Hellblade – as a form of interactive art, and not just a game.

Today I want to tell you about one very interesting game. This is Hellblade Senua’s Sacrifice from the young British developers team – Ninja Theory. It just so happened that at one time this game passed me past me, and only now I managed to get to know her.

Just a few days ago I went through this game. And you know what? I was very impressed by Hellblade. Got a unique game experience. Therefore, I decided to share my impressions with you, my dear readers.

This is probably one of those few games, after the passage of which there was a lot of different thoughts in my head. And probably Hellblade for me personally is more than an interactive art form, and not just a game.

The game offers to tell one story, but in such a way, as if a player here is just a third -party observer

I must say right away, the developers position Hellblade as Indiag, Triple Hey Class. Which was created at the company’s own expense. But despite the small Hellbled budget, Ninja Theory had complete creative freedom. Due to this, the game turned out exactly what the developers wanted to see it.

What is the game at all? And so the first time, it’s even difficult to say what is Hellblade. This is simultaneously an action-adventure and a kind of slasher, strewn with an abundance of various mysteries. Which will require the player of the ultimate attention, acute hearing, and sometimes falcon vision.

One of the varieties of puzzles in the game where you need to find visual images of various runes among the surrounding world, as, for example, on these gates

Hellblade has a gloomy visual style, in the setting of the early Middle Ages.

The game was created together with specialists in the field of Scandinavian mythology and psycho. And also, people who suffer from various psychoses were involved in the creation of Hellblade. You ask me. What? Scandinavian mythology is excellent, but why attract people suffering from psychosis?

And the thing is that the main character of the game – suffers from certain mental disorders. Because of what, she very often hears different voices in her head, and sees various hallucinations. To convey auditory hallucinations, the developers added a binaural sound recording to the game. Due to this, the player can hear many different voices in his head. Something like them are heard by people suffering from mental illness.

Therefore, before starting to play this game, I strongly advise you to use headphones. They contribute to the maximum immersion in Hellblade. Yes, there is no Russian voice acting in the game, but even reading Russian subtitles, and hearing various voices in your head in English, you feel all the pain, despair and fear of the main character. Hellblade is well able to convey the gloomy atmosphere of the early Middle Ages, catch up with fear and cause a sense of anxiety in the player. This is also possible to do this thanks to the technology of capture of movement. When on the screen you see the facial expressions and movements of the main character, then all this looks at the same time very realistic and frightening.

Plot. I’m not going to spoil it, because this is one of the most important aspects of Hellblade. Therefore, I will design it only in general terms.

The game will unfold in the early Middle Ages in Northern Europe. During the active conquest of new lands by the Vikings. The main character of the game is a woman from the tribe of the people of the Picts named Senua. In one of their many raids, the Vikings attack the village of the main character, where they kill her lover – a young warrior named Dillion.

Senua was not in the village https://win-bitcasino.co.uk/ at the time of the attack, so in no way could she help both the inhabitants and her lover. Having discovered the death of Dillion, the main character decides at all costs, bring him back to life. And therefore, without inventing anything better, she goes on a dangerous journey to the world of the dead Helheim. There, where the Scandinavian goddess of death Hel rules. Senua is convinced that if she can defeat the lord of the world of the dead in the battle, she will return her lover.

In the process of passing the game, we will meet other gods with whom the main character will certainly fight. Separately, I want to note how great the game is possible to convey the feeling of something inevitable. The farther I went through the game, the more I was mastered by a sense of helplessness. Hellblade manages to betray all the madness that occurs inside the main character. As if you feel and share with Senua her pain, her fears and feelings.

And just think for a second. What had to endure people who suffered from mental illness during the early Middle Ages. There was no modern medicine then, and most likely, a person with such a disease immediately became a white sheep and an outcast in society. And this is even at the best case, but at the worst, a person was simply burned at the stake like a demon. These are the harsh times experienced our ancestors with you.

Gameplay. Hellblade felt and played as an action-adventure. This is an absolutely linear game broken into a number of locations.

We will manage the main character from the third person. By and large, the game process in the game consists of two components. The first is interaction with the outside world, where we will have to solve various puzzles. And the second component is the battle with enemies.

In time interaction with the world, we will explore various game locations. That’s what, what, but I really liked the design of the locations. Here are ancient forests, and the ocean coast, caves, various ancient ruins and many other interesting places. I understand that the game is far from new, and only about 20 people did it. But even now in 2022, the game looks visually very worthy. Maybe the case in the game engine Anrian Angen 4 or just developers have hands from the right place growing. Or maybe both, but I liked the visual of the game and remember well.

