The cover first caught my eye with Ninja Theory’s Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice — a minimalist design of a girl’s face surrounded by darkness. Simplicity appeals to me. The image utilizes rule of thirds and further leads the viewer with the use of light on Senua. Then you pick up the game and see the amount of detail. The texture of her face paint and leather headband and the ethereal brush strokes around her face speak to a high quality. It’s a cover more like art.

Staring at the image, it takes a hold of you. This girl is looking up from the darkness. There is a sort of hope or plea in her expression. Given the title, you can tell this is something heavy.

You flip to the back for more description, but there isn’t much there. More of that minimalist space like old movie trailers showing enough to pique interest and not give the whole story away. Ninja Theory also developed Heavenly Sword, their first PS3 game, and a game I still love. This game follows Senua, a Celtic Warrior, into Helhime (Viking hell) to rescue her beloved.

That’s it. That is all the game gives you for story.

I’m intrigued.

Then you go a little farther to see the developers collaborated with neuroscientists and other experts on psychosis. Senua is a character who suffers from psychosis: a severe mental disorder in which thought and emotions are so impaired that contact is lost with external reality. As a person who suffers from mental illness (depression), I knew I had to play this game. Our culture speaks very little of these issues, and to see a game featuring a main character with this type of trauma made it a must.

I don’t mind a mature rating for games, but when the top two listings are “Blood and Gore” and “Intense Violence”, I take pause. A quick Google search reveals that yes; this game crosses into the horror and suspense realm. I’m a lightweight. I scare easily. This is enough in most situations to make a game a hard pass, but I absolutely love the cover design and game description. Also, having played Heavenly Sword and knowing Ninja Theory can spin a story, I make my purchase.

It starts with a recommendation to experience the game using headphones for the full effect of psychosis, as the voices actually lend to game play. If like me you scare easily, the game can be played without headphones. I opted for the normal TV sound, and there were several parts that gave me the creeps. That being said, I would play my second walkthrough with the headphones for the full experience as the game is that immersive.

Throughout the entire game, the visuals are stunning. Ninja Theory went the full mile with the amount of detail in both far away landscapes and up-close intrigues.

The opening scene is Senua rowing up a river with no control. It is both a cinematic journey and a setup for her story. You start to hear several voices. One is a narrator, while the others are her personalities. Very early, you get the sense of an unreliable narrator. You’ll meet a character named Druth, who was a sort of mentor to Senua, and based on the all these characters, you quickly question everything. This game is about unraveling a story and finding the truth.

When you finally receive control of Senua, the first thing I attempted was a view of her character design, and I was immediately intrigued that she avoids the camera. If you try to point the camera at her, she looks away—a small detail but one that speaks to her mental condition.

This game is a unique experience in that there is no sort of collecting or power-ups. It is primarily about story. There are clever puzzles you need to solve based on visual and audio clues. They border on simple to complex arrangements of aligning Senua just right to unlock ruins hidden in structures, lighting and reflections. Listening to the voices is key in several of them, but as I mentioned, there is a sense of an unreliable narrator with some speakers seeming to mislead you. Trust the visuals when the voices fail you.

Where the dialogue really comes into play is the battles. Senua will only draw her sword when a fight comes. Normally, I like to charge into battle. You can still do this in Hellblade, but learning the block/parry is paramount. Her retaliation on a successful block is devastating. A solid run and kick can do some nasty work too! Early on, the only ability Senua acquires is a mirror allowing her to focus. It serves multiple functions in that it can slow down enemy reactions to quickly finish them, act as a sort of adrenaline if she gets too close to death, or in some fights, it’s necessary to land your blade.

In the first battle sequence, Senua is infected with a rot going up her arm. With each time you fail, the rot claims more of her flesh, and the player is warned, if the rot reaches her head, it’s game over, man! But as we later found out, this isn’t something that actually happens.

The fighting is probably the most intense I’ve experienced in that you always have to keep on the move with a healthy mixture of offense and defense, combined with the threat of ever-rising rot. Enemies can spawn out of nowhere and often behind you where you won’t even know they are there. The voices will alert you to attacks from behind and when to use your focus.

Be careful of getting cornered in the environment!

As I’ve stated, this game is all about story. It revolves around Senua trying to save her beloved, Dillion, from the underworld. There are markers littered throughout the game where Druth will speak to you revealing both Norse mythology and clues to Senua’s story. You will also learn about her father, who believed she suffered from a curse, which are the voices, and tried to protect her from this curse. When she meets Dillion, it is he who gives her courage to leave the grasp of her father and become a warrior. The Darkness pursues her, a chilling male voice seeking to pull her down. With her psychosis, you cannot tell which stories are true or false, and as you progress, you will make your own connections and fit them together depending on the type of person you are. This is the strength of the game: its narrative.

If you have come to enjoy a traditional level up, collecting of weapons and armors, hack and slash game, this is probably not the journey for you. Especially with the end. While the game has been out for some time, I have no desire to spoil too much for anyone. The game has a unique ending that I can see making many people angry if they don’t find the story as the substance of the game.

What I took away from Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is the acceptance of self. We are both imperfect and perfect beings, frail and strong. The losses we endure only serve to make the connections we have meaningful.

I truly loved every moment of this game, even the parts that scared me, and would put it in the top five of my favorites.

In early December 2019, the official trailer for Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 was released. This trailer is the most gripping, intriguing, and frightening clip I’ve ever seen for a video game. It features Senua with a new look surrounded by Pict warriors, likely her tribe, and she chants with a spectacular display of animation. Her face contortions are simply disturbing.

I don’t care how much the second installment will scare me: I can’t wait to play!

 

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice was developed and published by Ninja Theory. It is available on NS, PC, PS4, and X1. The game was not provided to us for review on PS4. If you’d like to see more of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, check out the game’s official site.

 

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