Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

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.

very good game, sometimes it more feels like a movie instead of a game. the combat is pretty nice, puzzle is very very repetitive, not many bugs, but the walking simulation kinda annoy me. in conclusion, i really enjoy the game and the story, overall 8.5/10

Actually, freaking gooner of a game, amazing lore, amazing story, amazing fights and amazing music, literally just play it, its short, its amazing, DEW IT

Absolutely loved it when it came out, though in hindsight has glaring issues in its design. Would still recommend it.

7.5/10 Excellent story, but very rough start and game breaking bug where MC will get stuck on ground objects and require game restart

pretty good game, well optimised and all that stuff but it seems quite repetitive. Once you complete a stage you have a some fights and then move on to the next stage.

this game stresses me out to the point where i have residual neck pain from tensing up so much during the fight scenes...but it is one hell of a good time. really unique concept in capturing the psychological affects of hallucinations and complex grief. i am fortunate that senua's reality is one i am able to take breaks from, as it really does take a toll on you when you're fully immersed (i use in ear monitors and highly recommend it). maybe it's just me, but this a game where i'm actually enjoying the story and gameplay while simultaneously raging because i cannot defeat the onslaught of enemies on easy difficulty after half a dozen attempts. a true test of perseverance and resilience. i am really looking forward to playing the sequel once i've finished!

Even though it is mostly niche from the mechanics such as walking in a linear direction, fighting enemies, and doing rune puzzles, there are some parts that still holds up...and that is the presentation. From the plot which is mostly Senua fighting her own demons, the humanistic expressions of Senua from her struggles and pains, combined in the setting filled with Norse Mythology...it is quite short but a well-done experience.

A piece of art.

The overall story experience and the psyche of Senua is definitely in the foreground, compared to the gameplay here - but that allows it to tell a compelling story in just around 7-8 hours, with the only side objectives being the gathering of lorestones - but you'll be able to hear a lot about Norse mythology.
It has a lot of walking, which is okay for the most parts since the environments are visually stunning, and you'll usually have some narration playing, or Senua's inner voices to listen to. It only gets a bit tiresome when you realize you've missed a lorestone and have to backtrack a bit (although that's on me, since I think you can just go to the chapter select during an active save file to re-play sequences, and it lists how many stones you've gotten).
The acting is fantastic, and you can tell there was a lot of work put into making Senua's emotions portrayed to their fullest, the fears, doubts, anger, sadness - all joined by equally good voice acting and music. You can tell that Senua was the focus of the game, it's development and narrative. There is also no HUD throughout the game. It's very immersive.
Hellblade also has a variety of cool technical/gameplay elements. My favorites were the arcs that changed the world around you slightly when you looked/passed through them. The puzzles were fun in my opinion.
Overall, I'd really recommend getting this game in a sale - if you're into Norse mythology, psychological experiences or just good stories with excellent visuals, sound, and voice acting.

The gameplay is a great mixture of intense combat, creative puzzles, and exploration, keeping you hooked from start to finish. But what really makes it special is how it portrays psychosis - it’s haunting, immersive and you literally feel the chills in some situations especially with the 3D audio. The story is emotional and powerful, following Senua’s journey through grief and trauma in a way that feels raw and real. With stunning visuals, incredible sound design, and a deeply engaging narrative, this is one of those games that stays with you long after you finish it. A must-play! 🔥

one of my favorite games. pretty linear game, must play with headphones. combat simple but for me it was good enough, i played it for the story. all but one story achievements if someone is interested in hunting those, easy to get last achievement if you look it up or just explore.

