I will offer a video version for those who are more comfortable with the video format, and for those – enjoy watching.
Today we will talk to you about Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice.
For those who are more comfortable or familiar with the text format, I wish you a pleasant reading.
And this story should start with a brief history of the studio that created it. Ninja Theory – a team of difficult fate. All of their projects are far from ideal, but they have originality and a certain charm, which is why they were highly praised by critics and gained a circle of loyal fans (well, except for Bleeding Edge, perhaps), although they could never boast of outstanding sales.
Heavenly Sword of 2007 was a competitor to the first parts of God of War and was remembered by many for its interesting combat system, beautiful design and colorful characters, including the main villain played by the honored Gollum Andy Serkis. But at the same time, many people criticized the excessive difficulty, inconvenient controls, boring boss fights and the general lack of development of the game, noting the huge but unrealized potential.
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, released in 2010, was an original mixture of slasher and adventure platformer in the spirit of Uncharted, telling a road movie story in the setting of a post-apocalyptic world, in which empty cities were covered with plants, and people for the most part went wild and were hiding from combat robots, which in many ways anticipated the future Horizon. The game was again praised for its original setting, colorful characters (Andy Serkis now played the role of the protagonist) and cinematic production, but was also criticized for the repetitiveness of the gameplay.
It’s a shame Andy Serkis didn’t stay in the studio’s next game. I would watch him perform Dante.)
Well, DmC became one of the most resonant and discussed games of 2013. It’s a pity that it’s not in a positive way. Chosen to reboot the Devil May Cry series, developers from Ninja Theory offered the Japanese owners a style and images of characters close to the original ones, but they rejected these developments. As well as a lot of other proposals, like the biker-priest Dante exorcising demons and possessed people in a religious-Christian setting. Capcom demanded something more stylish, fashionable and youthful. And when Ninja Theory finally managed to find a Japanese-approved image of Dante and the setting, and presented it to the public in the announcement trailer, it was drowned in dislikes and angry comments criticizing the skinny smoking emo boy.
When the game was released, it received high marks from the press and flattering reviews from new players, offering an interesting and dynamic combat system, although it lost in depth compared to the previous parts, a colorful setting, an excellent soundtrack and a simple, but perhaps the most complete story in the series. Old fans criticized the simplification of the combat system, the loss of originality and the unique style of the series, and Dante, who turned from a polished, witty handsome man into a crocodile rebel edgelord.
The change in Dante’s image impressed fans so much that to this day it remains almost the most discussed part of the game.
Sales were also far from impressive. But the game has attracted a small circle of devoted fans. Even the developers of the main line of Devil May Cry have repeatedly praised it, not only in words, but also by including many of its gameplay and visual elements in the fifth part of the series.
DmC, in many ways, returned and increased public interest in the series, united old fans, attracted new ones and greatly contributed to the release of Devil May Cry 5. But, despite all the achievements, the relaunch was considered unsuccessful and the collaboration between Capcom and Ninja Theory was ended. It’s a pity, I myself really love DmC and would like to see its sequel along with the continuation of the main line.
Well, Ninja Theory, after the failure of DmC, decided to act on their own, refusing the help of large publishers. In 2014, the studio’s new game, Hellblade, about a Celtic warrior, was first presented to the public. And in August 2017 it was released, having managed to collect good sales, a lot of flattering reviews and causing a wide public response with its theme, becoming a real symbol of independent indie games.
So, let’s start with the plot.
Late eighth century. Scandinavian Vikings launch a major invasion of the British Isles, destroying and enslaving the local Celtic population.
Senua is a warrior from the Pictish people, suffering from psychosis since childhood, and because of this she was considered cursed and persecuted by her fellow tribesmen, even by her own father. During Senua’s absence, her village was devastated by the Vikings, her loved ones were killed, and the girl’s lover, Dillion, was put to death by the conquerors, known as the "blood eagle".
The ribs are broken and pulled out, the lungs are lowered under them so that the breathing of the dying person raises the ribs, imitating the flapping of wings.
Experiencing severe psychological trauma and an acute attack of psychosis, Senua remembers the stories of the fugitive Viking slave who lived with them, takes with her the head of her lover and goes to the lands of the northerners to find the gate to their world of the dead and ask the goddess Hel to return her beloved. Her journey in a world intricately intertwined with reality, hallucinations, heard myths and personal memories is what the game shows..
The rest is better to see for yourself. The main plot of the plot is simple and can be told in one or two sentences. In essence, this is one big metaphor and a deep emotional experience of experiencing the loss of a loved one.
There are no sharp turns or bright conflicts with villains. The twists here are in rethinking things and changing Senua’s consciousness. The conflict is in the heroine herself, in her memories and emotions. And the main villain is a tragedy that has already happened, inexorable and passionless.
