Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

slow start but once it gets going it tells one of the best and most unique stories ever written in gaming. get this if you are fine with the incredibly slow and frustrating first act because the rest of the game more than makes up for that fact.

8/10 for me.

Amazing game, nice graphics, great fighting system, awesome but kinda short story. Completed it in one day.

Epic single player immersive game. Simple yet very solid combat mechanics, feel like a warrior! Challenging yet solvable puzzles. Especially cool if you like Norse / Vikling / Celtic Lore. Incredible actor performances.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☑ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☑ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☑ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 15% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☑ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☑ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☑ 9
☐ 10

Like to pet the cat
　　　　　 　____
　　　　　／＞　　フ
　　　　　| 　_　 _ l
　 　　　／` ミ＿^ノ
　　 　 /　　　 　 |
　　　 /　 ヽ　　 ﾉ
　 　 │　　|　|　|
　／￣|　　 |　|　|
　| (￣ヽ＿ヽ)__) __)
　＼二つ

What a game, a beautiful journey. The story is phenomenal; how holding onto things that are gone can make us trapped within our past: "Trapped within the darkness of my own mind, never to see the light, yet your love chases away the darkness dwelling in my world, yet it also keeps me within it."

A few lines from the game:
"A life without loss is one without love."
"Life is all but a lie, an illusion that shatters once we wake up."

About the Gameplay:
I liked the puzzles; very well done. The combat is very well done as well, but I hate the shield guys. :c
Though still, one thing is the minor bugs: using the focus ability sometimes can make you get stuck :/

10/10 recommended

really good game, short and easy to 100% but the story and sound design is very good

It has a little Hell for every Blade (a little Senua for every Sacrifice)

Such an incredible experience! Hellblade did a phenomenal job at depicting the events of Senua's journey. The usage of sounds, especially the whispering, is unique. I can't count the amount of me having goosebumps or just being overwhelmed by the representations. Loved every minute of it.

I cannot say a lot about Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice without giving away too much. We follow Senua, a Celtic warrior, on a quest into the realm of the Norse gods. The focus is squarely on narrative and the experience of its setpieces. The gameplay consists on exploration, puzzle solving and occasional fight sequences.
There is, however, an additional layer to this game. Senua suffers from severe mental illness like schizophrenia. As such, everything we see must be evaluated in this light. This is a perfect execution of an unreliable narrator in video games. What we see, is what Senua sees. We follow her story and see the world through her eyes. Unfortunately, this perception of reality is warped by her illness and grief. I find this attempt at tackling topics like mental illness very commendable. This is truly a unique premise and its execution is more than satisfying. Sound design, world design and the narrative, most importantly Senua's thought process, are most intriguing. The game's gameplay may be akin to a walking simulator broken up only occasionally by fight scenes, but this is very much up my alley. I enjoy such games.
As such, I recommend this game to everyone who enjoys adventure games even if their gameplay is rather simple.

Great game - worth the money - Only con is its not long enough.

Good graphics, interesting story telling, nice fighting system. A liitlte bit borring. A little bit bugging - have got a bug during Fafnir fighting and can't complete the game. Bug is known from 2017 so I think developers won't fix it. To shame...

The game captures you and sucks you right in to the world. I would advise using a headset while playing this game, it really immersive you in the world. The fighting, the breathes your hear, the tiniest of sounds around you as you walk around, made my heart pump not knowing what was to come. The story telling was amazing with so much detail as to whats going on. It's a very short game for a veteran gamer like myself but if you're new to genres like this you can easily stretch it to 10+ hours. Also an easy game to 100% complete for the achievements if you're a big time achievement hunter.

70% depressing, ADHD/OCD movie dialogue
20% 'meh' turn-based sandbox puzzles
10% unnecessary, repetitive fight scene against the same masked men

barely call it a game, basically a fucking movie

This is a story game. This is not an open-world adventure. If you're hoping for another Skyrim or Diablo or Dark Souls, this is not it. If you want gorgeous visuals, incredible audio, and a performance that feels like what Myst would be today, this is going to hit your sweet spot. Walk with Senua into Helheim, and get absorbed into this story.

