Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
 |
| Released by Ninja Theory for the Nintendo Switch on April 11, 2019, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice follows the titular character (Senua, not Hellblade!), as she descends into the Viking underworld to save her lover's soul. |
 |
| Lousy first paragraph out of the way. Pretty picture. Review can now commence. |
While I've been going to bat for their validity as an art-form as far back as when Roger Ebert was arguing the opposite, even I'll admit that video games aren't exactly known for their nuance and subtlety. When I heard that Hellblade was going to attempt to explore the topic of psychosis through the frame of an action-based video game, I had my doubts. All I could think of was that awful crying baby sequence from Max Payne.
But Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a miracle. The developer's did their homework, not only collaborating with neuroscientists and psychologists to develop the game, but actual people suffering from psychosis. A documentary that comes with the game shows that these were no toss-off early interviews in the game-making process--the developers actually returned to these experts and experiencers again and again to show the game's progress, and to ensure that their representation of psychosis had not gone off track.
But Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a miracle. The developer's did their homework, not only collaborating with neuroscientists and psychologists to develop the game, but actual people suffering from psychosis. A documentary that comes with the game shows that these were no toss-off early interviews in the game-making process--the developers actually returned to these experts and experiencers again and again to show the game's progress, and to ensure that their representation of psychosis had not gone off track.
 |
| You know, your standard video game stuff. |
This portrayal of psychosis is done in an incredibly creative way. The game focuses on Senua, a Pict warrior in 8th Century Northern England. Senua has lived with psychosis her entire life, and been abused by her father both physically and psychologically, to the point that her father has effectively placed her in exile, away from the rest of her village. He refers to her psychosis as a "curse," years before having burned Senua's mother at the stake for suffering from the same "curse." While isolated, Senua meets Dillion, who does not believe her psychosis to be a curse, and who takes Senua to his own village. However, when a plague strikes Dillion's village, Senua feels the blame is hers, and leaves to wander the forest alone, until she meets Druth, a Celt who was kidnapped by, and spent years traveling with Vikings. Druth teaches Senua everything he knows, and and after a year, Senua decides to return to Dillion's village...only to find that these Vikings she's heard so much about have been there first.
Everyone has been killed, and Dillion has been sacrificed in a blood eagle ceremony. This is where the Hellblade begins, as Senua, possibly breaking from reality, takes Dillion's head, and resolves to go on an epic journey to rescue Dillion's soul from the Viking's gods.
Everyone has been killed, and Dillion has been sacrificed in a blood eagle ceremony. This is where the Hellblade begins, as Senua, possibly breaking from reality, takes Dillion's head, and resolves to go on an epic journey to rescue Dillion's soul from the Viking's gods.
 |
| Even in its more grotesque moments, this game is beautiful. Kind of like me, when I'm eating. |
That's a pretty rich backstory, but it's thankfully not just exposition-dumped like I did to you above-- Senua's Sacrifice organically unfolds it through the duration of the game. The player takes control of Senua from a third-person perspective, as she navigates vast, 3D environments. Throughout the game, Senua's psychosis manifests itself in the guise of constant voices in her head, and in the player's ears, as well as through visions and unique aesthetic tweaks to the game's visuals.
Hellblade's gameplay jumps between environment-based puzzle-solving, and intense, hand-to-hand combat. The game's puzzles won't exactly break anyone's mind, but they're mostly a fun challenge. They generally revolve around Senua's ability to see symbols in her environments--players will be shown symbols on a locked door, and then have to search for the same symbols around the local area, in order to unlock the door and proceed. Other puzzles can be a bit trickier, but thankfully never obtuse or esoteric.
Hellblade's gameplay jumps between environment-based puzzle-solving, and intense, hand-to-hand combat. The game's puzzles won't exactly break anyone's mind, but they're mostly a fun challenge. They generally revolve around Senua's ability to see symbols in her environments--players will be shown symbols on a locked door, and then have to search for the same symbols around the local area, in order to unlock the door and proceed. Other puzzles can be a bit trickier, but thankfully never obtuse or esoteric.
 |
| Today's puzzle is brought to you by the letter "H." |
Outside of its thematic hooks, though, the true gameplay draw here is Hellblade's intense combat.As Senua traverses Hellblade's increasingly surreal environments, she faces hordes of demonically disfigured Viking warriors, as well as several monstrous bosses. Senua's sword remains sheathed throughout the game, until she is approached by enemies, which keeps a clear dividing line between the game's puzzle and combat sections. However, once a combat section begins, there's no running away.
Senua's combat moves include a strong sword attack, medium sword attack, a block, a dodge, and a kick that staggers enemies. If enough enemy attacks are blocked, Senua earns a chance to focus. Focusing slows down time, while allowing Senua to move at regular speed, allowing her to pummel her foes. The game also features a select set of ghostly, spectral foes that focusing makes corporeal.
