Luitenant_Gruber Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Review

*Warning: Spoilers* Masterpiece of a game with the best sound design so far. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is something different. It is a psychological thriller that really involves you, the player, in the head of a mentally troubled woman on her quest to hope and salvation. In Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice you play as Senua, who suffers from severe psychological trauma and watched her village and her beloved being slaughtered by the Northmen. In order to save the soul of her boyfriend Dillion, she marches on a quest to confront Hella, the goddess of the Underworld and free his soul. Along the way, she needs to confront her demons and other, literal demons and Norse Gods that stand in her way. The gameplay is third person with a fixed path to the end goal. Along the way, you find many Lore Stones that teach you events from the past and Norse Mythology. There are no items to find and collect besides the Lore Stones, but in a game like this, that is fine. This game is all about the story. The graphics in this game are amazing. They are very detailed, nicely polished and the Norse theme is very well implemented. The combat animations are great, and the attack patterns are spot on. For a game of this age, it looks very impressive. Senua’s troubled mind has many voices that are constantly arguing, tormenting and humiliating her. These voices never stop and are always present through your headphones. They come from all directions, and each one is as clear and unsettling as the previous one. They laugh at you, demotivate you and really give you the feeling that you are worthless. The way the developers implemented this sound design deserves only praise. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is one of the few games that impressed me this much witch is sound enhancement. The combat is relatively simple and with some dodging and well-timed blocks, you can never really lose. The camera is fixed on one enemy at a time, and the voices inside your head warn you when another enemy behind you is about to strike. The camera itself can be very annoying when fighting in tight spaces, because it sticks to the wall and messes up your vision. My only problem with this game were the rune puzzles. Although I like challenges, the cryptic nature of what you are supposed to find was very annoying sometimes. Many times, I had to consult the internet because I was just to retarred to figure out what to do or were to go. One thing that I need to give the developers credit for is the fear inducing mechanics in which you get punished for dying. Every time this happens, the rot and corruption of Hella spreads a little further on your body. After dying too many times, you need to start over the entire game. This, however, is not true and nothing actually happens when you die a lot. But the fact that you do not know this in the beginning is a fine way of making you play the game with extra care. Well done… Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a short game, but the experience is more than worth it. I would definitely recommend this work of art.