Game review: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (2017)

in #gaming6 years ago

The game which I am going to be reviewing today is somewhat more of a recent title that you may have heard of, it's called Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. This game was released this past August in 2017, and was made available to play on the Playstation 4 and the Steam/Windows platform. The game was developed and published by Ninja Theory using the Unreal game engine, and has been described by the studio as what a triple A tier indie game would be like. The best way to describe the genre of the game would be to call it a dark fantasy game, as well as maybe an action game though it doesn't really have all that much action in it. The games design and narrative is inspired by Norse and Celtic mythology and culture, easily showing so once you boot up the game. The price of the game is fairly cheap in comparison to most bigger titles, only running you around $30 when not on sale. 

I'll be honest, I wasn't personally really aware of this game until a day or two after it came out back in August of 2017. And, even then, the only reason I even discovered this was because a streamer I watch was playing it. I watched him play it for about 45 minutes, and found that the game looked like something that could be pretty entertaining to play through myself. Now, after playing through it I can say that it was indeed fairly entertaining, though it is by no means a flawless game. While there is plenty of good stuff to be found here which I'll go into, there's definitely some parts of the game that don't share the same essence as the rest of it.  

Something that is pretty interesting to note is that Ninja Theory had the help of several mental health advisers when designing and writing the game, as it plays a key point within the narrative and overall design. I'm sure that's something you probably wouldn't expect to see happen within a game like this. The story of the game itself places us back in the 8th century, playing as a female warrior named Senua. Senua is on a quest to attempt to save the soul of her dead lover, Dillion, from the Norse goddess. Senua believes herself to be inflicted with a curse which causes her to hear "Furies" inside of her head, and generally allows terrible things to happen to those around her. This leads her to a self imposed exile from her lover and his village for about a year, where in he is killed as part of a ritual.  

Now, I'm not going to go too much deeper into the story as I don't want to spoil much of anything for you guys who haven't played it. But, I will say, the narrative for this game is definitely its strongest point. Ninja Theory definitely has put their biggest focus on the games plot/story, putting everything else to the side. This is why I said before that while there are some action sections of the game, I wouldn't exactly call it an action game. You'll be going from point A to point B, listening to exposition and seeing the world around you. Occasionally you'll find puzzles to solve, which aren't very hard or anything to solve. I found most of them to be quite easy without much of a challenge. Most of the game is an exploration piece, similar to playing a walking simulator where you'll uncover your characters past while working towards her future.  

The graphics of the game are absolutely stunning, to say the very least. This holds true whether or not you're in or out of a cut scene. Everything looks pretty gorgeous, especially with the era of time the game takes place in. The Norse mythology and setting lend a lot of interesting set pieces for you to explore in the game, each with very distinct looks to their area. (It seems like something we might see more often in gaming, what with this and God of War both using the setting) Besides the world around you being filled with details, the character designs don't fall too far behind. The detail levels on the NPC's and enemies are done quite well, and with the humans you encounter they're very realistic and life like without looking weird or too animated.  

The voice acting of the game is another section of the game that seems like it was a stronger point over the others, giving the game a lot of its atmosphere in my opinion. The "Furies" that commentate on your actions all at once lead to a lot of voice acting happening within the game, as you have several voices speaking at once as you proceed through the game at times, giving you several different perspectives at once. This is something I don't believe I have ever really seen throughout a game before which was a neat little experience. The script for the dialogue in the game is well done, and everyone does a great job at voice acting in this game for the most part. 

Now, I do have to say I think the game teetered on being a "Cinematic experience" more than a video game, which really isn't to my personal taste usually. It definitely sports a lot of cutscenes that equals out for the gameplay, which still gives me enough to enjoy for the cost of the game. Zero Horizon Dawn was a game that seemed to be a literal film transitioned into a game format with the occasion spurt of gameplay allowed, which is something I was worried this game was going to do. Thankfully, they've included a fair amount of gameplay in between the cutscenes, though everything continues to focus on the narrative. This leads to a few issues however as well. 

While not being an absolutely terrible combat system, it is really barebones and leaves a lot to be desired. The attacks have been watered down to fast and heavy sword swings, with some agile hand to hand combat thrown in here and there. There's also an evasion and blocking mechanic which wasn't done all that well in my opinion. Pretty much all of the smaller enemies can be destroyed fairly easily that doesn't really require much blocking or evasion. The combat of the game could be called functional at best, and I do wish they had spent a bit more time working on it and making it a bit better, but it works well enough for you to get through the game. 

Beyond the combat, there are also smaller issues which bothered me. I think the enemy designs were a bit bland due to the fact that they're overused so much without including several different types of enemies. I noticed some misspelling in the subtitles here and there, though that isn't a huge issue or anything. The game has some sections where you can glitch through the wall or floor which often leads to having to restart a checkpoint as there isn't a way to get back to where you need to go. The only other issue I feel like I should comment on is the camera angles could become a bit wonky, and I think there would have been some room for improvement there. At times it can lose focus on objects that don't really matter in the environment, and at other times it can be far too zoomed in for my taste. The user interface could use some polishing as well, but other than these things which some of which could be considered nit picky, I don't have much to complain about with the game. 

 

Overall, I would say this game is pretty solid. I would probably just say that it's definitely above average but could use improvements and fixes for the flaws. Had it been worked on and polished a bit more, I think this could have been quite a great game. It has a great voice acting cast with some gorgeous graphics, and a very intriguing narrative going on. The overall experience is fun, but I feel like the combat system really drags the game down a bit and should have been improved a bit, or just outright taken out of the game. 

There are plenty of narrative driven games that use more of a walking simulator mechanic than a combat one, and they work fine (Beyond Two Souls, Heavy Rain, Murdered: Soul Suspect, etc.). Had they done that here, it probably would have worked just as well or possibly even better. Hopefully they decide which part of the fence they want to sit on in the future, as it felt like they were really conflicted on this part of the game. If you're a fan of story driven games and only really care about that, or care about it more than the combat and other aspects of the game. Then you'll probably enjoy this. If you're someone who wants a good balance, you'll probably still enjoy it but find flaws. 

Anyways, thanks for stopping by to check out my review. Appreciate it! 

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I haven't played a game since God of war on PS3, but since am a game enthusuast, maybe I'll join you in your reviews and give my opinion too

This game seems really interesting.
I first heard about it on the Warsaw Comic Con where someone reanacted a scene of it on a cosplay competition and it seemed absolutely stunning :)

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