I really don't get why this game gets so much praise, maybe its my fault for expecting too much, as I really wanted to play a good linear game in an era of endless open-worlds, but Hellblade for me was a disappointment.
The only thing that really impressed me is the art design. Some of the visuals in Hellblade are very impressive and memorable, especially towards the end of the game.
Music is nice and sound design ranges from okay to good.
Everything else is mediocre, including the narrative.
Combat is incredibly simplistic, and due to large cancel windows, it's not exactly tactical either. You just mash attack buttons, then mash dodge button when enemy attacks. You can chain attacks by utilizing dash and dodge attacks, but that's about it. No strict timing required either. At least feedback from attacks feels good, you can always tell when attack connects, it shows that this isn't developer's first action game. But that's all the praise I can give to the combat.
Puzzles aren't much better, there are too few variables, so you will figure things out quickly just by interacting with everything that looks interactable. That wouldn't be a problem on its own, as there's decent amount of variety in puzzles to keep thing from getting too repetitive, so they would be a nice palate cleanser between combat sections, but as I mentioned above combat can't really carry the gameplay here.
The most disappointing part for me was the narrative.
The actual story is barely there. I won't spoil anything, but the entirety of this game's plot could be summarized in a single sentence. And that sentence wouldn't be very long.
I commend the developers for attempting to tell the tale about battling character's inner demons, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
The voices in Senua's head is what ruins narrative the most. I'm not entirely sure what the developers were going for with them, but I felt very awkward listening to them. It's like an audio drama written and acted entirely by elementary schoolers. Everything they say is so forced, completely devoid of subtlety, nothing that comes from them feels natural. This ruins any kind of immersion this game could've had, as there's always a feeling that you're just listening to an actor's audio recording.
The lack of subtlety also continues with this game's antagonist. Basically every bad thing that had happened in the past that's relevant to the story is the fault of one single, stupidly evil antagonist. It's so simplistic and basic, I was actually shocked that they went with that.
I really wanted to like this game and I tried to the end, but all I felt was awkwardness. Nothing feels natural in this narrative, I felt no sadness, no joy, no stress, no fear, nothing. Only awkwardness.
I was only impressed when I was looking at environment, but that's about it.
The only thing that really impressed me is the art design. Some of the visuals in Hellblade are very impressive and memorable, especially towards the end of the game.
Music is nice and sound design ranges from okay to good.
Everything else is mediocre, including the narrative.
Combat is incredibly simplistic, and due to large cancel windows, it's not exactly tactical either. You just mash attack buttons, then mash dodge button when enemy attacks. You can chain attacks by utilizing dash and dodge attacks, but that's about it. No strict timing required either. At least feedback from attacks feels good, you can always tell when attack connects, it shows that this isn't developer's first action game. But that's all the praise I can give to the combat.
Puzzles aren't much better, there are too few variables, so you will figure things out quickly just by interacting with everything that looks interactable. That wouldn't be a problem on its own, as there's decent amount of variety in puzzles to keep thing from getting too repetitive, so they would be a nice palate cleanser between combat sections, but as I mentioned above combat can't really carry the gameplay here.
The most disappointing part for me was the narrative.
The actual story is barely there. I won't spoil anything, but the entirety of this game's plot could be summarized in a single sentence. And that sentence wouldn't be very long.
I commend the developers for attempting to tell the tale about battling character's inner demons, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
The voices in Senua's head is what ruins narrative the most. I'm not entirely sure what the developers were going for with them, but I felt very awkward listening to them. It's like an audio drama written and acted entirely by elementary schoolers. Everything they say is so forced, completely devoid of subtlety, nothing that comes from them feels natural. This ruins any kind of immersion this game could've had, as there's always a feeling that you're just listening to an actor's audio recording.
The lack of subtlety also continues with this game's antagonist. Basically every bad thing that had happened in the past that's relevant to the story is the fault of one single, stupidly evil antagonist. It's so simplistic and basic, I was actually shocked that they went with that.
I really wanted to like this game and I tried to the end, but all I felt was awkwardness. Nothing feels natural in this narrative, I felt no sadness, no joy, no stress, no fear, nothing. Only awkwardness.
I was only impressed when I was looking at environment, but that's about it.