Most things about this game are simply good. What makes this game unique in the sound design. The experience you get from this game is truly like no other and its not because of the game play. The combat is simple but its good. The graphics are great although I needed to turn them down to play this game without lag, which is rare for me considering I can normally play much bigger and more graphically intense games with no problem. The story is great, and I am really enjoying it so far. Its the schizophrenic like voices that you hear that make this game like no other. On paper it sounds odd to have a game where you as the player are constantly hearing voices that question everything that you do, but in practice it is truly an immersive experience that I have never had with any other game. This game makes you feel like you really are the main character and not just playing as them. This game gets a solid 9/10 for me, would be 10/10 if it were not on Unreal Engine 4.

it insists upon itself lois. anyway the game is cool ig, the voices got real annoying real fast, and they clearly compensated for the lack of content by making you walk everywhere extremely slowly. combat is like 2 buttons, and the story is so complex! (it doesnt mean anything). uhhhhh puzzles were good and challenging, and the ending was pretty cool and the right direction for the character! it insists upon itself lois. 5/10 :)

Probably one of the most well-done psychological horrors out there. Really impressive audio effects, combat is challenging but satisfying to learn and perfect.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a truly unique and unforgettable gaming experience. Its stunning visuals, haunting audio design, and deeply unsettling portrayal of psychosis create a powerful and emotionally resonant atmosphere. While the combat is relatively straightforward, the game's focus on atmosphere and narrative makes it a compelling and unforgettable journey. A masterpiece of atmosphere and storytelling, even if it's not a technically challenging game.

This game is a work of art. The story is rich and its presentation just pulls you right in and engages the player. Ninja Theory did a great job setting the atmosphere and making the player feel what Senua feels. This deep dive into the mind of someone afflicted with mental illness is done so masterfully, but with tact. It doesn't make light of it, but rather shows how deeply it can affect a person. I'd rate this at a solid 9.5/10. It's definitely one of the best games I've played and it wasn't really on my radar until more recently. Definitely recommend!

Fantastic game with absolutely amazing atmosphere. It's worth it for the voice acting alone but the story is a masterpiece. Definitely worth playing.

graphics are phenomenal, story was intriguing, well done game!

VERDICT:
If you like and appreciate fantastic motion capture, good audio design and incredible voice acting but don't mind these things: Slow movement, easy puzzles, linear paths way, some boss fights and a game that doesn't tell you what to do (in a way), then this game is for you.

THE STORY:
It's alright, there's sort of multiple stories. One is the Senua's journey, one is her inner battle with herself and then the lore about the typical viking stuff. Which is all told my some really fantastic voice acting. Senua's voice actress does one of the most convincing and amazing female performances out there!

PERFORMANCE:
Runs really smooth. It's got FSR and DLSS options and at max setting, it run pretty well. Had a few stutters during cutscenes but other wise ran well on an RTX 4070 TiS.

COMBAT:
Got a couple of different moves and maybe some combos too! Parrying is satisfying also. Combat though simple, is still fun.

SHORT WORDS:
5,4 hours of game time, so pretty short. Not really my type of game. While it is just an incredible game to look at, it doesn't really wow me with its slow gameplay and mediocre map design. For its time, it's awesome and for a Double-A game, it's really good. But for the love of god, don't expect budget version of God Of War.

Why the thumb down? Not worth really for the annoying sections that there were in the game and the boring easy puzzles.

Overall 8/10

Such a unique game with a great story and vfx and voice acting. They really did a fantastic job.
The only drawbacks are that combat is a little same-y and the puzzles can get a bit repetitive, but that's not why you play this game anyway.

---{ 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

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ 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 10% 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
☐ More often than not
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

Not worth it. Slow boring game....more of a story and its so confusing that the story kinda fell out of meaning.

I got lost - couldn't finish it.

Strong , dark atmosphere - you should probably have a strong interest in mental health issues to play this game.

Combat is just repetitive af until now (half through the whole game). Enemies are the same. I'm the same. This is a major flaw in a combat centered game (in this aspect reminds me of nier automata which is a pretty bad hack n slash)

Easily one of the worst games I've played. It doesn't take long to see why this one is a stinker.