Fights are insanely intense, with the lone, average-size Senua often facing off against multiple hulking, terrifying foes. The controls are spot-on, with timing and strategy key, but the games' graphics and sound design also add to the experience immeasurably. The hulking, highly detailed, frighteningly animated enemies are the stuff of nightmares. As players deal with these fiends, their ears will not only have to contend with monstrous growls and roars and the clash of steel, but the voices in Senua's head.
Senua's combat moves include a strong sword attack, medium sword attack, a block, a dodge, and a kick that staggers enemies. If enough enemy attacks are blocked, Senua earns a chance to focus. Focusing slows down time, while allowing Senua to move at regular speed, allowing her to pummel her foes. The game also features a select set of ghostly, spectral foes that focusing makes corporeal.
Fights are insanely intense, with the lone, average-size Senua often facing off against multiple hulking, terrifying foes. The controls are spot-on, with timing and strategy key, but the games' graphics and sound design also add to the experience immeasurably. The hulking, highly detailed, frighteningly animated enemies are the stuff of nightmares. As players deal with these fiends, their ears will not only have to contend with monstrous growls and roars and the clash of steel, but the voices in Senua's head.
 |
| I'm not exactly an expert on body language, but I think this guy may be trying to intimidate me. |
"She's too weak, she can't do it," whisper the voices in Senua's head, amidst a helpful "Watch out!" or "Behind you!" warning the player to block. "She's hurt, she won't make it!"
Oh, and did I mention the music? The majority of the combat is soundtracked by Viking war chants.
The genre-blending soundtrack by David García Díaz is a wonder. Díaz employs ambient music in the game's quiet, more meditative sections, the aforementioned Viking chant tracks (with vocals by Norweigen, Andy LaPlegua) in the fights, and most surprisingly, contemporary instrumental rock in some of the game's shockingly beautiful sections.
The sound design as a whole is one of Hellblade's greatest assets. The team at Ninja Theory employed a binaural recording method, meaning they used two microphones in the studio to create an enveloping 3D sound design, and this method absolutely immerses the player in Senua's head. The game features an opening menu message urging the player to experience the game with headphones on, and I concur. While Senua's Sacrifice is still a good game without them, headphones make a huge positive difference, and the handheld mode of the hybrid Switch is tailor-made for such an experience.
Oh, and did I mention the music? The majority of the combat is soundtracked by Viking war chants.
The genre-blending soundtrack by David García Díaz is a wonder. Díaz employs ambient music in the game's quiet, more meditative sections, the aforementioned Viking chant tracks (with vocals by Norweigen, Andy LaPlegua) in the fights, and most surprisingly, contemporary instrumental rock in some of the game's shockingly beautiful sections.
The sound design as a whole is one of Hellblade's greatest assets. The team at Ninja Theory employed a binaural recording method, meaning they used two microphones in the studio to create an enveloping 3D sound design, and this method absolutely immerses the player in Senua's head. The game features an opening menu message urging the player to experience the game with headphones on, and I concur. While Senua's Sacrifice is still a good game without them, headphones make a huge positive difference, and the handheld mode of the hybrid Switch is tailor-made for such an experience.
 |
| Just what I wanted to do today: fight a bunch of demons twice my size in a sea of rotting corpses. |
However, this iteration of Hellblade's most major flaws are also a result of the Switch's own shortcomings as a system. Graphically, for the PC, PS4, and XBox One, Senua's Sacrifice is a marvel. The mountainous landscapes, misty forests, dark, terrifying hell-pits, and hypersensualized environmental effects are all stunning. For this Switch port, as for all Switch ports of graphically complex games, concessions had to be made to keep the game running. The first employs the most common technique, lowering graphical detail a bit, and adding a little blurriness. In all honesty, this is fine. For the system's best ports, like Doom, this hasn't distracted from gameplay, at all. However, at one moment in the game, I had another issue...
 |
| Thankfully, not involving my Switch catching on fire, though WOW is this fight sequence badass. |
About 3/4 of the way into the game, Senua is chased by a fiery demon. By all appearances, on my Switch, Senua was simply in a large room, full of invisible walls. She kept getting stuck, and I kept dying, burning to death over and over again. I had died a few times before this moment, but had never been all out annihilated like this--this room seemed impossible!
Something was off.
I finally caved, and searched online for a solution to the area, something I HATE ever doing, and generally only do if I get stuck somewhere for days. Lo and behold, when I found a walkthrough video for the area online, it showed a bunch of hallways, not a big, open room. Senua was supposed to be running through a maze...but there were no hallways on my screen! Sure enough, I turned off my Switch (thankfully, Senua's Sacrifice frequently autosaves), turned it back on, loaded up the area, and voila, hallways. That's one hell of a glitch. If I had been more stubborn, I would have been stuck in the area for weeks. A graphical glitch of that magnitude is simply unacceptable.