I actually like walking sims in some cases, but not in this one. Combat is simple and weak. The rest seems to just be puzzles of finding certain items. The atmosphere is pretty cool. I like that they've tackled mental health in a respectful way.

But man, the gameplay is so incredibly meh. 4/10 stars. A "no" recommendation from me.

My experience range from I hate this gameplay, to this is one of the best gaming experience i had. After finishing it, i lean on the latter. Just keep in mind this is a small game about a girl with schizophrenia before you decide to buy.

Great game with an unique take on delving into the experience of how would it feel to have schizophrenia (you'll not get headaches, it's still fun) in a nordic viking theme setting.

4k...post-processing turned down...now recommended! Takes at least 8 hours to playthru...not sure how people are finishing so quickly maybe with a tutorial. A bit too heavy on the psychosis stuff for me but I guess that was the point. Puzzle stuff also gets a bit tedious. Overall a wonderful game if you really listen to the dialogue and tales, and if you like walking sims plus a bit of simple combat. One of the bosses in particular was insane!

if i could leave a mixed review i would

i had high hopes before playing this but honestly this game was underwhelming. it def was immersive and visually great but the story is boring and feels messy, theres hardly any kinda character development where u grow to like a character even the protagonist has nothing likable goin for her. and the gameplay was pretty boring mainly just being a walking/puzzle simulator doing the same puzzle throughout. once u get to the end of the story/game its more of a "wait so what happened" rather than a memorable ending.

still was a decent game but def not something i would replay

Great game. Very insightful and deep narration/story. The psychosis piece is real. Try with a headset in the dark. Fights were great, not hard enough to ruin the enjoyment of progressing but not easy enough to be boring. Graphics were unreal. I took them down a bit on the steam to have the fights and movement go more smoothly. Loved it.

Amazing! The atmosfere, the history, the lore, the gameplay. ALL IS AMAZING

Solo le faltan subs en español tal vez

Great Story and Combat. It would have been better if puzzles were less and combat a little more often.

I cannot ever get enough of this game. The soundtrack is amazing, the atmosphere is immersive, and Senua is literally the best heroine I have encountered. If you are thinking about playing this game stop thinking and just do it, I have played it on Xbox twice all the way through and once finally on my PC now that I have one and it gets better every time I play. I started to notice some things that I missed and I made it all the way through without dying! I love the game so much, cannot wait to dive into the next one!

its real pretty and all but its basically just an interactive puzzle movie

I went into this game knowing absolutely nothing about it. A couple of hours in I caught on that nothing really was going to happen. The game is mostly just walking around and solving some rather easy puzzles. There is some combat, but it is very easy in that you can pretty much just roll and attack every enemy in the same way. That's a real shame, because the enemies in the game are really interesting and imposing looking. Graphics are very good and there are some very large scenes that express it, but without much to do, it's just eye-candy. I found the voices in the head to be interesting, but I do not think you can hinge an entire game on this idea. Ultimately I found the story to be a bit confusing at times. If you are really into Norse mythology then this game might be for you, but if not, I'd really give it a pass, unfortunately.

What a boring game, I cant even be bothered completing it.

Slow, unfun, boring puzzle game with simplistic combat.

Didn't know what to expect with this game but I got it on sale and heard good things so I gave it a try. Honestly cannot complain about it whatsoever. I put about 10 hours into it and reached full completion and I do not see any reason to ever pick this title up again; but that does not take away how good this game was. The game is more of a movie with gaming themes as its pretty linear and relies heavily on not only it's visuals, but its audio as well. It's a sensory treat when played with headphones. There is only a single set of collectibles throughout the game that are pretty straightforward in collecting and the puzzles within the game are fun and engaging. Combat is simple and is linear as well; you'll never stumble upon an enemy, you will stumble upon an "instance" where you draw your sword and must defeat the enemy/enemies, then after completion you will sheathe your sword and continue completing puzzles. With all this, the story is also fascinating and enjoyable to follow. After 10 hours of playing this, I found it very fun, very much worth the discounted price i bought it at, and a break from the norm of what games tend to be these days. I'd recommend it to anyone. It's a treat of a game, and while it may not have any replayability whatsoever, it does have a sequel that I am now incredibly interested in upon completing this title. If you like linear story-driven games, this one is a must-play. If you want to find a perfect game to kill an afternoon or weekend with, this is your game.

