Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice Is Intense, Exhausting And Powerful

Welcome back to our ongoing Pile of Shame series, where Ash plays his forgotten games and people give him shit on social media for not having anything interesting to say. At least he’s safe in the knowledge that no-one would ever want to plagiarise his drivel.

Last week, Ash spoke about Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, the smash hit from Ninja Theory that tackles mental health in a provocative fashion. Well, he also spoke about his Xbox being broke, but that’s neither here nor there. Now that he’s spent some time with the game, here’s what he has to say.

Usually, when playing a great single player title, I’ll try to binge-play as much as I can in one session. I’ll attempt to immerse myself in the game’s world for hours at a time, as my editor constantly sends me messages telling me to get back to work. I couldn’t do that with Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice.

It’s not that the game is bad. Let’s dispel that theory right now, because Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is absolutely fantastic. It’s because the game is so mentally exhausting to play that it becomes a struggle to maintain a long play session. I’m sure there’s a joke there about me not lasting long, but now doesn’t seem like the right time.

One of the biggest reasons why it’s so taxing is because of Senua’s Furies. As you play, you’re constantly plagued by the voices in Senua’s head that represent her own convictions, doubts, paranoia, observations and more. The game recommends using headphones to get the full extent of their constant presence, and it’s a lot to handle.

Despite Hellblade being a solo journey; one woman’s quest to travel into the depths of Helheim to reunite with her lost love, her headspace is always crowded. Overwhelming, even. The constant environmental noise, like waves crashing on the shore or trees shaking in the wind, coupled with the Furies’ incessant and unwelcome vocalisations can almost lead to an audio-sensory overload.

The Furies themselves take great delight in your misfortune, but will occasionally help you out during fights or when looking for the solution to certain puzzles. Still, you do get a sense that the Furies aren’t helping you out for your own benefit. It’s self preservation for them too, so they can live to give you shit another day. It seems like the only reason that the Furies want to keep you alive is so they can derive further pleasure from your suffering.

In the opening text for the game, Ninja Theory state that Senua’s psychosis was created with the input of experts and those who have experienced psychosis themselves. After experiencing just a taste of what it was like in Hellblade, I have much more sympathy for those who are affected by it. The development have created a game with both an effective and relatable narrative, but also an eye-opening representation of a very real affliction.

All the praise given to the narrative and its representation would have fell by the wayside had Hellblade’s gameplay been lacklustre, but the game delivers in that department too. The combat is more stripped back and basic than a lot of Ninja Theory games, including their take on the Devil May Cry series, Enslaved and more, but it works in Hellblade’s favour.

Instead of focusing on landing huge combos, fighting enemies is much more grounded. It’s dirtier, grittier and feels much more like an actual struggle to survive. In every fight, you’re either outmatched by the Northmen or outnumbered to an insane degree, testing Senua’s resolve and your determination to come out on top. One sequence in particular, involving a body of water and a lot of dead people, was particularly heart-pounding.

Wave after wave of stronger and stronger opponents spawned in, as Senua grew more exhausted and battle weary as the fight drew on. Both her and I were barely hanging on by a thread by the time the last enemy was dealt with.That section also looked like something out of a Mortal Kombat stage, so start shotgunning your Senua for MK 11 predictions now.

What was surprising to me was how much emphasis the game places on the moments between fights. The visual puzzles, the runestones with hidden lore and those Trials of Odin all provided new gameplay challenges outside of twatting vikings until they fall over. Though looking for runes in the environment proved to be the bane of my existence, other challenges turned out to be more rewarding.

The swamp and blindness trials provide exceptional, nail-biting tension in two completely different ways. Avoiding the fire monster in the swamp trial while trying to find those precious runes was an unexpected rush of adrenaline in an otherwise slow-paced section of the game, while the blindness trial played brilliantly on that fear of the unknown, challenging you to trust what you could hear over what you could see.

Admittedly, my journey with Hellblade is still incomplete, though it’s approaching its conclusion. As much as there is to love about the game, it still requires a lot of effort to enter its world. Though you’re free to come and go from Hellblade as you please, there’s something about the game that stays with you long after you’ve turned off your console or PC, and that’s incredibly powerful.

In an earlier Pile of Shame article, I joked that this series is completely self-serving, and it’s a pretty accurate statement, but without it, there was a very real danger that I would have completely forgotten about this game. If nothing else, I’m glad I’ve finally been able to experience it for myself.

As for next week’s article, that’s still up in the air. Ash is still waiting on his Xbox repair, which might arrive within the next day or so, or in a week’s time. There’s no middle ground here. We’ll either be picking up where we left off regarding Resident Evil 7, or checking in with an angry dad and his boy.