Despite the episodes with battles and chases, Hellblade reminded me most of all of games like What Remains of Edith Finch and Dear Esther with its pace and impressions left behind. It is a deeply personal experience of a man going through a lonely journey and lost in his thoughts and memories. Only in this case, this is the experience of a mentally ill girl, experiencing severe post-traumatic disorder, living in the cruel era of the early Middle Ages and brought up on stories and myths that will give nightmares even to men who went through the war.
During development, the game’s creators constantly sought advice from both specialists studying mental disorders and people who had personal experience of psychosis. All this helped create a very vivid and authentic experience that incorporates a lot of images, situations and symptoms experienced by real people.
Psychosis refers to a loss of contact with objective reality and is characterized by two main types of symptoms – hallucinations (that is, sensory perceptions of non-existent things) and delusions (bizarre judgments for which there is no real basis). And both of these aspects Ninja Theory brought to the game with amazing care and attention.
Space disintegrating like a www.megaspielhalle-casino.co.uk torn photograph. Bright, luminous colors. Environment that blurs when moving. Rippling surfaces. Fading light around. Falling walls. Yes, even the suspended bodies – all this was taken from the experience of psychosis of real people.
And here we can note how devilishly beautiful the game is, impressive even seven years after its release. This is also an achievement of technical specialists – the effects, models and animations in the game are not inferior in quality to modern AAA projects.
This is also a huge achievement of the artists – the locations are breathtaking with their beauty and images. A huge dilapidated castle, as if assembled from parts of ships into a shape reminiscent of a dragon. A gigantic withered tree, whose branches are dotted with hanged men and in whose roots there is a dark cave. Some locations even resemble real hell with rivers of blood, fiery light and legions of martyrs.
The characters are not far behind – the Viking northerners, who have lost all humanity, are more like monsters, creepy and threatening, greatly surpassing Senua in size. And their gods, who came from harsh myths, are completely similar to the inhabitants of nightmares, be it the fiery giant Surtr, the beast Gram guarding the kingdom of the dead, or the goddess of the dead Hel.
And Senua herself turned out to be surprisingly lively and convincing. Her emotions and experiences attract attention and evoke a response, you believe her every second of what happens. Melina Jurgens was originally a video editor at the studio, but she so impressed others with her acting that she became the leading actress. And looking at the result of her work, it’s easy to understand why.
The heroine moves very vividly and naturally, whether in calm episodes or fighting techniques in fights, and looks authentic. The latter was also monitored very carefully, as the team constantly consulted with historians, trying to maintain as accurately as possible the appearance of the era in all aspects – from architecture to clothing and paint on the faces of the characters.
And Senua just looks nice and beautiful. It does not seem embellished and unnatural, nor does it seem deliberately disfigured. This is an ordinary, albeit very pretty girl in excellent physical shape. I’m no expert, but it seems to me that this is an approximate peak for a woman who constantly exercises and fencing without special training equipment or nutrition. In general, Senua seems alive and real. Perhaps with surprisingly healthy teeth and skin for the Middle Ages, but sometimes it’s really better to omit realism.)
She is interesting to watch, easy to sympathize with and understandable. This is a very lonely and unhappy man who grew up with a serious illness, for which at that time there was no other explanation other than curses and evil spirits. Such people, driven mad by injuries, grief and illness, were called “Gelts” and were driven into the forests in search of repentance and purification. And Senua, whose psyche was crippled not only by the disease, but also by the attitude of those around her, also lost all her loved ones at once, which intensified her psychosis many times over, pushing her on a desperate and crazy journey in the hope of saving her loved one even at the cost of her life.
The rest of the characters in the game were embodied using video inserts with live (and very convincing) actors, without creating real game models. Looks unusual and fits well into the overall surreal visual style. Later, Remedy used a similar technique in Alan Wake 2.
The game and non-standard camera work in cutscenes are similar to the Finnish creativity. They have a lot of original transitions, unusual angles and effects. The camera often seems to take the perspective of the fictional interlocutor Senua is speaking to, which helps make the story feel even more personal, as if the heroine is telling it directly to the player.
One of the most striking heroes is the slave Drut, who fled from the Vikings. His stories often brighten up our loneliness.
The visual and audio components are inseparable. And it was done at a very high level. Everything in the game world, from the murmur of falling water to the ringing of crossed blades, sounds convincing. The music, in general, is carefully maintained in the spirit of the era and the mood of the game, be it folk melodies in the Senua themes or aggressive drums and Norwegian chants in the Viking themes. Electronic elements are well woven into the overall picture, reinforcing the mood and combining with the delusional nature of what is happening. The only thing missing from all this is the song in the end credits, which I don’t know how to feel about. On the one hand, it is too modern and famous, but on the other hand, it is good in itself and fits perfectly into the theme.