Algo corto y con algunos bugs pero todo en este juego es excelente, la historia, la jugabilidad, los combates, la ambientación, todo. definitivamente de los mejores juegos que he completado.

At its core, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a walking simulator that embraces psychosis as its central theme. The player crawls into Senua's mind and experiences the world through her eyes and ears, with a host of disembodied voices accompanying every step, visions of things that aren't there to block her progress, and patterns and delusions that guide the way. There is some puzzling and combat to be had as well, but it's clearly not the focus of this experience.

The result is a very unusual atmosphere that may take some time to settle, if it ever does. It's clear from the outset that this believable psychotic delusion is what carries this game to be greater than the sum of its parts. But for some, the lesser parts may still detract too much from the adventure.

Those lesser parts do not include the visuals. Ninja Theory clearly put a lot of effort into continuously making every area and encounter perfectly come together to support the atmosphere Senua's story is trying to create. The assets themselves are mediocre, navigating these environments isn't as smooth as it should be, and the game isn't free of technical problems like traversal and saving stutter (in DX12)... and yet the visual design is captivating.

Those with a HDR-capable OLED monitor are in for an even greater treat. Most of this game is very dark with small bright light sources, resulting in a juxtaposition of inky blacks and stunningly bright glows. Senua's Sacrifice is easily the best showcase for OLED HDR I've experienced to date.

Another highlight is the audio. A magnificent soundtrack accompanies Senua's journey and the voice acting is stellar throughout. The game warns beforehand that its best experienced with headphones, which is due to its use of binaural audio capture, especially for the disembodied voices that accompany Senua's experiences. Voices and other sounds in the environment come from their proper position with appropriate volume levels on most standard headsets. In my case I had to blast the volume into the stratosphere, because those volume levels are too low on headphones with a wide soundstage.

This brings me to the clear lesser parts of the game. Gameplay is where the weaknesses shine through most clearly and what caused me to bounce off initially until the experience clicked. The game features environmental puzzles that require a lot of backtracking that is unintuitive at times. There are also pattern matching puzzles, which are misaligned and require viewing them at wrong angles for the game to recognise it as correct. Those same patterns can be hard to spot without being in the perfect location at the perfect angle. It's not well integrated, certainly not polished enough, and too often detracts from the experience.

Combat is also present, but initially not much better. Senua's Sacrifice completely avoids handholding to the point it abhors even the notion of text on screen. The result is trial and error combat that relies on the player viewing the controls section of the settings menu to figure things out. It's not particularly complex, but even at its best also nowhere near enough to carry the game, merely no longer a blemish on the whole.

Lastly, there is the game's storytelling. Senua's Sacrifice is a character story first, foremost, and last. Any narrative on offer is disjointed, many lines of dialogue are deceptive, and any world-building is largely make-believe. The backdrop for it all is a familiar story that isn't taken in any novel direction, but presented from a very unique frame of reference. What's on offer here is simple at its core, but the bells and whistles and the little bow on top are what can carry it to greatness. Even so, the extreme focus on character, and absence of narrative depth or meaningful worldbuilding, will push some players out of this experience.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is not a perfect game. In some regards it's not even a very good game. Yet it can be a great, eye-opening, experience when it does transcend the sum of its parts. And so it is still an easy game to recommend for most, even if it may take a couple hours before it clicks and becomes that highly atmospheric experience.

The fights:

Probably the best part of the game are the fights and boss combat, they feel powerful, and engaging, even though the combat can be repetitive with very few common enemies and moves.

Graphics:

The character graphics are pretty incredible
The environment overall is nice, dark, and immersive

Door puzzles

The most awful and frustrating are the doors puzzles, they are non-sense and time waste, disturbs the experience in a bad way,
They are boring and take time and joy of the experience
It's like the developers were thinking:
"How to break the engagement and make the experience feel awful?"

Overall:

A psycho game for the psychos lol
Very engaging game, you will be absorbed in its word and psychiatric drama, (until a puzzle door is faced you will be a psycho :/ )

Recommend:

Yes, for the story and combat feeling.
Just know the "wanna be puzzle" door locks will be very irritating.

