A psychological masterpiece that will capture your imagination in some of the best story telling in gaming.

Senua's Sacrifice is a very story driven title by a fairly unknown indie developer that is close to being a perfect example of what a narrative driven game should be. Not only this, but the game is also one of the better looking games that was made on a very tight and small budget, and it looks and plays much better than most triple A development studios. Recently at the E3 conference in LA 2018, Microsoft announced that they have acquired the development studio behind this title, Ninja Theory.

In two recent live streams on Dlive, I played for the first time from start to finish, this awesome game, yet despite all the praise I can give this game for its story telling and visuals. It is not without its faults though, some of which are painfully obvious. Despite this, many other reviewers gloss over them or ignore them outright. It does look fucking good though and that is something that can not be denied.

Narrative.

• Although this may seem simple from the description of the game, when you actually play the game, the narrative is something that is constantly evolving and it melds nicely into the gameplay and visuals of the game. Something that other games struggle to do.
  In a nutshell, the main protagonist, Senua, has to make her way to Helheim (Norse hell), defeating seemingly supernatural entities, Norse Gods, and face there challenges so she can rescue her dead lover from the goddess Hela. That description does not do the game any justice as it is so much more in depth than that.
  The game as a whole is a kind of metaphor to her struggle with psychosis. Throughout the game, you will constantly hear Senua's inner voice's that not only help to tell the story as it is evolving during the game play but they also help you as a player by directing Senua in the direction you need to go. This is especially obvious during the challenges you must face as the voices within guide you and give you clues as to what you need to do. At the same time, you also get the doubt coming through too, similar to schizophrenics who have the drive and doubt all shouting at you at the same time. Some times the more dominant voices come through stronger than others which plays well into the situations Senua faces.
  Senua believes that she is cursed and is haunted by an entity only known as 'Darkness' (who strangely enough sounds like the voice of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings) and the memories of her past. Most notably her lover who helps give her the courage and drive to move forward. The same voice of her lover also tells stories of the Norse gods and who they are, combined with some of there more well known tales through 'Runes' that you find as you play the game. Which I believe is a bloody brilliant idea as it tells a story within the main story. It keeps the gameplay interesting as you will hunt for these runes to complete the story Senua's lover tells as they are broken up among several per section of the game.
  The developers of the game worked closely with mental health specialist to determine how these ''inner voices'', attitude, drive and doubt would effect an individual such as Senua. And to coin a British phrase, they hit the nail on the head..... in other words, they couldn't of done it any better if they tried.

Image Source/Credit - @TechMojo Live Stream.

Visuals.

• Despite the fact that this game was made with a very small budget of only 10 million, it puts triple A development studios who have hundreds of millions to play with, to shame as it looks better than most of what the bigger development teams put out on an almost monthly basis.
  As an Indie developer, Ninja Theory had a huge hill to climb to take on the industry giants, yet they succeeded and then some.
  Senua herself was based on actress, Melina Juergens using motion capture. This in turn allowed the devs to give Senua a full range of facial emotions that connect you to the character ever further, combined with the excellent voice acting too, it makes you feel as though you are part of her struggle. The textures they used too are amazing as it gives the character a life like appearance. While we are on the subject of her face, throughout the game you will know subtle changes to it. When you start the game, Senua has a large portion of her head covered in what can only be described as blue war paint. (think Braveheart). The more battles you go through, the more times you fall or get hit, or go through deep water, you will notice that not only does her face get dirtier with mud or blood, but that war paint slowly gets patchy as it wears off. Its only a small visual cue, but it speaks volumes about the struggle Senua goes through.
  The character animations are insanely good. If you are running, weak, walking, fighting or going backwards, the movements are all fluidic as they meld into each other seamlessly.
  The environment, although limited, is one of the better environments I have seen in gaming. Each and every square inch of the world the devs created is jam packed full of detail that you can not help but admire as you are playing the game. Each section of the game has its own unique visuals that are unlike other areas. When you go to fight Surt, fire is the main aspect that you will see a lot of. When you face the sword challenges, each one is very unique with one being almost pitch black to the point you can barely see Senua's face.
  Most other devs tend to copy and paste map assets to make the development process easier and quicker. Not so with this game as I have mentioned, each section is very unique and you have to look very hard to find any assets that have been duplicated. The ones that are, are very minimal, and even then, they are difficult to find. This is something that I admire in games such as this.
  The environment also plays into the gameplay and the story telling of the game. When you do go to fight Surt, fire is the main theme of the maps, yet when you defeat him, you walk back along the exact same map, but instead of fire, you see greenery, plants and flowers with the atmosphere being more vibrant and bright. When Senua is about to battle or is having a psychotic episode, the environment will swell with waves of black, almost like a warning, similar to how the bell worked in Silent Hill. Another example is in one of the challenges where the environment is old and decayed, yet once you focus into a face statue, everything changes but everything is the same, unbroken, bright and young. This same visuals plays into the gameplay in a big way too.
  On a side note. The ''bosses'' you have to face are awesome, it brings back that typical ''boss battle'' that most modern games tend to ignore, and something that is needed. Especially in a game such as this. With the description the 'voices' give you on your way to battle, the bosses look and act exactly how they are described and I love it.
  Overall, the visuals of the game are very detailed and expansive with some of the best animations I have seen in a very long time.

