HeLLbLaDe: senua’s saCrifiCe
In the woad to Hell
Hellblade is like little we’ve seen before. There’s DNA of Ninja Theory’s earlier, actionorientated works here, but also spatial puzzling, harrowing audiovisual storytelling and a blend of unusual new ideas.
It charts Celtic warrior Senua’s quest to rescue a loved one’s soul from the Norse underworld, and her battle with trauma-induced psychosis. You experience the world as she processes it: distorted and twisted by her illness. Mental health has often been poorly portrayed within games, so it’s refreshing to see a sympathetic interpretation. But there’s no attempt to shy away from the uglier aspects of a psychotic illness, with horrific imagery throughout. It’s the audio work that really envelops you in Senua’s consciousness, though, with voices in your ears, questioning your every move, while offering advice.
All this could make for a dispiriting experience, but catharsis comes from the combat. When Senua is most distressed, enemies appear: some taking the form of Viking warriors, others demonic shape. In general, these sections aren’t particularly challenging – a chance to blow off some steam. Boss fights are more gruelling, grand showpieces of terror that play with the simple rules of combat in clever ways. It might seem incongruous for a game about mental health to switch into action-RPG combat, but it creates the sense of Senua being more than just a victim.
The protagonist is beautifully acted and motion-captured, with a character arc that gives her depth. And the environments are positively awe-inducing. Verdant greenery gives way to arid, fire-scorched lands, then dank, rainy temples cast in dour blues.
The puzzles follow the theme of looking for clarity in the darkness, often depending on spatial awareness for their solutions. The realm of Valravn, God of Illusions, for example, has you using environment-altering gateways to align symbols.
We’ve come to accept that puzzles and combat are incompatible with the deep environmental storytelling walking simulators provide. Hellblade rebuts this, showing that when carefully crafted, a deeply meaningful narrative can work alongside conventional gaming principles. An unsettling and deeply disquieting experience at times, Hellblade is like nothing else. Alex Jones
Ninja Theory consulted a professor of health neuroscience at Cambridge, and met people with experience of psychosis.