Fantastic game with an engrossing story and mind twisting psychological horror. The combat was also fun while being refreshingly simple. Highly recommend.

Not for everyone. good combat. without the sound it just another walking sim. good sound and combat design

Not only is it an interesting metal health focused game, it is also an interesting show of how myths warp when they are primarily verbal.

Its an experience.. Cinema. Supreme audio, top facial expression :O
Emotional strong storytelling.
"Go try it, yes play it, no wait, dont play, go back!"

Highly recommend. Beautiful game with an amazing story line and combat. Almost brought me to tears at the end.

A distressing, harrowing, and overall beautiful experience.
I was on edge basically the entire time, the atmosphere is furiously unsettling, but is intriguing enough to invite further exploration. The art direction, sound design, lighting, VFX, and acting are all world class. I also got super involved and immersed in the combat sequences. I love how it plays with perspective in the puzzles, it utilizes the unique interactivity that the video game medium has in a way that I found really interesting. It also doesn't overstay it's welcome. It's paced very well throughout.

Best played in a dark room, with headphones and no distractions. I don't know if saying I "enjoyed" playing this game is accurate, but it's 100% an experience I won't forget any time soon.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice became one of my favorite games. The story, the character, the environment, the history. Everything.

I was scared, alone, furious and betrayed.

I have grieved, screamed, cried and suffered.

I have become Senua.

Play this game, understand its essence and alter your mind; for someone’s lies or delusions might be the reality of someone else.

Reach out to your loved ones, listen to their sorrows; for we only have each other.

Senua's Sacrifice is an excellent narrative-driven game, with a good mix of puzzle and action elements to carry this through. It's worth exploring deeply to experience all aspects of the game, from Senua's own story, Druth's story and his observations of the Northmen, and the beautiful, crafted world. I would also recommend after playing taking the time to watch the Hellblade feature which explains much about the motivations behind the game as well as a being an interesting insight into how the game was made.

This game is an absolute cinema. The setting, the characters, the gameplay is just amazing.
Combat systems feels so real and smooth. The entire game is focused on telling the story in the most amazing way.
It felt like a movie 10/10

Good combat, but way too little of it. 60% of the game consists of boring, frustrating puzzles and walking around at a snail's pace. I encountered multiple game-breaking bugs, which at one point nearly prevented progression. The game is surprisingly short, if you can get past the annoying puzzles with mechanics that aren't properly explained, that is. The story is lackluster, with a disappointing ending. The game looks great visually, but many areas are way too dark to see any of it. Too many visual effects make it hard to see what's going on while fighting. The screen is cluttered with particles, blinking lights, "hallucinations", and chromatic aberration. The view is too zoomed in, and FOV is not adjustable. Enemy variation is lacking, with only a few bosses.

Great game. Very immersive, good story.

Hack and slash combat with a psychotic storyline that I haven't seen the like of in any other game.

This is one of the best narrative-based games I've played. It's a deep, dark psychological horror story about a traumatised Celtic warrior who descends into the Nordic plane of Helheim to rescue the soul of her lover.
Senua, our protagonist, is haunted by the loss of the only man who loved her, who treated her with kindness and respect, in a world where she has only experienced the worst behaviour from those closest to her. Amplifying the trauma are the Furies, the voices who pursue her, tormenting and goading her with almost every step she takes as she battles her way to confront Hel, the Norse god of the underworld, in the hope she can free her lover's soul.
Told in a linear style, this game doesn't require you to pick up objects, craft items, trade or grind for experience. It only wants the player to follow the story to the conclusion. Everything else is pointless.
It is a dark and often terrifying journey, heartbreaking and cruel at times, yet with whispers of hope, as Senua fights not only the denizens of Hel but herself and her own torments. There were times in this harrowing journey that I truly felt the emotional pain she was enduring, the bleakness, the corruption, the darkness, and hopelessness - yet it drove me on because I didn't want to fail her, or myself. I wanted Senua to find some sliver of happiness that she - that everyone - deserves to find, and I was going to put myself through the darkness so she could find it.
I was not sure what this game was going to be, what it would put me through, what I was going to suffer in order to complete it. It's mechanics were simple compared to many other games. It didn't have a stealth component, or dialogue options, or parkour, nothing to give the player an edge. The combat system was simple but effective and engaging, and was often a cathartic experience, allowing me to vent some of the angst and emotion building up inside me. The battles were both challenging and sudden, like a shock to the system - intense but over quickly. Combat never seemed impossible and I never felt like giving up and walking away. Everything was achievable. The game does not want you to fail, it wants to experience what it has to offer. It wants you to understand Senua and her life and, in doing so, understand your own,
Yes, the journey is dark and full of terrors, but there is a reward. I found it to be greater than the earthly riches and, if you allow the story to take hold of you, you will find that treasure as well.
Senua is the bravest hero I have encountered to this day, and I love her dearly for sharing her dark burden with me, as we went together through Hel, to find the light. She made me a better man.

