Game Discussion of the Week: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Added and stickied. Cervantes, you also wanted to discuss a Legacy of Kain game. We have a thread for discussing the whole series. I suggest we could keep the discussion to that thread, but if you want a dedicated thread to a single game, let me know.
classicgameroom.freeforums.net/thread/1803/game-discussion-week-legacy-series

I played it last month and it was an amazing experience, as long as you know what you're getting into. See, this is a short linear game without all the bloat that we expect from 3d action games nowadays: no upgrades, no shops, no sidequests, no iventory, no open world; there is only one kind of collectable and it can be completely ignored.

That said, its gameplay is generally divided in two parts. There are the combat sections, and they are very well done and similar to the latest God of War - the camera is close, behind the shoulder, and it's mostly focused on parrying and counterattacking at the right time, plus positioning Senua in a way that she doesn't get surrounded. The hits feel really heavy and powerful, so it's always satisfying when Senua hits an enemy (and it feels painful when she gets hit). While the game has only a few different types of foes, the bosses introduce some variety, and all of them need different strategies to be beaten. Even by the end of the game the combat still felt fun and I was looking forward to the next boss, so it's one of the strongest parts of the game.

The second style of gameplay are the puzzle sections. They are quite simple and are based on visual perspective: you usually have to find a specific symbol or shape in the scenery, and this is done by finding a place from where, when you look at the objects in the scenery, they form that symbol. So the challenge is in getting to the right place from where to look at the objects, trying to align them. This means that the puzzles are more based on observation and exploration, the interaction is mostly done by looking at things from the right angle. But there are some creative uses of this, like portals that change the scenery when looked at and traversed from one side (for example, there is a wall, but when you look at it from behind a portal the wall isn't there anymore and you can go forward). Not everyone will like this style of puzzle, but I think it was well realized while keeping the game simple, which was Ninja Theory's intention due to their low budget.

I find the gameplay just good enough, especially the combat, but what really makes this game stand out are its visuals and story. This might be one of the most visually impressive games I've ever seen, especially considering its low budget: I'm playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider right now and I would say that, in some areas, Hellblade easily surpasses it. Senua herself might be the most realistic character I've seen in a game, especially due to the impressive facial animation and attention to details like her skin and eyes. Also, the PC version is so well optimized that I could play it with everything maxed out on a 970 GTX while keeping 60 fps almost all the time (for comparison, in Shadow of the Tomb Raider I'm between high/medium visuals with some terrible fps dips in the most populated areas).

As for the story, while it's well told and always interesting, especially due to how it handles norse and celtic mythologies, the best part about it is how it's acted. Senua's actress is a great find, especially considering she was not a professional actress (Melina Juergens was a video editor at Ninja Theory, but played the part so well that they went with her), it's hard to think of performances in gaming as memorable as hers. Another major part in the story is Senua's mental issues, which are portrayed through allucinations and voices that keep harassing her. Not only are the voices well acted too, but also Ninja Theory gave a really good attention to the audio work: it's recommended to play the game with headphones, since they used binaural audio and it really gives the impression that you are being surrounded by the voices, that they are whispering very close to your ears. So they did their best to portray Senua's confusion and desperation without falling into any cliches - most games would use the mental health thing just to create abstract levels or as a crutch for bad storytelling, but here they focused on representing it in a mature way and as an integral part of how the character sees the world. It's quite well written.

So I'm giving the game a 5/5, not because it's the best game ever or something but because it exceeds in what it was trying to do, which was to tell a serious and deep story with amazing visuals and a solid gameplay. I've beaten it in around 7 hours, so it is shorter than most modern games (I, however, have no problem with that). I'm looking forward for the sequel.