Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Reviews

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is ranked in the 91st percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
78 / 100
Aug 8, 2017

Hellblade could benefit from more exploration and enemy variety, but it's a powerful portrait of the strength of will over personal demons.

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IGN
Top Critic
9 / 10.0
Aug 8, 2017

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a masterclass of atmosphere, storytelling, and the marriage of mechanical and conceptual design. While there are moments that feel shoehorned in to remind us we're playing a videogame, the care and attention Ninja Theory has clearly poured into Senua and her story has created something amazing. This is a game everyone should play, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to have lived inside the mind of Senua, however briefly.

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Essential
Aug 8, 2017

Ninja Theory crafts a highly competent action game and a nuanced, powerful exploration of mental health.

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Aug 11, 2017

With Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Ninja Theory attempts to deliver a AAA experience in a $30 package and delivers on just about every front, with only a few problems.

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8 / 10.0
Aug 8, 2017

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

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8 / 10
Aug 8, 2017

Hellblade is a spellbinding and sympathetic game about loss and redemption.

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Polygon
Top Critic
8.5 / 10.0
Sep 6, 2017

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.

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Aug 9, 2017

This intense exploration of a young woman's personal anguish is a triumph of interactive storytelling.

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VG247
Top Critic
Unscored
Aug 8, 2017

For the majority of its run time, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice felt like something much more meaningful than a generic action video game. It felt like a work with something to say, and it made me want to listen, even when what I heard frightened me so badly I could barely press on.

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3.5 / 5.0
Aug 27, 2017

For all the warranted concern of AAA developers veering too far from gameplay into pure cinematic awe, there's no denying Ninja Theory's narrative depiction of mental health is an infectious one — the type of narrative that has been long overdue in this industry.

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Unscored
Aug 12, 2017

Hellblade is brave for tackling psychosis so directly, and braver still for pouring so much of its efforts into its narrative. It's unlike anything else I've played this year, and for that reason it deserves a slice of your time.

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Aug 14, 2017
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - Easy Allies Review video thumbnail
9 / 10
Apr 11, 2019

Despite familiar echoes and mechanical touchstones from other games, Hellblade’s psychological bent and the constant voices in Senua’s (and therefore your) head give it an identity very much of its own.

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95 / 100
Aug 8, 2017

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.

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9 / 10.0
Aug 8, 2017

One of the most inventive games of the year, showing that time and patience can be behind a challenging, smart, and incredibly interesting game.

9 / 10.0
Jul 16, 2019

When you think you’re seeing a render in-game that looks too good for Switch, that’s because essentially a video is playing. Yes, the actual game part is lower resolution, and yes, of course if you can play it on PS4, Xbox One, or PC, you’ll get the better looking experience, but if you are a Switch-only console household then you’re getting a great looking game that sounds amazing, and tells a story with one of the best takes on mental health in a long time. Play it on handheld with headphones and you’ll be shocked, just don’t be surprised if it looks blurry (and sub-HD) on the big screen.

9 / 10
Aug 10, 2017

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is beautiful, discomforting, and compelling. It might challenge what you like about games, but challenge is good. You're doing yourself a disservice if you don't try it.

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8 / 10.0
Apr 15, 2019

An outstanding game that work pretty well on a consola like Switch, especially on TV mode. Its performance on handheld mode is not good. That paired with some boring/repetitive mechanics that were on the other versions make this Switch version the less recommendable of them all, but still a fun and interesting game.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

8.8 / 10.0
Aug 8, 2017

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is an excellent demonstration of quality with an absorbing history and an outstanding artistic direction. Joining concepts such as Norse mythology and psychosis was not easy, but the mixture has been respectful and interesting.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

Forbes
Top Critic
9 / 10.0
Aug 9, 2017

Ninja Theory, you moved me. Hellblade's gameplay is polished, the writing is fantastic, the acting is superb, and the ending managed to make me cry. But even then, all of this pales in comparison to everything this art piece truly represents.

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