Image Source/Credit - @TechMojo Live Stream

Gameplay.

As much as I want to give this game a perfect ten out of ten, I can not overlook the issues that are very obvious in the gameplay.
With most of the gaming industry moving to a more ''open world'' style of game design, I can not help but see that this game is extremely linear in its design. You may as well walk through a singular tunnel to the end of the game. It can feel very restrictive as you only have a limited choice in which direction you can go, whether that be forward and back, with slightly to the left or slightly to the right options that run along side the main path you have to take. It is a huge disappointment in such a beautifully written and fantastic looking game. Maybe if this game was released before 2014, I could of given the game a little more leeway in its design choices, but with the direction the industry is moving, towards open world style games, it is something that I can not get over and it does piss me off to a certain degree as I lover almost everything else about the game.
The fighting mechanics in this game a just epically good with a wide array of movements that feel great. What I mean by that is, when you get hit or you only just defend yourself from an attack, it feels heavy, giving you that sense that you have been hit. The light and heavy attacks are also like that, feeling heavy and light respectfully. It is a mechanic that very few games have achieved, most notably is the recent God of War game on the PS4, where the devs purposely removed a few frames from the axe returning mechanic to make it feel weighted. It is a similar story in this game, but every aspect of the fighting has a full range of weight to it. But the fighting is always concentrated to one small area of the map, although a little disappointing, but I can see how the fighting with the darkness plays into the narrative and visuals of the game.
The puzzles in this game are a big portion of the gameplay. One of the first I encountered was the Door runes. You have to memorize the runes that you see on the door and you have to find that same 'shape' in the environment. It sounds easier than it actually is because the shape could be a shadow cast on a wall, a shape on the floor that you can only see when up high enough, or two sticks from a certain angle. It makes the game more interesting as you get to explore more of it. Another type of puzzle is the environment itself. I briefly went over this in the visuals section of this review. Basically, you could come to a broken, impassable bridge, a locked gate, or broken tree in the way, but if you go through a ''doorway'' or focus on an object, the environment will change and that bridge is now passable, the gate has rusted away or the tree was never there.
There are more puzzles for you to solve, some easier and harder to solve, but I don't want to give away too much, as it will spoil the game.
The death mechanic is something very interesting that adds to the overall atmosphere of the game. Unlike other games, when you can save the game wherever you want, and if you die, you can simply go back to that point. In Hellblade it does have an auto save so you can switch off and then continue from where you left off, you have no control over it though. However, Senua has 'Rot' in her right arm which is black and pulses (part of her curse) each time you die, the rot will expand further up her arm, if it reaches her head, you have to start all over again from the beginning. That isn't the kicker though. Each time you defeat a boss, the rot will grow too. So you can only fail so many times, otherwise, when you do defeat a boss and the rot reaches Senua's head, then you have to start all over again. This crazy, but very smart mechanic adds a certain tension to the game, forcing you to think about your actions.
The last part I want to go over is the games length. It is very short at only sub ten hours of total gameplay from start to finish, including all the story telling and action aspects of the game. I started streaming this game with the expectation of having to have a minimum of four streams in which to complete the game. Instead I completed it in less than two streams, in under 8 hours. From the description of the game and with it being very narrative driven, I was expecting at least twenty hours of game time, similar to other story driven games like Rise of the Tomb Raider, the Last of Us or Horizon Zero Dawn. So to see the game end earlier than expected, as you can imagine, I was devastated, only because I was so immersed into the story. It is a crying shame that it is such a short game that can be completed inside of a day.

Image Source/Credit - @TechMojo Live Stream.

Conclusion.

• Hellblade has some issues yes, and for the most part, while you are playing the game, those issues can be easily be overlooked. But once you complete the game, you just wish there is...... well, more. The linear design of the game and the short gameplay are its two main downfalls that make you question the development teams choices when they spent so much time and effort on every other aspect of the game.

8/10

• Regardless, Hellblade has achieved more than most triple A developers in how the narrative, visuals and gameplay are all used to create a game that is still at its core, a fucking awesome tale of inner struggle, love, loss and want. Creating a tantalizing narrative that is heavily Norse and Celtic inspired, and also takes inspiration from real life mental illnesses and past games, melding them together to create a psychological masterpiece.

What do you think about this game?
And what game should I Stream/Review next?
Let us know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading.

Stu @TechMojo

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