But the highlight of the local sound program, of course, is auditory hallucinations. They chase Senua throughout the game, sometimes whispering, sometimes screaming. Sometimes they encourage and give advice, sometimes they humiliate and panic. Sometimes these are distinct, almost familiar personalities, sometimes a chaos of many unfamiliar voices. In headphones, they are constantly moving and sounding from different directions and distances, creating a completely unlike anything experience.
Voices also give advice in battle and riddles, hint what to do and praise you for the right actions. It turns out to be a kind of diegetic interface, which in the game as a whole is kept to a minimum. No health bar, no direction marker, no quest log. The screen darkens from the damage received; when focus accumulates, the sword and the mirror on the belt glow; voices and level design will tell you where to go and what to do. All this works great for immersion.
Remember, I said that in addition to hallucinations, psychosis is also characterized by delusional ideas? They also found a place for themselves in the gameplay of the game, becoming the basis for local riddles.
In battles, voices tell you about enemies sneaking up behind you, panic after receiving damage and gloatingly demand to finish off wounded enemies.
Even mentally healthy people often believe in the power of rituals and omens. You know, “you can’t say goodbye over the threshold,” “if you’re back, look in the mirror,” and stuff like that. For people suffering from psychosis, things can be much more complicated and serious. The statement “I cannot open the door until I find the three guarding hands depicted on it, which are hidden somewhere in the room around me” – for them it may seem like pure truth and a completely logical state of affairs.
Local riddles are built on similar conditions, born from distorted, bizarre logic. Find runes hidden in the environment. Open a passage by looking at the desired place through a magical arch-gate, manage to run to the door by touching the source of fire or run away from something frightening. And it also looks frighteningly organic in a video game, don’t you think so??
In general, the riddles are quite interesting, they are not repeated too often (well, except for searching for runes), they try to change the conditions and become more complicated, forcing the player to act a little differently each time. Although, of course, you can get tired of them, considering that the game consists of about a third of them.
With the second third, everything is simple – this is a completely understandable walking simulator, accompanied by beautiful views, interesting stories, monologues, memories and reasoning, and conversations of voices in the heroine’s head. Here I can only criticize Senua’s speed, which, although it works well for immersion, can be annoying when running back and forth through locations in search of solutions to riddles or local collectibles – stones of knowledge that tell Scandinavian legends.
Often, to find a rune you need to look for the right angle and distance so that the perspective will fold the objects into the desired shape.
Moreover, the game likes to abuse situations like “to open the door further, pass three tests”. While the puzzles and game segments themselves are interesting, it is this treading water that ruins the sense of progression, downplaying the significance of individual episodes. I think if the same episodes simply went linearly and sequentially one after another, a coherent adventure, the game would not lose anything, but would only make the feeling of progress more obvious and enjoyable.
Well, the last third of the gameplay is combat, which is more and more difficult. It feels great – every blow is felt perfectly, the distance to opponents is well read, it’s easy to parry and dodge. But at the same time it is too simple – there is a strong and weak blow, literally two combos for each type and a push for knocking down blocks. There is a dash and roll with a double tap, and a block that, with perfect timing, turns into a parry.
There are only four types of enemies in the game, besides bosses, and they require practically no different tactics. Just hit and parry in time. For shield warriors, first knock down the block with a push. Avoid big guys instead of parrying them. Weak blows, it seemed to me, are not needed in principle. And the safest way to get through any fight is through parries. They have fairly gentle timings, stun enemies and allow you to carry out a powerful counterattack, during which all surrounding enemies freeze without interfering. They also heavily charge the focus – a local rage mode that slows down time.
Fights with several enemies, by the way, are not uncommon and are not very convenient, although not as critical as in many similar games. Yes, Senua is rigidly magnetized to one enemy and moves slowly, and the camera does not allow you to conveniently look around. But the heroine quite willingly switches to nearby enemies, parries any blow, even if she is not aimed at the attacker, and the camera is not so close that the character’s body blocks half of the view, as in the God of War restart. And the general unhurried pace of battles prevents problems from becoming critical.
In general, I enjoyed the local battles, they have too good an impact. But I can’t help but note that there are too many battles for such a simple combat system, the enemies are a bit fat and the battles get tiring towards the end.
In my opinion, a few simple improvements could save the situation:
Give enemies and the heroine less health, increasing the lethality of each blow, the tension and speed of battles
For example:
* A weak strike cannot penetrate a block, but slows the enemy down and opens him up to a strong strike that he would otherwise dodge.