Something was off.
I finally caved, and searched online for a solution to the area, something I HATE ever doing, and generally only do if I get stuck somewhere for days. Lo and behold, when I found a walkthrough video for the area online, it showed a bunch of hallways, not a big, open room. Senua was supposed to be running through a maze...but there were no hallways on my screen! Sure enough, I turned off my Switch (thankfully, Senua's Sacrifice frequently autosaves), turned it back on, loaded up the area, and voila, hallways. That's one hell of a glitch. If I had been more stubborn, I would have been stuck in the area for weeks. A graphical glitch of that magnitude is simply unacceptable.
 |
| Then again, they got things that look like this to run smoothly. |
The graphics, as a whole, though, for the Switch at least, are great. Highly detailed, immersive environments, and the fights, even when the foe count rises high, rarely have performance issues. There are moments when the resolution clearly lowers a bit to keep performance running smoothly, but these aren't too distracting.
The game's greatest graphical marvel is Senua, herself. Ninja Theory asked their video editor, Melina Juergens, to be the motion capture actor for Senua, and she does as fantastic a job acting as Ninja Theory does rendering her. There's no uncanny valley here--Senua feels real. But it's not just in her physical acting that Juergens excels. Ninja Theory also asked Juergens, who had no prior acting experience, to provide the voice of Senua, as well. This was a huge burden to place on someone who only came onto the project to edit video, but Melina Juergens performance is revelatory. Juergens, who won a much-deserved BAFTA award for her performance here, imbues so much raw emotion into this role, it is impossible not to empathize with Senua.
The game's greatest graphical marvel is Senua, herself. Ninja Theory asked their video editor, Melina Juergens, to be the motion capture actor for Senua, and she does as fantastic a job acting as Ninja Theory does rendering her. There's no uncanny valley here--Senua feels real. But it's not just in her physical acting that Juergens excels. Ninja Theory also asked Juergens, who had no prior acting experience, to provide the voice of Senua, as well. This was a huge burden to place on someone who only came onto the project to edit video, but Melina Juergens performance is revelatory. Juergens, who won a much-deserved BAFTA award for her performance here, imbues so much raw emotion into this role, it is impossible not to empathize with Senua.
 |
| As well as be jealous of her headwear. |
Not to jump on a soapbox here, but to definitely jump on a soapbox here, certain people in positions of power who also have absolutely no idea what they are talking about or no ground to stand on have taken to yet again blaming video games for issues they have had absolutely no culpability in causing. A few years ago, I attended a Nintendo-sanctioned live symphony performance of music from the Legend of Zelda series. The performance was punctuated by special video messages from such industry luminaries as Shigeru Miyamoto and Koji Kondo, who happened to mention that one of their original intentions in video game creation was to engender empathy in children. In this powerful video game, in moments where Juergens as Senua cries out in anguish at the condemning voices in her head, or screams in violent terror as she believes she is being torn apart by a nightmarish hellbeast (in one of the game's most terrifying sequences, colors and a horrific face strobe on screen as Senua believes she is being attacked), it is impossible not to feel those same emotions for her character. Indeed, though I've never dealt with psychosis, I've certainly had my own mental health struggles, and found myself weeping through most of this game. I have no idea what well of emotion Juergens, again, a complete newcomer to acting, pulled from to embody this performance with such pathos and power, but I am overjoyed that she is being so strongly recognized for it. It is one of the best acting performances in video game history.
 |
| And she had to do all of it in an empty room! |
Despite its performance issues, I am quite happy that Hellblade made the trip over to Nintendo's flagship console. Games like this are rarely attempted, yet alone successful. Hellblade's artistic exploration of a once taboo mental condition is incredible, its combat is intense and addictive, its sound design immersive. The graphical downsizing and rare catastrophic glitch are disappointing, but don't detract on the whole from Hellblade's goals.
Also, unlike...many other games, Senua's Sacrifice features a making-of documentary as an extra. I wish there was a way to fast-forward or rewind it, and the sound glitched on it me once, but overall it shines a light on all of the intense research, work, and care that went into this game. It was edited by Juergens herself. Here's to whatever she and Ninja Theory do next.
Also, unlike...many other games, Senua's Sacrifice features a making-of documentary as an extra. I wish there was a way to fast-forward or rewind it, and the sound glitched on it me once, but overall it shines a light on all of the intense research, work, and care that went into this game. It was edited by Juergens herself. Here's to whatever she and Ninja Theory do next.
SCORE: 8.2/10
Comments
Post a Comment