Review
Played on: Xbox Series X
Released: 2017
Evoking emotions, fear, loneliness and vulnerability is something immersive games can deliver in a unique way, unlike any other medium. The immersion of controlling a part of a story, exploring it by yourself and giving a sense of being there in person, can heighten the experience beyond movies and books. This is where Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice excels at what it does.
While we’ve seen negativity regarding walking simulators, Hellblade is something quite different. Sure, it’s mainly a long path, where the main goal is to embrace the player in a story driven narrative, rather than focus on gameplay. Hellblade, however, feels far more than a walking simulator, resting in a place between conventional gameplay and a story driven title.
Alongside the narrative, there are intense and challenging sword battles, requiring the player to learn the balance of attacking and parrying. The ease of play here is that there’s no weapon collecting, items, health potions etc. This is just back-to-basics, sword against enemy battles, set at various points in the story.
Evoking emotions, fear, loneliness and vulnerability is something immersive games can deliver in a unique way, unlike any other medium. The immersion of controlling a part of a story, exploring it by yourself and giving a sense of being there in person, can heighten the experience beyond movies and books. This is where Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice excels at what it does.
While we’ve seen negativity regarding walking simulators, Hellblade is something quite different. Sure, it’s mainly a long path, where the main goal is to embrace the player in a story driven narrative, rather than focus on gameplay. Hellblade, however, feels far more than a walking simulator, resting in a place between conventional gameplay and a story driven title.
Alongside the narrative, there are intense and challenging sword battles, requiring the player to learn the balance of attacking and parrying. The ease of play here is that there’s no weapon collecting, items, health potions etc. This is just back-to-basics, sword against enemy battles, set at various points in the story.
Elsewhere, the game world is free to be explored, and more importantly: it allows the player to be soaked in its visual atmosphere. I urge players to explore and find all the runestones, they give a really interesting listen and insight to Viking history of their gods and afterlife.
Hellblade’s world is a relentless place, right from the beginning, when you drift into a foggy world on a boat. It’s a cold, dangerous and ruthless world, that submerges the player not only in its environments, but also the main characters mind. Quite often, it even steps into the realm of a horror title, with darkness, scary enemies and downright disturbing areas to explore.
The main plot of the game, set all the way back to 8th century, is about saving Senua’s, the main character, dead husband back from the Goddess Hela. The game begins as she arrives the shores of Helheim, the afterlife in Norse mythology. Suspecting a curse, Senua can hear voices of spirits in her head, thus constantly pushing forward into the battle of progressing into Helheim. As a player you'll constantly be in doubt to listen or ignore what the voices are telling Senua.
Hellblade is cleverly balanced between what you visually see and representing an emotional struggle within Senua’s mind. Alongside some clever usage of 3D sound mixing, use your earphones for this game, it really puts the player out of balance. You’ll be hearing, understanding and fearing what Senua herself is struggling with. It’s incredibly cleverly presented, both visually and audibly. The voice acting is clever and immersive.
As a bonus, Hellblade is a visual treat to look at, blending traditional Viking locations with the afterlife world of madness. The game, developed now by an in-house Microsoft developer, has been optimised greatly for the Xbox Series X version, I played. Sporting some stunningly detailed and imaginative locations.
There’s a neat selection of graphical modes to choose from, from “Enriched” 30fps, full-on 4K with ray tracing, all the way down to a super slick “Performance” 120fps mode, albeit with a 1080p max resolution. The sweet spot, however, is the “Resolution” mode, sporting lots of detail and responsive 60fps, while rating the 4K resolution. A perfect middle ground.
Hellblade is not a massive title, but it's one of those intense rides that completely submerges you into an alternate reality that keeps your grip all the way through to the end. Sometimes you simply need to remove your earphones and breath some fresh air while playing, especially with all the surround voices whispering into your ear!
Hellblade’s world is a relentless place, right from the beginning, when you drift into a foggy world on a boat. It’s a cold, dangerous and ruthless world, that submerges the player not only in its environments, but also the main characters mind. Quite often, it even steps into the realm of a horror title, with darkness, scary enemies and downright disturbing areas to explore.
The main plot of the game, set all the way back to 8th century, is about saving Senua’s, the main character, dead husband back from the Goddess Hela. The game begins as she arrives the shores of Helheim, the afterlife in Norse mythology. Suspecting a curse, Senua can hear voices of spirits in her head, thus constantly pushing forward into the battle of progressing into Helheim. As a player you'll constantly be in doubt to listen or ignore what the voices are telling Senua.
Hellblade is cleverly balanced between what you visually see and representing an emotional struggle within Senua’s mind. Alongside some clever usage of 3D sound mixing, use your earphones for this game, it really puts the player out of balance. You’ll be hearing, understanding and fearing what Senua herself is struggling with. It’s incredibly cleverly presented, both visually and audibly. The voice acting is clever and immersive.
As a bonus, Hellblade is a visual treat to look at, blending traditional Viking locations with the afterlife world of madness. The game, developed now by an in-house Microsoft developer, has been optimised greatly for the Xbox Series X version, I played. Sporting some stunningly detailed and imaginative locations.
There’s a neat selection of graphical modes to choose from, from “Enriched” 30fps, full-on 4K with ray tracing, all the way down to a super slick “Performance” 120fps mode, albeit with a 1080p max resolution. The sweet spot, however, is the “Resolution” mode, sporting lots of detail and responsive 60fps, while rating the 4K resolution. A perfect middle ground.
Hellblade is not a massive title, but it's one of those intense rides that completely submerges you into an alternate reality that keeps your grip all the way through to the end. Sometimes you simply need to remove your earphones and breath some fresh air while playing, especially with all the surround voices whispering into your ear!
However, in all the darkness and unsettling craziness, there are beautiful moments of calm and spectacular sights. It rides on a fantastic balance of pushing the player into the hardship Senua is experiencing, while at the same time easing up in the right moments.
A unique, maddening, scary, vulnerable experience, packed in a visually engrossing and stunning package, which I can’t recommend enough. Play it with earphones, on your own, in a dark room and allow yourself to be completely submerged in it's world!
A unique, maddening, scary, vulnerable experience, packed in a visually engrossing and stunning package, which I can’t recommend enough. Play it with earphones, on your own, in a dark room and allow yourself to be completely submerged in it's world!