* A strong blow penetrates a block except for shields, but many enemies can dodge it and during it you cannot go into a block
* The push after a successful dodge knocks you to the ground.
One thing that cannot be taken away from combat is that combat brings aesthetic pleasure until the very end. Especially when you do it right.
A number of such improvements would deepen the combat system, diversify it, force the player to search and change tactics more often, and with a general reduction in the number and duration of battles, this would be quite enough for a game of this scale.
But, unfortunately, the game, even with a short duration of 7-9 hours, can easily seem drawn out and tire many players. Constant spatial puzzles. Frequent and long battles with such a simple combat system. And the walking simulator, in general, is not a genre for everyone.
One of the main qualities for an interesting walking simulator is an interesting environment and beautiful views. There are no problems with this here.
And here, perhaps, we need to pay attention. Is Hellblade a good game?? Definitely yes. Is it worth playing for everyone?? Definitely not.
The topic of elite art is often perceived ambiguously. Many people think that elite art requires serious education and a black belt in the SRSG. In reality, these are simply works aimed at an audience of a certain narrow rather than a wide range. You can laugh, but, in fact, World of Tanks and Snowrunner are examples of elitist art, simply because they are aimed at a very specific circle of people and are not intended for everyone.
If we look even deeper, in essence, elite works and works of mass culture (pop) are simply poles on the same scale, which determines how broad a mass the work is addressed to. No game, movie or song is 100% popular, since there is nothing that absolutely everyone likes. And also nothing is 100% elitist, except that, I don’t know, only the author himself understands it.)
But that’s all I’m talking about. Hellblade is a clear example of elite art, arthouse, if you like. Author’s work addressed to specific viewers. Not every player will like it or find it interesting. And that’s completely normal.
Who can I recommend it to?? For all people interested in the topics of psychosis, hallucinations, post-traumatic disorder, loss of loved ones. To all people who are not just interested in these topics, but have had similar experiences. And just players who are not allergic to walking simulators and are looking for an unusual emotional experience and non-standard games, and not the scale of blockbusters, precise and involving gameplay and spectacular scenes.
If Hellblade doesn’t grab you, that’s okay. Rather, if it clings strongly, there are more reasons to worry about the safety of your cuckoo.
It’s hard for me to even call Hellblade a game in its entirety. If it were a film, it would be an arthouse semi-documentary with a lot of artistic elements. This is a vivid emotional experience that immerses us in the experiences and sensations of a very unusual person in a very unusual situation and environment.
I have great respect for the amount of work and attention to the questions and details of a difficult topic raised that Ninja Theory showed. And the letters that people write to them, thanking them for the fact that the game helped them understand loved ones suffering from psychosis, or helped them to be understood, was able to reliably show the experience of these people and raise their problems, excellent proof of the result and success of the work done.
And I really respect Ninja Theory for the fact that they were able to create a project on their own, without a publisher, that is not inferior to AAA blockbusters in a number of aspects, although, of course, not in all. But they deservedly became a symbol of the rise of the indie scene and independent projects, although, let’s be honest, it would be hard to call an ordinary indie studio a team with three AAA games under its belt.
Yes, as a game Hellblade is far from perfect, it has a number of serious problems. Which further complicates the perception of a game that is already not suitable for everyone. But this is a completely unique and unforgettable experience, this is a sad and scary, but life-affirming story, this is a journey into a bizarre and frightening world that exists in the eyes and head of an extraordinary person, driven by a close and understandable goal, which I cannot help but empathize with, although I am not able to believe in its success.
To believe that such a story and in such a world can end with something good, much less a miracle, is, to put it mildly, very difficult.
If I were to give an objective rating to Hellblade as a game it would be somewhere between a seven and an eight, but I don’t want to rate it in numerical terms. She is too unusual and original. I was interested in it containing both passages, and I had a lot of fun, no matter how it may sound within the framework of such a cruel story. And I recommend this game to be tried by anyone who is interested in the topics raised in it.
I’m making this video in anticipation of the release of the second part. I still don’t understand why it is being created (well, besides the money and prestige of Microsoft, of course), since the first game is a very solid and complete work. And judging by the practically absent advertising campaign, I assume that the publisher expects failure and is trying to save at least on marketing, and Ninja Theory themselves, after the release of the game, will either be sent to do more promising (from the publisher’s point of view) projects, or will be dissolved following Arkane Austin (Prey, Redfall) and Tango Gameworks (Hi-Fi Rush, Evil Within). Sad omens, in general.
The main question after the trailer for the second part is how other people see giants? Or the action takes place in a local madhouse?
Thank you for your attention ladies and gentlemen. Remember that even the gods of death, but the burden of pain and misfortune does not need to be borne alone, and it is often better to seek help from specialists.