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The whispers still linger here
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is quite a scary game, but maybe not in the ways you might think. Sure, there are scary monsters, and dark corners, and whispers in your ear at all times, but those are not the true frights the game has in store for you. In truth, the real fear comes from within - inside Senua herself, and inside us, the player.
The game begins with Senua - the titular character - on a mission to save her now-dead lover from Helheim, and in order to do so, Senua must confront the Northmen who hunt her, and the terrors of her own making. On the surface, Hellblade is a game set in a quasi-mythological world that's a mish-mash of Norse and Celtic mythologies, and it's a story about a woman who just wants to defy the gods to bring back the man she loves. This is all window dressing for the game to explore its themes of mental illness and psychosis, and those themes permeate through every facet of the experience.
Publisher: Ninja Theory Developer: Ninja Theory Platform: Played on PC Availability: Released on August 8, 2017 for PlayStation 4, Windows, April 11, 2018 for Xbox One, April 11, 2019 for Nintendo Switch, and August 9, 2021 for Xbox Series X/S |
From the first moments of the story, Senua is beset by auditory and visual hallucinations. The voices, known as "The Furies" in-game, are the first to make themselves known. A product of "The Darkness" (a sort of corruption that is a physical manifestation of Senua's psychosis), The Furies are there to guide you through every part of the game. From puzzles to combat, the voices are always chattering away, offering hints or direction on what's coming or what to do next. The implementation of these voices is excellent, and if you have a nice headset or surround sound setup, you're going to be amazed at the type of effects used here.
While the voices generally add a nice layer to the game from a thematic and story-telling perspective, some of the implementation can be a bit grating. The voices are constantly prattling, and in combat they can give you a nice heads-up if someone is attacking you, but it most often felt like an annoyance rather than helpful. I think it's easy to hand-wave this and say that the discomfort of the combat is representative of the discomfort Senua is feeling, but I can't help but wonder if there would have been a less deleterious way to implement this. After all, combat is inherently simple - Light attack, heavy attack, parry, dodge, charge. Not much to worry about, and the enemies telegraph their moves quite obviously. It feels like a chore more often than an engaging part of the game, but the threat of The Darkness creeping up on Senua can create a bit of tension.
As perhaps the game's most controversial mechanic, The Darkness is more than just an allegory for Senua's struggles - it is the greatest threat to your journey. Each time you fall in battle, The Darkness that starts in Senua's arm creeps closer to her head, and once it gets there, your save will be deleted. Or, so they say. I'm not sure it is actually possible for this to happen, but it's the threat that matters - keeping you in a state of paranoia not unlike the one Senua is experiencing herself. It is unfortunate, then, that the combat is so uninteresting in execution. It just feels so disjointed, like it's an entirely separate thing from the rest of the game, or that it's just an afterthought to keep people engaged. With all of the care put into the other sections of the game, it feels like a strange miss.
Hellblade is stunning to look at, even in motion.
Luckily, the combat is usually only a punctuation on the more interesting environmental exploration and puzzle solving sections. These exploratory moments see Senua stumbling through very detailed, and sometimes confusing, surroundings - looking for runes in the environment. The runes often unlock via a change in perception, whether that's just finding the right spot to look, or doing another action to then create the right conditions for the rune to appear. This is, of course, another reference to Senua's mental state and how perception often guides reality.
How perspective can shape our actions, or allow us to continue through difficult times. These puzzles offer us insight into Senua's ongoing struggles, and how she is dealing with them, with each new environment exploring some trauma or difficulty in Senua's own world - represented by the scenes in front of us. Sometimes the line between what is explorable and what isn't can be a bit blurry. I don't actually think this is intended, but it is funny how that could also be seen as an allegory for Senua's psychosis blurring the line between fiction and reality.
Despite those minor grievances, Hellblade's greatest strength lies in its presentation, The superb audio design - spearheaded by the voices - elevates every scene and moment the game offers you. The boss encounters are very strong, as they often have a more interesting combat gimmick. Combining this with the eerie sounds of Senua's mind and an additional unique visual flair, the boss fights become something special. The cutscenes especially are exemplary.
The cutscenes make excellent use of color, lighting, and effects to convey their messages.
Despite being 7 years old at the time of writing this review, the cutscenes are still gorgeous. Yes, graphical fidelity has far surpassed what is here (see Senua's Saga: Hellblade II), but the direction and acting are exemplary. Melina Juergens, in particular, gives a stunning performance as Senua - able to convey such a wide array of emotions so well. Whatever facial tracking they used was implemented not only better than its contemporaries, but is still a great example today. Even beyond the graphics themselves, the use of darkness, lighting, effects, and camerawork makes everything feel tense and confusing. They really managed to put some amazing work in here.
However amazing those moments may be, I do not believe they will be known as Hellblade's lasting legacy. The visuals and presentation, while stellar, are (and will continue to be) outpaced. Time marches on for all of us, after all, and no number of cutscenes will ever cover up the unfortunate reality that playing this game isn't all that fun sometimes. Instead, I think Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice will be primarily remembered for its representation of psychosis and mental illness. It is a conscious depiction with real care taken to display and understand Senua's struggles, and it becomes a mirror for us to examine our own understanding of the world and how so much of it is shaped by our own perception and circumstance.
Verdict Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is at times moving and at others frustrating in its execution. With a considered portrayal of mental illness, it's a game that has a lot to say, and does so very well. While ultimately held back by its repetitive, often boring combat and some areas not being clearly navigable, Hellblade is something worth experiencing. Ninja Theory has made sure the subject matter is both handled with care, and remains interesting. If nothing else, it is a commendable effort.  |
Image Credits: Taylor Rioux
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