on an epic and completely immersive personal journey with Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. A game that's about fighting your inner demons as much as it's about fighting real tangible ones. Certainly a unique experience, but is it worthy of your money and time?
Games have come a long way since I was a youth. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a clear example of a game as an art form with a strong message and a complex, layered narrative. It's true that you're sort of along for the ride and most of your interactions are through your emotional response to what is depicted rather than through the mechanics of the game, but is that such a bad thing?
Hellblade is not fun in the way that a triple-A game is expected to be—even when it dives into pure horror—but it is a game that brave players will relish the opportunity to experience, even in its slower moments.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is easily one of the best games in the recent years in terms of creating deceptive spaces and offering new experiences. Ninja Theory has proved once again that with enough time and budget, even ideas that aren't even originally from the developers themselves, can become games beyond our expectations.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Great realization, a specific story, small mishaps, but for this super price. A real "AAA turkey" that shows that even small studios can create big games.
Review in Polish | Read full review
A title that asks its player to step into the role of a woman suffering from an extreme mental illness. In doing so, it offers a glimpse into a world unknown- one of suffocating dread but also, one of breathtaking beauty.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice‘s strongest sequences mirror specific physical symptoms or psychological fears.
I finished Hellblade: Senua Sacrifice with the biggest smile on my face, as the story and world engrossed me with vivid imagery for years to come. Understanding Senua's mental state, was great. I want more of the creepy storyline and that is a win in my book. It feels like a game handcrafted with care, as each sound and motion captured element propels the story forward.
Ninja Theory has delivered a game that is equally good and important for the industry in terms of serious storytelling and the ability to create AAA experiences at a low cost.
Dense, immersive and beautiful, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a genuine surprise. With a unique atmosphere, outstanding sound design and solid controls, it could have been masterful had it not been for the creeping shadow of repetitiveness, an exhausting dose of backtracking and some frustration to stop it, especially towards the end. Having said that, this is a truly remarkable and affordable experience.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a powerful and significant piece of interactive media that, yes, is far from perfect, but successfully puts mental illness at the forefront of the concept, causing its players to come away from the experience contemplating exactly what they have borne witness to, and allows them to better understand the very serious realities that others go through on a daily basis. Ninja Theory earns a great deal of respect for what the team has managed to achieve, but also for respecting those affected by psychosis.
In the end, Hellblade is a game that wants to have its cake and eat but forgets that it’s a game first and foremost. At times I found myself extremely bored with the repetitive nature of the game’s design. Open or vaguely circular arenas always painfully signposted another combat section and the visual puzzles, no matter how interesting at first, felt overplayed.
If you are looking for a new experience and you are interested in psychology, don't miss Hellblade. Amazing atmosphere, breathtaking combats and challenges, stunning visuals, and marvelous sound and music will entertain you for around 8 hours.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice has shown that video games are mature enough as a medium to capably deliver an entertaining experience while respectfully tackling difficult topics. It's beautiful and emotionally engaging, worth every moment spent in the warrior's mind.
I've been playing video games for years now and until now I hadn't experienced an adventure like the Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. From the moment I saw the trailers of Hellblade and read about it, i liked the game and I was waiting to try it out but I couldn't even imagine falling in love so deep with this game. You can see that ninja theory has done all he can to make Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. You can feel the effort they've made for making a masterpiece like Hellblade. And it's not just this game; Although they're not one of those big fancy studios they have always made great games because they make them with their hearts and Hellblade is their ace. This game shows that you don't need a lot of money to make great games. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a must-have! This game won't be like any other games you have played. The price is only 30 dollars but the experience is much better than most of those games you bought for 60.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice has an interesting plot, a good fighting mechanic and excellent graphics. The quality of the audio is out of this world. The problem is the combat variety (in the end, you'll be bored) and due to the focus on the narrative, many people may find the game monotonous. However, those who give a chance will find a good story.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Hellblade's mundane mechanics help underscore a powerful story of overcoming your demons, if you're willing to subject yourself to the honest portrayal of mental illness it presents.
Mental illness is a seldom discussed and often misunderstood topic. While Hellblade is far from a direct and immediate exploration of psychosis and how it affects people, it uses a powerful narrative mixed with symbolic gameplay elements to weave a tale of horrific trauma and unsettling experiences. Hellblade is easily one of 2017's very best games, and the best game I've played all year that isn't Zelda.
As part of their “independent AAA game proposition”, Ninja Theory delivers a visually impressive game with a short but interesting story that touches on a delicate subject and couples it with some interesting mechanics that nevertheless don't fully condense properly together.