Do I think the game is good for some people? Yes. But personally I could not derive much enjoyment from it.

The visuals and audio design are quite nice, but the gameplay could not hold my attention. It is slow, mostly just walking and doing mundane 'puzzles'. The combat is cool but fairly simplistic.

If you want a slower paced game with intense audio then by all means. But I don't think I would recommend it for most people.

Wow this game blew me away. The visuals are fantastic, and I fell in love with the environments in the game. Some are pleasant and picturesque, some are terrifying, but they all are so immersive and impressive. Speaking of immersion and impressiveness, the audio in this game is truly unique and really puts you in Senua's shoes. It's really something you have to experience to get the full effect. The last thing I want to mention (but not the least) is Melina Juergens' performance as Senua, both in voiceover and motioncapture acting. She give a frighteningly genuine performance, and really brings the character to life. I know my extreme choice of words in this review might sound like hyperbole, but I really do mean that the production of this game is next level, and something that I would recommend anyone play. The combat and horror elements might be the only things that could deter some people, there is some gore (particularly burns) but I think that's only one scene... and if difficult combat is something you might struggle with you can adjust the difficulty (and I'd recommend figuring out the parry button, it will help a lot). All of that to say I really encourage as many people as possible to play this!

I also found out, apparently this game is Melina Juergens' FIRST EVER ACTING JOB????? I would never have guessed, she couldn't have been better. Seriously impressive!

Actually the game's title is should be “the bizarre adventure of a crazy b*tch”. I've to give you an important information about hellblade. Our hero is a very nice and beautiful woman. But, how can I say it, she’s a bit of weird (So what?). When the game starts, she takes us on a journey into her inner world. This world is a very fantastic place formed by the legends of the northern European culture. We walk a lot (I mean really really a lot) when playing hellblade. And when we try to run Senua acts like she's constipated. So she can't move fast unfortunately:/ Yet we learn not to mind this fact. Everything else aside, the sounds are magnificent. Play it with headphones. This isn't a request, but an order, if you see a player who isn't playing with headphones, it means you have the right to say anything ( I mean really aything) to his/her.

Hellblade lenght is about 6-10 hours. But it may take a little longer because we go to our destination in hellblade, like as a Japanese tourist on vacation.

Let's come to the conclusion. Yes, our Senua is crazy, but this madness is what turns the game into a work of art. Buy it, play it and recommend it. I wanted to write these as an idiot who played hellblade 7 years after it was released. Thank you for reading.

Amazing story narrative and crazzy level of psychosis experience not for light hearted but also can be enjoyed by a larger player base than one might think, can't say if it's a must buy for everyone but was a good purchase for me and would recommend for thriller enjoyers, overall its a great game

Slow tedious walking simulator that occasionally comes alive with puzzles or combat.
The big schtick is the whole mental illness thing which is neat and all but does not make up for just holding down the W key (or analogue stick forward) for long periods of time.

It's really overrated.

Really impressive atmospheric game. The story is told in a way that catches.

But beware and don't expect an action-adventure making progress in combat, an open world or sth like that. The combats are very easy and repetitive if you understand the mechanics. Game is focusing on it's atmosphere and story, which it does very well, but that leads to everything to be predefined.

So: If you wanna play a atmospheric psycho story in an nodric world, it's a great match for you.