It's poorly optimized, like most newer games. RT off, RTX 3070, R7 3700x, and 32gb of RAM...and 60fps at 1080 is too much for my PC. FPS drops into the teens often, and I rarely got over 46. This is really poor performance.

The sounds, and atmosphere are great...but that's not important. Every game looks great, and too many people focus on that. Gameplay is what's important. The voices in your head are a really cool touch, but honestly don't add anything. I played with Sennheiser studio headphones on, and it did nothing. The audio cues that are supposed to be there just aren't in a way that's useful. Surround sound speakers are what they should've used to give you better immersion. Captions were often different from what appears on screen in some of the big narrations. Speech and captions were often not synced with the video.

The gameplay...It's not good. Combat is ok, but will get old fast. The combat is terrible til you go to Google and read about using focus. The enemies are all damage sponges, especially the bosses. There's one set of combat animations that repeat. Enemies often spawn in right in front of you, and hit you before you can react. When there's multiple enemies, you can only ever see one at a time. Enemy telegraphs also don't work right. Some appear long before the attack, while some work right. Sometimes they don't appear at all (I would prefer none.) All of this shows how unresponsive the controls are. I've read that you have to play the game a lot to get used to it, but the game isn't long enough and lacks replay value. Past 2012, un-skipable cutscenes are unforgivable.

The story leads with a cool premise, and falls flat. i couldn't relate to anything about it, and the poor gameplay kept me from caring. We should be long past poor gameplay and design, just to get an immersive story.

The puzzles are a collection of the worst tropes of the last decade, too often including the "line up the image" puzzle that was beat to death a decade ago. You will die repeatedly being chased, just hoping to find the right angle to see these (very large drop off of achievements at this point...) The game does fuck all to explain itself, again showing the devs incompetence. Sadly, this is the norm and looked upon highly...which is stupid. You have to go to Google to get a simple explanation of the game, and I feel that's the devs job. Stop letting them off the hook.

The game sold a million copies, but looking at achievements...nobody played it. Most players quit before the 2nd achievement. To me the mark of quality isn't units sold, but do people engage with it? It does nothing new, despite being raved as original. After 44 years of playing video games...pass. I couldn't wait to beat it, and be done. This is yet another example of the low standards in today's gaming. The game got a sequel, hopefully they learned something from this dud. The design of the game is pretentious. Seeing as the studio has that many games under their belt, I really question how this game is so not up to what should come out of that experience....or they're diversity hires.

Regardless...poor optimization, poor design in the combat, poor design in the movement, and good sound/graphics. 4/10. I personally am happy to watch the game industry burn, as it may lead to some better games in the future. Ever since gaming attracted so many new players with no expectation of quality, the industry has gone downhill fast.

It felt more like a quick experience rather than a full game, it had a generic story, repetitive gameplay and a basic combat system that just didn't feel good enough. The only standout is the audio design, which kept me going, but it’s not enough to save the experience.

3/10.

I really enjoyed this game, especially the fights with interesting combos. I played together with AI, and I succeeded. The atmosphere is amazing!

That was an engaging experience. The story is quite interesting. As for the combat system, it took me some time to get used to it and still it was extremely inconvenient that Senua focuses on an enemy automatically and you can't start fighting another one until you kill the one on the focus point (meaning you can't control well on which enemy to focus to fight it). But other than that, the gameplay is more than satisfying. It was also very interesting to listen to the "Stories of the Norsemen" that Druth tells Senua throughout the game.

In the game's cutscenes there are live action performaces that are captured by real actors. I don't really like that approach as it stands out too much from the general atmosphere. I think using just motion capture would be better. But I don't take it as a disadvantage as it's not a big problem for me.

I also read that the developers did a lot of work studying psychosis to properly represent Senua's condition it in the game - all these voices in her head and this "Darkness" entity. The horror atmosphere in general is transferred perfectly.

The game is quite short, but I'd say with confidence that it's worth the time and money (it's best to buy it on sale with a good discount).