Hellblade is Helheim

On 12/30/2017 at 12:56 AM by Super Step

I just finished Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice and holy Hela, it was an ordeal. I honestly feel drained, as if I really was with Senua down in Helheim. I paused the documentary feature that comes with the game to come here and type some comments, and it's interesting having some of my story suspicions confirmed or fleshed out a bit more clearly by that.

This game was DARK, but also beautiful at times, both visually and narratively. However, the light puzzles got really annoying. The combat felt simple, yet cheap, at times. Once I got used to combat, it was fun and immersive, but the puzzles ... ocassionaly felt rewarding, at one point could only be solved by standing just so far away from a door (it's a small bug I expect many people may not have run into, but still annoying), and always involved my least favorite thing to do when it comes to 3D video game puzzles: looking around trying to find shit.

I'll give Ninja Theory credit though, in that this game felt a lot more substantial than what its inital $30 price tage (I bought it on sale for less) and relatively short run time would have you believe. To boot, I'm fairly certain there's another trophy I didn't get by beating it involving finding runes that allude to Norse mythology. Maybe that's not it, but I seem to have gotten every other trophy just by beating the story, so I'd imagine so.

I'd recommend it if you're interested for the presentation alone, but be aware that the puzzles can be a bit fetch questy and the combat isn't going to satiate anyone's deep combat itch. It's still an experience I found grueling, but in a good way; like watching a challenging movie you probably wouldn't want to watch again.

I think this Gameranx review is pretty close to representing my thoughts:

KnightDriver

12/30/2017 at 08:08 AM

I'm excited to try any Ninja Theory game, flaws or no. I had a similar issue with a puzzle in Fable II. It required waiting a certain amount of time for an answer from a demon door. You had no idea that was required though. It drove me nuts.

Super Step Contributing Writer

12/30/2017 at 01:01 PM

Blech. In this one, it really is just a tiny glitch, but I audibly said "oh fuck you" when I looked it up. Then again, I also said that every time I lost to Brainiac in Injustice 2.

12/30/2017 at 06:53 PM

I was just talking to Mark about the difference between human common sense and the rules of a game. As games get more realistic, we apply more real world common sense to problem solving and sometimes it doesn't work because there's some hidden rule in the programing that you aren't aware of and that doesn't come under real world common sense problem solving.

12/30/2017 at 09:16 PM

Lol that's certainly true, but this wasn't just game logic, it was an unintentional glitch.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

12/30/2017 at 12:13 PM

I totally want this game. Just haven't gotten around to it.

12/30/2017 at 01:25 PM

I guess wear headphones if you do. I didn't and supposedly I missed out.

12/30/2017 at 01:48 PM

noted. thanks.

12/31/2017 at 09:53 PM

In fact, going through it again, there seem to be some audio hints I missed the first time that would have helped me solve some of these puzzles.

Ranger1

12/30/2017 at 12:34 PM

First I heard of this game was when I saw that you were playing it the other nght. I'll have to look it up at some point, it just won't be today.

For as much work had to go into the production, they really didn't market it.

Blake Turner Staff Writer

01/02/2018 at 01:28 PM

I tried it. It was too much for me and took me back to when I was experiencing similar things to Senua. It was a little too harrowing, and while I respect it, I don't think I'll try it again unfortunately. I feel like this game could have used a touch of levity at least so it didn't feel so constantly oppressive and draining.

01/02/2018 at 10:33 PM

Yeah, I definitely think it's better for helping someone without mental illness understand psychosis than it is showing someone with severe mental illness a good time

PixlBit