Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Reviews
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice might not deliver when it comes to hack-and-slash combat, but its world, characters, and approach to storytelling help it to redefine what we might come to expect from AA games moving forward.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice‘s strongest sequences mirror specific physical symptoms or psychological fears.
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.
Despite a bug that forced my first playthrough to end prematurely, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is an incredible game that will continue to linger with me as a singular and emotionally affecting experience. For its audio and visual design alone, it is stunning, but for its ability to use the video game medium to bridge our understanding of mental illness while also telling a personal and powerful story, it is a masterpiece. If you feel capable of withstanding the emotional strain it requires, a dark and fulfilling tale awaits.
Few mainstream video games have tried, let alone achieved, anything close to the emotional intensity that courses through this game.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is an interesting action game that, aside from an enjoyable gameplay and great combat mechanics, offers an interesting premise that could easily delude your perceptions. Easily put, it is a game that defy any expectation that gamers can have of it.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Still, I must recommend this game, as what it does is very important. To take something like psychosis and give it not only a voice, but a clear picture is not an easy task, yet Ninja Theory has succeeded.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice's story of mental illness is unlike anything we've experienced before.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a complete experience for a bargain price. Struggling through life as a psychosis sufferer is an alarming experience, and Hellblade provides an illuminating glimpse into the lives of those afflicted by such terror. Combat is visceral, yet on the game's easiest mode should prove no problem for those interested in experiencing the story. At an asking price of $29.99 USD, the campaign is just long enough to feel like this is money well-spent. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a stellar entry from Ninja Theory, and I can only hope this is the first of many “independent AAA” games to come from the veteran studio.
Not without flaws, but full of interesting ideas - including a multi-layered sympathetic and credible title heroine.
Review in German | Read full review
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: 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.
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
While some gameplay elements left more to be desired, Senua’s journey is well worth seeing through
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.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is stunning, combining a tense and gripping story with perhaps the best representation of mental health in gaming.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a prime example for anyone making the case that video games are a powerful art form. Creatively ambitious, it's exceptionally well-thought-out and implemented – making it striking at both a sensorial and psychological level as it delves deep into an exploration of life with psychosis. It has its gameplay flaws but remains must-experience for adult audiences. An instant classic for this generation.
Hellblade is one of the best interactive experiences of this generation and a true technical show. However, the gameplay of the game is not equally calibrated and often loses pace in some areas.
Review in Spanish | 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