Ninja Theory is a studio that after leaving us three games of a remarkable budget -Heavenly Sword, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and DmC: Devil May Cry- has moved on to what they call "independent triple A,"self-financing and working with a small team (with about 15-20 people on average) to launch a game without creative limitations.
The Blood Eagle was a method of Viking ritual execution by which the back was opened to break and remove the victim's ribs and lungs outwardly as if they were the wings of a bird and, with the wound still at its peak, was sprinkled with salt to sacrifice the gods. It's no wonder that after seeing a loved one in such a situation, you're left with a bit of a turmoil, but Senua was already troubled at home.
In' Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice', Ninja Theory blends the narrative power of the walking simulators genre with adventure and action mechanics that take him away from being part of that group, all to tell us about the journey to the hells of a Celtic warrior not only devastated by the demons of war, but also by those who dwell in his head.
A game marked by narrative
Masterfully offering a glimpse of mental illnesses such as depression, psychosis or schizophrenia, Senua travels to the land of the Nordic dead in search of the soul of her beloved, but instead of doing it alone she does so accompanied by a dozen voices that resound in her head and ours.
Luckily and by chance, I started playing it with 5.1 helmets and I can't be more happy with my decision. With excellent music marking my footsteps, my actions during the game were accompanied by screaming, wailing and the other personalities of Senua echoing everywhere. All to make me understand what a person suffering from this type of illness can feel.
He fulfills his task perfectly thanks to the team's work with doctors and researchers, generating an exemplary anxiety and anxiety that, in turn, accompany a very valid story of introspection, growth and improvement in which the stories of Nordic mythology make more enjoyable the paths in which Senua's adventure has nothing to tell.
For its graphical quality it could be one of those games in which you simply advance to marvel at what surrounds you visually and auditively, but' Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice' wants to go further with exploration, puzzles and one of the simplest, most effective and fun combat systems of the last epoch.
One of the great battles of the generation
Presented these last ones with a fantastic hardness in which you feel to the controls every blow that you give, the waves of enemies that we will go dispatching with the sword of Senua will fall before parrys, elusive, kicks, fast hits and strong hits, helping us also the possibility of slowing down the time to give more hits in less time.
Seeing how I arrived in an arena where several opponents would be waiting for me was a joy, and approaching one of the four bosses who waited for me during the adventure in classic struggles of trial and error, meant an even greater celebration in my head.
I imagine it will be a matter of taste, but I was surprised by the ease with which the fight of' Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice' has won my attention and eagerness to continue, on many occasions more to come across another one of those clashes than to try to enjoy some of its other aspects.
The final climax, with the story already clear and leaving it up to us to choose if we want to continue fighting until the fingers can no longer fight, turned out to be a very amusing battle in which, with all the possibilities already understood and mastered, I was able to show off with the sword with a mastery that I would have given to more than one gif to frame.
The slippery floor on which Senua rests
How well the fighting is measured is partly to blame, but also the fact that exploration and puzzles have not won me with similar strength. Forcing us to square Senua's head, most of them force us to explore to find the right angle from which the emblem that opens a door is activated, or joins the pieces that float senselessly in the air and then turn out to be parts of a broken bridge that, seen from another position, is again passable.
Being a big part of what we will experience in' Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice', getting used to those pauses in which to look and think about what you have to do at every moment to be able to advance is essential, but I will not deny that the comings and goings on stage with walls, stairs and labyrinthine tunnels have awakened my frustration on a couple of occasions.
Things end up coming out, of course, and inevitably you end up accusing yourself of the mistakes that have led you to spend more time in a particular area. Neither puzzles nor fights are deceitful or conscientiously incomprehensible, so every time you get stuck or die, extending the illness born in your arm that will end with your departure permanently once it reaches the head (something that I see unlikely in hands more or less skilled at dodging and measuring the times), the first thing that comes out is to blame you in the first place.
With' Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice' we are not facing one of those cases in which pride leads us to think that we could have taken the game a better way, I simply found some riddles that, for one reason or another, have not been able to motivate me enough and have meant a stick on the wheels that slowed down my progress in history and combat. I'm saying this because that was my case, but it shouldn't necessarily be yours.
Personal Opinion
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice' ends up giving for 30 euros quite more than other more expensive games, among them about eight hours of uninterrupted gameplay that kept me glued to the screen until the credits jumped. After that, a documentary that brings us closer to Ninja Theory's work to try to approach the mental illnesses that end up being absolute protagonists of the adventure.It's a game waiting to be applauded, and I recognize that on many occasions it wouldn't have been hard to do, but on other occasions it just wasn't something made to measure. Be that as it may, I would love to see how this approach to simpler but equally powerful adventures continues. Others who, like this' Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice', can tell a story without leaving aside the possibility of entertaining us by crushing our heads and buttons on the remote control with the same strength.
Hope will be useful for you guys, took me really long to write this so please give me a good rate :).
Well lengthy article. Althought there's no images related on the topic. On the other hand, it's a good article.