Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. Mental Health Portrayed in Gaming
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice creates a unique atmosphere compared to any other game out right now. Unlike your popular online games or your high-budget, major triple-a single-player games of recent times, Hellblade feels lonely. While there are action segments throughout the game, most of the time, you're exploring this somber world as Senua, completing puzzles and experiencing the narrative the game sets out to tell. To get this out of the way first, Senua is a woman who struggles with psychosis and deals with voices in her head. I do not have any mental health struggles, haven't experienced psychosis before, or know anyone who has, so I am not the best person when it comes to tackling this subject matter, if I describe Senua's mental health wrongly, or in an insensitive manner, I apologize.
The folks at Ninja Theory apparently got real doctors and real patients who have psychosis, to be a part of the development of Hellblade, to which I applauded them. Even though I do not struggle with any of Senua's psychosis, I find how the way the game uses audio engineering to simulate Senua's voices to be one of my favorite ways audio mixing has been used as a device to expand a narrative. Headphones are a must if you play this game, Senua's voices vary depending on the volume of each voice, some are louder, while some are quieter, little details like this make me close to connecting to Senua as a character, small design choices like this help the game so much when it comes to putting the player in Senua's shoes, and somewhat educate others on psychosis. Also, graphically, for a low-budget game, the graphics look fantastic. I was playing this game on my PC on 4K with 60 FPS, and it just looks stunning.
The strengths of Hellblade come in its story, worldbuilding, and atmosphere. The story is about Senua, on her journey to save the soul of her deceased lover, while exploring the Norse underworld. The story is pretty good and kept me engaged to progress further into the game. I feel Hellblade's best moments when it comes to it's story are within certain moments in the game, instead of the overall story, start-to-end. An example of this is during a part in the game, where Senua has to complete curtain trials before getting a key item that progresses the story, in these trials, it pushes Senua to face her fears and past, and this sequence is brilliant, for not only showcasing Senua's past to the player but also connecting to Senua deeper than before, it's a wonderful execution.
These are when the story and narrative shine, however I feel that around the second half of the game, is where the story just kinda drags. The pacing just feels like a slope, with nothing to add onto, and it doesn't help when the gameplay isn't the best when in combat. Combat feels tacky, it feels like a theater play, rather than an actual fight. This critique about the combat, with the pacing of the second half, just drags the game down from the interest of the first few hours into it. Overall, Hellblade is a unique game, with a great protagonist, a great story, great setting with dull gameplay. I hope in Hellblade 2, the combat gets improved, and the story gets some better flashed moments near its second half. Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice is a great, short game to pick up if you want to try something a little different than anything else in your backlog.
Stats:
5th game I've completed in 2024
Played on PC
Hours into Game: 9 Hours
Score: 8/10 (4/5)
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice creates a unique atmosphere compared to any other game out right now. Unlike your popular online games or your high-budget, major triple-a single-player games of recent times, Hellblade feels lonely. While there are action segments throughout the game, most of the time, you're exploring this somber world as Senua, completing puzzles and experiencing the narrative the game sets out to tell. To get this out of the way first, Senua is a woman who struggles with psychosis and deals with voices in her head. I do not have any mental health struggles, haven't experienced psychosis before, or know anyone who has, so I am not the best person when it comes to tackling this subject matter, if I describe Senua's mental health wrongly, or in an insensitive manner, I apologize.
The folks at Ninja Theory apparently got real doctors and real patients who have psychosis, to be a part of the development of Hellblade, to which I applauded them. Even though I do not struggle with any of Senua's psychosis, I find how the way the game uses audio engineering to simulate Senua's voices to be one of my favorite ways audio mixing has been used as a device to expand a narrative. Headphones are a must if you play this game, Senua's voices vary depending on the volume of each voice, some are louder, while some are quieter, little details like this make me close to connecting to Senua as a character, small design choices like this help the game so much when it comes to putting the player in Senua's shoes, and somewhat educate others on psychosis. Also, graphically, for a low-budget game, the graphics look fantastic. I was playing this game on my PC on 4K with 60 FPS, and it just looks stunning.
The strengths of Hellblade come in its story, worldbuilding, and atmosphere. The story is about Senua, on her journey to save the soul of her deceased lover, while exploring the Norse underworld. The story is pretty good and kept me engaged to progress further into the game. I feel Hellblade's best moments when it comes to it's story are within certain moments in the game, instead of the overall story, start-to-end. An example of this is during a part in the game, where Senua has to complete curtain trials before getting a key item that progresses the story, in these trials, it pushes Senua to face her fears and past, and this sequence is brilliant, for not only showcasing Senua's past to the player but also connecting to Senua deeper than before, it's a wonderful execution.
These are when the story and narrative shine, however I feel that around the second half of the game, is where the story just kinda drags. The pacing just feels like a slope, with nothing to add onto, and it doesn't help when the gameplay isn't the best when in combat. Combat feels tacky, it feels like a theater play, rather than an actual fight. This critique about the combat, with the pacing of the second half, just drags the game down from the interest of the first few hours into it. Overall, Hellblade is a unique game, with a great protagonist, a great story, great setting with dull gameplay. I hope in Hellblade 2, the combat gets improved, and the story gets some better flashed moments near its second half. Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice is a great, short game to pick up if you want to try something a little different than anything else in your backlog.
Stats:
5th game I've completed in 2024
Played on PC
Hours into Game: 9 Hours
Score: 8/10 (4/5)