With the recent Steam Winter Sale, I took the opportunity to check out the game Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. Having had it on my wishlist for a while, and it being 25% of, it seemed a good time to get it.
A while back when the game first came out, I had read different articles about its interesting and purported permadeath mechanic (which I believe was misinterpreted for what I really is). I was captivated by the stunning graphics and with how they used motion capture with actor Melina Juergens to bring Senua to life, along with the unique effort to portray psychosis with the inner voices. Other than those few things, I was completely blind to what the full story would be, except for the trailer I watched several times.
The ~9 hour journey begins with Senua paddling her boat toward Helheim. Here we are first greeted by the voices in Senua’s head as the Narrator voice invites us to join her story.
I will try to go into enough detail to describe my thoughts on the game, without spoiling it for others.
Design
If I could use one word to describe the visual experience of Hellblade, it would be “gorgeous”. Both expert sound design and cinematics play hand in hand to give us both a look into Senua’s mind and what she is experiencing with her psychosis, in addition to a genuinely pleasing world to be immersed in. The game comes with a photo mode, and if you have an NVIDIA graphics card, Ansel support. While I never used the built-in photo mode to take screenshots because it overall ended up being a bit clunky (you couldn’t move with the flycam and point it in a different direction at the same time), I did use Ansel. By the end I had taken about 100 screenshots, most in Super Resolution (3840 × 2160) but some in 360° Stereo.
The voices in Senua’s head were recorded with a binaural microphone set, which is why it is strongly suggested you play the game with headphones to get the full effect. Instead of feeling like they are part of the environment, the voices end up sounding more like they are in your head, whispering things, doubting your choices, and trying to help.
The puzzle design of searching for hidden shapes to unlock doors is both an interesting one, but also sometimes tedius. On each locked door, there is a combination of symbols that Senua must focus on and then find replicated elsewhere in the environment. She uses her power as a warrior to Focus on these different symbols to then unlock the doors. Sometimes they are easy to find, while at other times they require Senua to manipulate the environment first.
Combat
The combat in the game is at the same time both good and bad. The movement controls in combat make it sometimes difficult to retreat and recover from blows, leading me to be killed quite easily simply because I couldn’t move out of the way like I intended. However, the combat often incorporates the same cinematics seen in many of the cutscenes, with fantastic finishing moves and other effects.
An interesting thing with how the game has no HUD, which overall creates a more immersive experience, is how other visuals and methods are used to indicate things in combat. For example the screen will get more vignette and red around the corners as Senua’s health gets lower, eventually shifting to grayscale. The health of enemies and the currently selected one is indicated with the amount of scars they have and whether they light up a bit. The Focus power, which allows Senua to slow down time briefly is indicated with a blue glow from the mirror on her hip.
The voices in Senua’s mind also play an important role in combat, often given hints about attacks from behind, Senua’s and enemies current health, and when to Focus.
While the combat can be understandably frustrating (I played on the default Auto difficulty the whole time) and at times will go on for several minutes where you will end up being killed and have to start all over, it is worth it. Despite the frustration with certain combat sections, the story kept me going forward.
Narrative
I’ll try to be sparse in details as not to spoil anything.
The story is Hellblade’s strongest aspect. Through numerous flashbacks along Senua’s journey, we learn a lot about her past and her psychosis. We see her connection to Dilian, and why she is going to Helhiem to save him.
The voice acting is phenomenal. Often when the Narrator voice speaks it’s calm, reassuring and reflective on Senua and her past. It provides a good way of linking the current events to an exposition on who Senua is. Then in some of the darker scenes and flashbacks, we have the Shadow. This voice is so strong and overpowering it drowns out all other voices. It will often mock Senua while also claiming to help her. It claims it will always be a part of her and there is nothing she can do about it. The voices and Dilian are why she makes her journey.
Again trying not to get into too much detail, as not to spoil anything, but the final battle has the perfect choice of music and scenery to really bring everything together with how the story comes together and is concluded. The credits music also is quite fitting too.
I would love to say more, but I think I’ll leave that to the game.
