A warrior is headed towards the gates of Hel. In a pouch on her waist, she is carrying the severed head of her lover Dillion, as in the head resides the soul of a human and if she is to rescue her love, she needs to take the head to Hela herself. The gates of Hel are not easily approached, not for a mere mortal at least.
But it's not only the monster of Hel that are standing on Senuas way on her journey, but it is also her mental psychosis as well. Her biggest obstacles come from within herself, in the form of doubt, delusions and hallucinations, stemming from her own life, myths, fantasies and shock of the death of Dillion.
Hellblade is an action-adventure game, where Senua has to overcome different obstacles on her path to Hel. Some of these obstacles are in a form of combat, where she has to best the demon warriors on her way, some are mazes formed from her own broken psyche and some environmental puzzles, she has to solve.
The combat system is pretty solid, also allowing to switch the difficulty if it begins to feel too hard. Senua can block, dodge, kick and swing her sword as well as use her concentration to speed up her own actions, thus being able to take on multiple gigantic enemies at once. Senua can perish during the battle, but that doesn't lead to her death, it leads the dark rot to take a stronger hold in her. And if the rot reaches her head, her soul, then she will truly perish. Or will you?
The mazes are more akin to environmental puzzles rather than roadblocking mazes. What this really means is, that mazes are more constructed of Senuas own fears and confusion rather than solid structures. For example, she has to move through dark grounds with monsters leering at her in the dark, preying on her. Senua has to move between spots of light, but the darkness manifests itself as hallucinations, making navigation harder.
The environmental puzzles come in a couple of forms. At times Senua stumbles upon locked gates with rune locks in them. In order to open them, she has to find the corresponding runes hidden within the locations she is in. These runes can be formed from thins like two trees crossing each other or shadow hitting the ground from a hole in a wall. The game does give an indicator of a rune hidden near, but you still do have to locate it. Then there are fractures in reality, like a bridge that has been cut off. On these cases, the area has floating fractures in the air, which Senua has to place on their correct position with her focus skill.
The gameplay elements of Hellblade are well crafted, but what really makes it stand out is how the psychosis os Senua is portrayed. There are graphical ques and hallucinations as well as a very well executed audio world, where she hears whispers and noises all around her. The way the world has been built really does elevate the game above a standard action game.
What really stands out in the graphics is how Senua herself has been constructed. She is, bar none, the most expressive 3D character I've seen in games. The fear, the confusion, the determination, hope and hatred can all be seen in her expression during the game. At times she is placed against FMV characters during cut scenes, and it works very well.
Unlike many other action games, Hellblade takes its story seriously as well. The story itself is good enough to stand on its own, providing the history and current of Senue on her voyage to Hel. It provides a well written internal monologue on her journey of facing the odds few people could ever face.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a game I'd recommend highly, especially for action game fans. Because of its unique story and approach to mental problems, I can recommend it to other people as well. It might be a challenge if you are not accustomed to playing action games, but it still is a rewarding experience and a plunge into playing a character, who suffers from psychosis. It is available for Windows, Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
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