Last year Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice was released. I remember liking the look and overall feel of the game, but when it was released I was distracted by other games and I promptly forgot about it. I remembered it again recently and thought this time I just have to play it - so I did!
I like Turkish coffee, it's rich, thick and black, but it's also bitter. Adding a little sugar to it helps, but really what you want is some Turkish Delight (not that Fry's rubbish, the real stuff). The combination of Turkish Coffee and Turkish Delight help create an interesting and tasty experience. Playing Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice I found myself asking was this interesting combination or was it something I would regret trying later?
Story
The story is about Senua, a woman who has lost the man she loves Dillion. The Goddess of Death Hela has taken his soul, and Senua has made it her mission to get it back. Apart from the mental health warning at the start of the game, it's clear early on that Senua is suffering a psychosis. She is hearing voices, some positive and some not so much. The game has Senua battle for Dillion's soul along with battling her own demons.
The game uses Norse Mythology for its backdrop which works really, and the lorestones you find scattered throughout the game help build upon this. Playing Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice I often felt more like I was reading someone's diary then simply taking control of a character. The story of Senua is sad and troubling, I really felt connected with the character and what she was experiencing.
Overall a really interesting story that is very different from anything I have experienced before.
Visuals
The game is visually beautiful, with some really great and also grim scenery. Playing the game I got to see snow-capped mountains, forests and the ruins of a forgotten world. There were two areas in the games that really stood out for me visually, the ship graveyard (well that's what I called it), and the sea of corpses. The ship graveyard was littered with husks of old Viking style ships, some of which you could navigate through. Then there was the grim sea of corpses, it was exactly as it sounds, there are hands of the dead reaching for you and general suffering going on all around you - happy times.
Overall the game looks beautiful and is really good at creating an atmospheric world.
Music
The soundtrack is...interesting. It combines a Viking style sound of music with an atmospheric, bordering on the trippy soundscape. I didn't play the game wearing headphones but I think if I had it would have really enhanced my experience. The soundtrack is created by David Garcia and Andy LaPlegue. Garcia is an American composer, musician and so much more who helped create the sound for Rime, Deadlight and Day of the Viking. LaPlegua is a Norwegian singer and musician who plays an electronic style of music and has created and been part of the bands, Icon of Coil, Panzer AG, and Combichrist.
The soundtrack runs a little over ninety minutes and includes some great tracks, my favorites being
'Beast', 'Bridge Combat', 'Valravn', and 'Surtr Fight'. While the soundtrack may not be my favorite it does a great job at creating a tense atmosphere.
Gameplay
The game has you play from a third-person perspective, the gameplay itself moves between storytelling and dealing with Senua's voices to some aggressive combat. The first two-thirds of the game is light on combat but the final third is pretty full on. What made the combat feel so aggressive for me was the angered and pain noises Senua made, it didn't feel overused and felt like even when you were not in combat you were still fighting. The combat is pretty smooth and works well, with only one looming issue which was evasion. Occasionally blocking wasn't enough especially when surrounded by enemies, in those times I would try to evade but Senua was quite bad at it. Normally I wouldn't be so critical but it really affected the flow of battle and considering how good her swordplay it didn't seem unreasonable to think she could evade a little better. Overall though the combat was pretty solid and I had a lot of fun with the boss battles.
When you're not battling mentally or physically you will have little puzzles to solve. Most of the puzzles take the form of finding runes in the surrounding area, for example, if you were standing at a particular angle two random bits of wood might look like a rune. Initially, I liked them but as I progressed I found them a little tiresome. Additionally on occasion when I was looking at the runes the game would not recognise them which could be a little flustering. Later in the game, you will get to take on Odin's Trails, one of them focuses on your sensory perception and you spend most it blind. I found it very interesting, especially as they managed to incorporate this element into the game later during combat.
Overall a lot of enjoyable gameplay and was only let down by some relatively minor things.
Final Thoughts
So, after ten plus hours how did I feel? Really good. The story was interesting, the visuals were beautiful, the music was odd at times but helped create a certain something. The gameplay was fairly solid and had they worked out a few issues would have been perfect. Overall this one nearly got top marks but in the end got a respectable 4 out of 5
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