Best game I have played in a while
I haven't played many video games lately, but when I do, I like games that I can pick up and play for about 20 minutes for a match or two and call it a day. So a game like Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice normally wouldn't be that type of a game.
This game is a single player dark fantasy game where you play as Senua, as she fights her way to Helheim to rescue the soul of her lost lover from the goddess Hela.
The game has strong Celtic and Norse mythological roots, which I am already interested in. The game developers have also worked with psychologists that have studied psychosis as they developed this game, which give a very real experience as you play.
As you play, Senua battles demons and voices in her head. The game is best experienced while wearing a nice pair of headphones, so you can take in the full experience of her mental state and the spacial sound that the developers created. The sound is one of the greatest aspects of the game.
The game is also amazing to look at. It has some of the best atmosphere effects I have seen in a game.
As you fight your way towards the gate to Helheim, you must first defeat two different bosses,Valravyn and Surtr. To get to them, you must go through a series of challenges and puzzles in their different sections.
With Valravyn, you have a series of doors you must unlock by going to the door and then finding the runes out in the area that you are in. Valravyn is a master of illusion and has different "portals" set up that change things in the environment and you must find them and go through them in the correct order and then you must find the way to the runes to unlock the door.
After you solve all of the puzzles and must face Valravyn in a pretty epic fight.
The combat in the game takes some getting used to and there isn't really and explanation to it. There really isn't any explanation to anything in the game, which I think is pretty awesome because it helps bring you into game world more.
The kill animation when defeating Valravyn is pretty cool. This game really doesn't hold anything back with its brutality, which I like, because this type of fighting can be pretty brutal, so if you are just slapping someone with a sword and nothing is happening to them, I think that is pretty dumb.
Surtr's domain had different types of puzzles. In Norse mythology, Surtr is believed to be one of the major figures that will be bringing in Ragnarok, or the fiery end of the world.
His puzzles revolve around fire and destruction. You have to find runes to unlock a door that leads to a pyre that then engulfs the environment into flames and then you must run to the locked door that leads to the next environment.
After you make your way through all of the environments and defeat all of the enemies along the way, you face Surtr and his massive sword.
This was a pretty cool fight because during the fight, Surtr would engulf himself in flames and damage you if you hit him, and his sword would also fhoot flames into the ground when swung.
After defeating Valravyn and Surtr, Senua makes her way back to the door that leads to the bridge to Helheim.
After she crosses through the door, everything goes black and she see is left with a vision of her friend Druth, that has been in her head the whole time. Druth appears to be dying and give her a warning about what is coming. Then she is all alone.
After Druth leaves her, probably the coolest voice comes into her head. The voice acting and sound design of this game is truly amazing and really adds to the whole experience.
The voice tells her about what is waiting for her in Helheim, and reminds her why she is going. He also shows her what they have done to her loved one.
This is where I have left Senua. The bridge to Helheim. I feel that the journey has just begun and I can't wait to see where the rest of the game takes me.
If you haven't checked this game out yet, I would highly recommend it. It is available on all the current consoles and PC. All of the screenshots were taken by me while I played so that I make this review. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope that it got you interested in checking out Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.