Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Reviews
Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice is a hauntingly beautiful journey through the madness of a warrior's suffering to find her true love. The story is art, the graphics are engrossing and it's truly everything it was advertised to be. Ninja Theory provided a gaming experience that is a rarity these days in the gaming world and it is not to be missed.
Despite the lack of cohesion between these elements, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a grand achievement. The game development community will surely look to the performance of the game’s sales to decide whether the shorter, lower-budget Triple A game is a viable proposition. However, the game’s quality provides a solid case for Ninja Theory’s experiment being a success.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is an unmissable experience with its simple but impressive story and unique storytelling.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a beautiful and unusual game for a very select audience. If you want to rest from various open worlds and focus on a very personal and linear story with tons of cool little details, this is something for you. I don’t think there ever was a game that displayed the madness of a troubled mind in such a way. Hellblade is a great single-player adventure!
Review in Polish | Read full review
A technical masterpiece with some of the best swordfighting combat in years, but the storytelling and puzzle elements come across as muddled and awkwardly mismatched.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a profound sensual experience that's unmissable. The way it highlights psychosis and incorporates it isn't just a part of the aesthetic, but it also makes for fascinating gameplay. This is a phenomenal achievement for the discussion of mental health that we'll be talking about for years to come.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is not going to appeal to all tastes, and nor does it try to. As a character action game, it has decent if underdeveloped combat and a mixture of some excellent and some overplayed puzzles. But it's the way that the title utilises the unique attributes of the medium to raise awareness of mental health that elevate this release beyond the sum of its parts.
Hellblade approaches psychosis in a videogame in a mature and original way. The game has a perfect balance of combat, puzzles and exploration, with great sound and graphics, but it fells too short, about 8 hours length.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice demostrates that videogames can be the perfect medium to tell a story about complex themes. The depiction of a disease like psychosis is believable and deep. The story works out very well, but the puzzles and the combat system are the game elements that push back the the overall quality of this very interesting project.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The ending of the game will leave you wondering just what was real and what was an illusion. I thoroughly enjoyed the dramatic arc of each major scene. It starts out calm, moves to disturbing, and then descends into chaos and madness. I think the storytellers and designers exercised tight creative control, with a game that is understated as well as explosive.
Given the heavy subject matter, calling Hellblade "entertaining" feels inappropriate. However, it is undeniably memorable, telling a compelling tale that explores subject matter many consider taboo
Hellblade is a spellbinding and sympathetic game about loss and redemption.
The performance capture truly adds a special touch to the already intense cutscenes, the audio department is stunning and visually it's kind of a treat: too bad that the gameplay elements in Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice are just so shallow, bland and uninteresting, dragging down an otherwise deeply fascinating project.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Slowly but surely Ninja Theory has moved into film territory, but they can't let go of their need to shove action mechanics into everything they do. With the increased focus and acceptance of so-called "walking simulators" there's a huge market they can tap into, and I hope they end up doing that in the future. I enjoyed pretty much every facet of Hellblade that didn't involve combat, which unfortunately pops up a little too often on top of the aforementioned technical problems -- just enough to grate.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is the action adventure genre stripped of its excess, until a smaller, more personal journey remains. While it may feel shallow and lacking for some, those wanting something other than the usual big-budget 70-hour fare will find Senua's story to be unlike anything else in recent years.
Hellbalde : Senua's Sacrifice is a Hel of a game. A gorgeous, scary, crazy, oppressive and unique experience with a great setting and story, different and loveable heroin and some interesting gameplay mechanics. Maybe the best surprise of summer 2017.
Review in French | Read full review
Hellblade could benefit from more exploration and enemy variety, but it's a powerful portrait of the strength of will over personal demons.
Not without flaws, but full of interesting ideas - including a multi-layered sympathetic and credible title heroine.
Review in German | Read full review