Some places in Hellblade very much reminded me of the last god of war. It is clear that these games are united by a common Scandinavian setting. But some locations are very similar.

During the game, we will be able to explore various game locations where we can find runes of runic stones. Each such stand will tell us myths and legends from Scandinavian mythology. And if you find all such runic racks in Hellblade, then the game will have a special ending that will shed more light on the plot of the game.

And now I want to focus on riddles in the game. Puzzles here are one of the main mechanics of Hellblade. Some of them are relatively simple, and some very complex. Requiring your attention, ultimate concentration and the ability to look at things at a certain angle. So, as if a person suffering from schizophrenia looked at it. But don’t be scared, all riddles and puzzles are quite solved. If I could, then you can solve them.

The main character of the game has a special ability to concentrate. Due to this, she can see the world as ordinary people do not see it. This concentration will help Senui find answers to solve a number of puzzles.

In Hellblade, a number of riddles requires the player of interaction with the environment. I would even say that various locations in the game use special game mechanics. Somewhere to solve a riddle, we need to light torches, and not to remain alone in the dark. Otherwise, a monster will catch Senua out of dark. Streams of water that are found on our way will also complicate our task. Having fallen under one of these streams, the rally of the Seny will go out, and you will need to quickly look for the light source.

To solve other puzzles, we have to rely on our ear. For example, going in complete darkness, you will have to go very quietly, focusing only on the surrounding sounds. And somewhere you will have to run very quickly and have time to concentrate on the go to find hidden characters among the encirclement.

An example when deciding the next puzzle according to the plot, the player finds one of the many Scandinavian runes

The combat system. She is in Hellblade, Partly similar to a kind of slasher. Senua can apply two types of shock.

A strong blow inflicts a lot of damage, but is quite slow. And a weak blow, although it delivers a small amount of damage, but it is carried out very quickly. The main character knows how to put a block, evade blows, and can strike off the opponents with a protective rack with a blow. During the parrying, there is a kind of timing. If you get into it, then after the bloc of an enemy strike, Senua will be able to counterattack the enemy. You can also strike the enemy from the run from the run.

In the game, the main character can fight with one enemy and several at the same time. Also, due to its special ability in the form of concentration, Senua is able to move faster than opponents and attack enemies temporarily invulnerable to damage. This ability in battle is not endless. Therefore, in order to restore it, you have to evade or conduct a successful parrying several times.

It is worth saying that there is no character in the game, there are no different types of weapons, armor and the like things. Fight with the sword that we have. And only then, moving in the plot, Senua will get the legendary Scandinavian sword, which is able to pierce even the gods. Gampleino is a weapon, almost nothing new brings. Unless with the help of it you can more effectively rate, and apply a little more damage to enemies.

Hellblade has, so unloved by many mechanics QTE. Когда Сенуа после вражеских атак оказывается на земле, активируется кат-сцена. In time of which, if you quickly press a certain button, the main character will be able to evade the attack of the enemy, and then rise.

I want to focus on the sound part of the game. As I said, in Hellblade you will constantly hear various voices in your head. Some of them try to help you, and some, on the contrary, knock down the column and mislead. And far from always you can immediately understand what voices really want to help you and which harm to harm. This works especially strongly in those points when you need to solve riddles. And I believe that a chip with voices in Hellblade is a really cool idea that really works.

I also want to tell you that the main highlight Hellblade - This is her finale. In my opinion, it turned out to be open. Having gone through the game, I can’t tell you unequivocally whether all the events with the main character really were only the fruit of her inflamed mind. Or all the events in the game, happened to Senua in fact.

Of the minuses of Hellblade, I want to note too much emphasis on puzzles. There are much more of them here than battles with enemies. Although they are enough and diverse, they allow you to interact with the environment, but still, over time, they begin to tire.

Also, I will not be cunning, but the variety of enemies in the game leaves much to be desired, and Gampleno, Hellblade practically does not develop. Although on the other hand, what I expected from indie game, albeit a triple-era class.

Hellblade took me about 12 hours. And during this time she did not have time to bore me. Most likely, if the game is longer, then I would be tired.

Summing up, I can say with confidence that Hellblade is somewhat unique. And for me personally, this is not even a game, but a kind of form of interactive art. In addition to the fact that Hellblade manages to convey the whole range of fears and experiences of the main character to the player. She also conveys the gloomy, oppressive atmosphere of something inevitable. Including thanks to the excellent sound and visual part of the game.

Hellblade gave me a unique game experience, which I hardly forget.

Now I am very interested in continuing this game. I hope that you liked my review, I was interesting and useful.

Write to me in the comments. Have you played in Hellblade? Did you like the game? Well, I say goodbye to you, and until soon meetings on Stopgame.