Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

• Genre: Action Adventure
• Spoiler Free Review: Very slight spoilers due to mechanics and setting.
• Time Played: ~10 Hours
• Too Short/Long: It's about right.
• Soundtrack: Another one that is mostly just ambience, though the ambience is very important to the experience of the game, and there are at least a handful of notable scores, and when they hit, they hit really well. They fit the mood perfectly. Notably Andy LaPlegua of Combichrist worked on the music. Also the ending credits is a licensed track from one of my favorite bands, VNV Nation.
• Why I played: I've been meaning to play this one for awhile. It was a pretty big deal when it was new, it just took me til they released a sequel to get around to it.
• Did I cry: A little bit.
• Jank: This is a pretty polished game. It's also pretty linear so there isn't much to experience jank-wise. There was one time after a cutscene Senua's hair was wiggling around wildly in a glitch-state until there was another cutscene.
• Difficulty: It has a difficulty that feels "just right" for the experience. It might be considered hard by some, but I don't think it really is. I think it just does a really good job at making it "feel hard", and most the puzzles are just looking in the right direction from and navigating the right way. The puzzles would only really be difficult if you struggle with spatial awareness.
• Recommend to others: I would really recommend this to someone who enjoys very a visceral experience and narrative. I can imagine it being difficult to play for someone who isn't in the right mental space, or if you just don't engage with video games on a certain emotional level.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a really good game and I'm disappointed in myself for not playing it sooner. It's not that long, and there have been times where it's come up in conversation where I now wish I could have engaged in back then. I imagine not too many people have it in recent memory unless they're replaying it before getting into the sequel.

Even though the combat is really basic, I really enjoyed it. You got your light attack, hard attack, block/parry, dodge, run. Run can modify some attacks, you can counter with parries, combos change up the attacks and I think even the dodge modifies the attack? It all feels really smooth and intuitive even though it doesn't really throw anything new into the mix. There are no skill trees. You only get an item that acts something like a "rage meter" or other similar mechanics. You use it, and time for everyone else is slowed down, usually. What's more is it ties into one of the main mechanics of the game you use for puzzle solving, in combat. "Focusing" is the main mechanic for puzzle solving, to see things as they truly are or should be? That's your "rage meter" and sometimes you can't even hit enemies unless you "focus". So it makes sense within the narrative without even actually giving Senua powers. Additionally there is probably some deeper meaning to the item that allows you to "focus" during combat.

I don't mind a linear game, but something about it feels like a game that should have a little more navigating, and more secrets to find. There are secrets to find, exclusively in the way of lorestones, and they're worth finding. I think they put a slight spin on some of the stories, but they're generally just telling you about Norse mythology, and the stories are also usually analogous to something that has either happened or is happening with Senua.

All together I think the most impressive thing they did with the game is make it cohesive, when the whole idea is that things are not as they seem. Senua's schizophrenia is the main theme of the game, and when first getting into it, the combination of audio and visual feedback pulled at my chest in an anxiety inducing way. I mean this as a compliment, it was wholly the intention of the game to do so and they succeeded well.