For a Ninja Theory jam, a studio most well-known for their fast-paced character action games, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a surprisingly slow moving game. That's not a knock against it, there would be no need to artificially increase the speed of what's going on here, but it is noteworthy - and interesting - to see something so fresh. It's rare that games like this tend to lean on the slower side of things, but when you're dealing with the heavy subject matter of mental illness, a steady feel is preferable to a more manic one. While this doesn't always work out to the game's benefit, Hellblade is a remarkably strong story of an individual struggle, and the way that struggle to that one person might as well be a battle to save the world.
The theme of mental illness is front and center from start to finish, as evident by the disclaimer attached to the front-end studio logos, as is Ninja Theory's own research and consultation with mental health advisors and experts. The titular hero Senua has been afflicted by her "darkness" for as long as she can remember, and her own emotional state is the core of the game's narrative, which is indeed the selling point. If this ball had been dropped, the whole game would have basically fallen apart, so while I went in with a bit of trepidation - even with the developer's assurances that everything would be handled with tact - I was pleased to see the final product come out so well. Although there are other characters who interact with Senua either in the past or present - as well as the voices she hears - Hellblade has the feel of a one woman stage show, with Ninja Theory's own video editor Melina Juergens playing the voice and motion capture of Senua in what is quite a powerful debut.
After invading vikings or "Northmen" killed and sacrificed her husband Dillion - the only person since the death of her mother to truly understand and tolerate her - Senua, a Celtic warrior herself - sets out on a journey into the Norse underworld constructed by her own troubled mind in a quest to get Dillion's soul back. What she plans to do should she actually succeed isn't really clear, likely because even she herself doesn't know what she would do once she didn't have a task to focus on, but with nothing left to lose or go back to, Senua begins learning the traditions and culture of the Northmen while she struggles to keep herself together the further into her own darkness she travels.
While all of this is happening, Senua is accosted almost at all times by the voices she hears, sometimes mocking her for her futility while sometimes also helping the player in suggesting what they should do. The prompt before the main menu to wear headphones is highly recommended, and borderline necessary in some parts, as sound is a vital part of the experience, and not just for the voices. The voices Senua hears are meant to float around the player's head via recording of sound through a binaural microphone to create a 360 degree sound space to play with. Besides that, however, there are also multiple times where something has to be located through sound alone, where playing without headphones would find that task substantially more difficult. In addition to the unwanted voices, Senua also comes across runes which can be interacted with to find audio-diary-like bits of lore from Druth, another Celt who was taken prisoner by the Northmen and escaped to tell tales of their lore and mythology. The excellent performances of the various actors as well make for a really neat auditory journey.
Visually Hellblade is no slouch either. The art direction, while heavily brown and grey, does a great job of transitioning when it has to from the more realistic, to the delusional, hellish world that Senua sees as she continues on. Another great visual touch is that there is a lot of FMV footage used on top of the imagery of the game, usually in the form of Druth, or flashbacks of Senua's mother and father. Dillion himself is also depicted sometimes in live action rendered over the game, but oftentimes scenes involving him - as well as some scenes with Senua's Druid father Zynbel - are shown in second person, where you see Senua through their eyes. It's a cool trick that creates an almost voyeuristic feeling to these moments of intimacy - or ignorance, as the case may be - that largely stand out against the rest of the story beats. The relationship between Senua and Dillion is genuine and loving, and that shines through with how emotive Senua can be.
If there's one aspect of Hellblade that doesn't come together so hot, it would be the act of actually playing it sometimes. The environmental puzzles are one thing, most times progress is gated, the solution is finding symbols in the world that can sometimes be finicky in whether or not they trigger. These moments feel very similar to the Riddler question mark challenges from the Rocksteady Arkham games, where the camera often needs to be aligned just so for it to click. While this kind of pattern perception is a thematically appropriate example of Senua's psychosis, I wish it could have been a little tighter.
The purposefully clumsy and claustrophobic combat is another matter. The camera is by design very tight on Senua, so it is frequently hard to see everything around her, which can be a problem when there are enemies about. Thankfully, enemy encounters are all predetermined and in static arena-like areas in the world, so you'll never be surprised, but that just made it so I sighed every time Senua drew her sword for combat. The actual fighting comes down to a light attack, a heavy attack, a kick, a block and a dodge, with running variants of some of those moves. Senua is always locked on to one enemy, which can be switched with the right analogue stick, but it's still not a perfect system for negotiating some battles, as it's hard to know what's behind you (aside from the voices alerting you when you may want to turn around). Even then, turning around by using the right stick to switch targets to something behind you is jarring and has a lot of motion blur that can momentarily distract you. While at first you rarely deal with too many enemies at a time, this ramps up as you make your way through the 6-8 hour story. There's one particularly egregious encounter in the later portion of the game that crosses the line from not fun to truly frustrating when you have to deal with so many enemies at once. The boss battles were more fun, although few in number, because they were primarily one-on-one, and featured some of the best enemy design and creative mechanics.
There is also the matter of the 'permadeath' that is introduced very early. Senua has on her right arm a black rot that creeps it's way up her arm every time you die and reload, where it is promised that there are no continues should the rot reach her head. While the stories of lost saves are greatly exaggerated, seeing the rot reach further every time I died was just another visual reminder of how unforgiving to a fault some of the fight sequences could be.
One more thing of note is a "making of" featurette that becomes available once you've started the game, although you should obviously wait until you've finished the game before watching it. The behind the scenes aspect of games is always welcome in my books, and I wish more games had these kinds of bonus features the way DVDs and Blu Rays of films and TV shows have had them for more than a decade now. Especially for a game like Hellblade, where so many outside influences were brought in by the developers to make sure their depiction of mental health was accurate and tasteful.
There are certainly other games that take such an individual and personal look at one person's life out there, whether fantastic or mundane, but it's not an incredibly crowded field. Hellblade sets itself apart from most with it's almost taboo subject matter and heavy leanings into Norse and Celtic mythology, as well as it's increasingly horror-like feel, especially in the latter half. The combat's prickliness can get in the way sometimes, but those moments are usually forgotten as you get back to exploring the world and learning about what makes Senua tick. As is usually the case, great character work, a compelling narrative, and wonderful sound design can overcome any other minor shortcomings in the long run.