Green Room Review| Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

 

Image Credit: Steam

"Have you died before? It's a serious question. When the illusion of self is shattered, you simply cease to be."

-Narrator

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is dark but beautiful game, an epic of love and loss. This game broke me and rebuilt me in the course of a great Saturday and truly it feels like the game imprinted itself on me and hasn't left me for the past several days. There is something beautiful about the story of this Celtic warrior fighting through hel for her love and realizing that she is more than the sum of her darkness. Overall this game has so many themes that we could talk about for hours but I truly want to focus in on and give you guys a review to hopefully get more people into this masterpiece of a game. ( Reviewed on Xbox Series X using resolution mode).

The story is about Senua who travels to Hel with the head of her lover Dillion who was killed in a Viking raid. Very early on we are introduced to the Narrator a voice that seemingly resides in Senua's head alongside the so called furies which are other voices in Senua's head filled with doubt and strife towards Senua as they speak down upon her constantly. The 4th wall is none existent in this game as the player is treated as a silent fury in Senua's story the narrator will constantly talk to you never getting a response, Senua will directly look at the camera at points as if she knows that you are there. Overall this games story is great as it takes from on a complete journey from the shores of Hel all the way to the main prison of Helheim. The game truly makes you see Senua's journey from struggling against a single Northman to fighting and defeating literal gods. Senua is one of the most dynamic characters I have experienced in recent gaming.

The gameplay is very simple as I believe it was made to be accessible to many people. The game consists of two major styles combat and puzzle solving. The puzzle solving definitely the major portion of gameplay in about a 80/20 split as most of the time you will either be walking through and exploring the mostly linear world with some open areas. The puzzle solving mostly boils down to finding a rune in the environment be it in dead trees or broken supports of a houses' roof. Aside from the the puzzle solving you will be fighting many Northmen throughout Senua's journey. The fighting boils down to five moves roughly a block, evade, heavy swing, light swing, and stun. These moves all blend together well as the camera work in combat adds to the visceral fight for your life feeling that it so strongly portrays. As the game progress the combat does get more involved adding some new moves like a magic focus mode that slows time and allows us deal massive damage quickly or a charged heavy attack that allows you damage later enemies who cannot be damaged normally. Finally there are a few boss fights that change up the combat but never felt impossible at any point as the game teaches you the mechanics so well throughout and the simplicity of the combat keeps it manageable to try and figure out how you are meant to progress through. Here's a clip I feel describes the combat well:

When you first boot up Hellblade it immediately recommends to play the game with a surround sound/ binaural headset as the game takes full advantage of the directional audio. The furies can be heard in every direction laughing, mocking you, calling you too weak and I think they are there to push you into wanting to disprove them. The game has an amazing environment enhanced by the directional audio gusts of wind rustling the branches, water dripping in a dungeon, and feeling cold and desolate upon the shipwrecked shores with the waves crashing and the wind propelling the swells. The music is rare but as you progress it truly improves the feeling of Senua's journey at points and when you are in combat at later points the music truly makes you feel like you have completed a warrior's journey, while rare the music truly enhances the experience of Senua's Sacrifice. Finally the acting truly made the game what it I believe. If an inferior acting team were here I don't believe that Senua's journey would have been mediocre but Melina Jeurgens performance both in her voicing and performance capture truly make Senua's story so amazing. The whole cast does amazing Nicholas Boulton's voicing of Norse legends made me want to find every lore stone to hear his passionate retelling of the major points of Norse myth. I truly believe the voice crew did amazing all the Furies with there different mockeries, Druth's impassioned retelling and warning of ragnarok, and the narrator's calming almost reassuring voice accompanying us through Senua's journey provided by Chipo Chung.

Overall Senua's Sacrifice is an amazing game diving into the depths of Hel to create a modern legend. The way that you experience Senua's journey in a well made interactive movie of sorts with engaging easy to learn and truly adapt to your style as you learn it. The audio makes this game truly a masterpiece it immerses the player makes you feel as though you a part of Senua's story. If you ever wondered why Microsoft bought Ninja Theory after this game came out this is why the graphics for 2017 feel like a modern game in 2024 and the gameplay while accessible is still fun to dive into. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is 5/5 truly a masterpiece of a game that defines the mid eight generation of consoles and truly pushed the PS4 and Xbox One to their limits and truly reaches it's potential graphicly on the ninth generation. Thank You for reading and let me leave you with my favorite quote from the game!

"I learnt the hard way to not be afraid of death, Senua. Because a life without loss is one without love. Turn your back on death and all that you see is the shadow that it casts. The longer you hide from it the, the longer the shadow grows, until all you can see is the darkness. When our time comes, we must look death in the eye and embrace it as a friend. Only then can we let go of fear, and emerge from our darkness."

-Dillion