I need to stop playing emotionally taxing games at 9 in the morning. BACKGROUND:
I've heard the name Hellblade a bunch in online discussions, but don't know about it apart from that it seems to be critically acclaimed. I'm intrigued enough by what little I know to check it out. PLOT: Hellblade follows the journey of the titular Senua as she travels to Helheim in order to save the soul of her lover Dillion. In addition to fighting through hordes of supernatural enemies, Senua must struggle against her trauma, grief, and what she believes to be her "curse". Senua's "curse", as it turns out, is a case of psychosis, which manifests itself in the voices she hears in her head, as well as various hallucinations she witnesses throughout her journey. As such, it's hard to tell which of the events that transpire in the game actually happened or are simply how Senua perceived what was happening. I read a bit about the development of this game, and it looks like the devs consulted mental health experts with the depiction of the condition. I cannot speak to the accuracy of how psychosis is portrayed in the game, but it certainly feels like they handled it in a tasteful way, neither demonizing nor romanticizing the condition. Most notably, the game shows that it's still 100% possible for Senua to lead a fulfilling life with her condition, as opposed to simply framing it as something to be beaten. Whether by virtue of Senua's condition (mostly via a narrator voiceover that is canonically one of the voices she hears in her head) or Senua herself recalling the events, you discover her harrowing backstory, which sees her endure a childhood of abuse yet somehow seeing a glimmer of hope when she meets Dillion. Then you see the circumstances behind Dillion's death, which Senua believes is her fault, and you see the grief that follows. You really get into the mind of Senua throughout this game, and her story is absolutely heartbreaking. The world Senua finds herself in is based heavily on Norse myth, with the protagonist fighting the likes of Surtr in order to make it to Helheim and face Hela, the goddess of death. You'll also encounter something called Lorestones, which narrate various Norse tales (like the story of Baldur/Baldr, the Ragnarok prophecy, the story of Sigmund and his sword, and more). Most of this is ancillary to the main plot, but I liked how they explored lesser known Norse stories, and their interpretations of stuff like Hela's design are neat. PRESENTATION: Hellblade's visuals are what I call AAA graphics: a style that leans towards realism, an amazing amount of detail and polish with character models, textures, and environment, and fantastic-looking animations (especially with the life-like facial expressions). When you're in the sections of the game where you're just idly walking, it is a delight to stop and look around. The AAA production quality extends to the sounds, with a haunting, atmospheric soundtrack, excellent voice acting, and polished sound design. To put it simply, this is one of those games that is absolutely worth busting out the headphones for. The game takes full advantage of the polished audio and visuals to deliver what's perhaps its defining trait: a depiction of psychosis. In many instances throughout the story, the game's visuals distort in all sorts of ways, giving the impression that reality is constantly warping. Such distortions in the visuals coincide with Senua's current disposition; moments where she feels fear has the screen shake, or see grotesque figures shuffle about in the darkness. For most of the game, however, the depiction of the hallucinations are significantly more subtle, as opposed to a cheap attempt at delivering a constant barrage of bizarre visuals. The more vivid changes in the visuals only occur during important moments in the story. Although the game never reaches Mortal Kombat levels of gory, the game has more than its fair share of disturbing or unsettling imagery. Coupled with the game's more realistic style, it may be a bit much for some people. Just a heads up if you've not the stomach for such things. Where I think this game does the best is its use of sound to give you a sense of what psychosis is like. Throughout the entirety of the game, you will often hear the chatter of the other voices within Senua's mind, and the polished sound design makes them sound like they're whispering right in your ear. What's more, it sounds like you're constantly surrounded by these voices, with the stereo sound really coming into play. It's an experience that's unlike any I've ever come across, and it made the game that much more memorable to me. What makes the voices all the more impactful is that they're not just random babble; everything the voices say has meaning. Some of the voices are encouraging, giving you hints on how to proceed in the game or just providing positive feedback. Others are more derisive, telling you that your actions are worthless, telling you to turn back and give up, or straight up lying to you on what to do. Sometimes those two sets of voices argue amongst themselves, and sometimes they chatter to the point that Senua herself shushes them out loud. The incessant talking coupled with the things the voices are saying dominated most of my playthrough and was always in the back of my head; it really put into perspective what people who live with this condition deal with on a regular basis. To add to the immersion, there are no GUI/HUD elements on the screen at all. It can make things like finding what you need to interact with a bit cumbersome, but the lack of any external UI elements adds a lot to the game's atmosphere. Moreover, the game is designed adequately enough that you don't have to rely on things like a health bar or quest markers to know where you're at. GAMEPLAY: Hellblade's gameplay is split primarily into two parts: the larger of the two is an exploration-based game where you solve puzzles in order to progress, while the other is an a sort of hack-and-slash combat game where you fight enemies much like you do in a 3D Zelda game. The exploration bit is largely walking around, listening to the narration, and immersing yourself in the game's environment and experience. Occasionally, you'll run into doors that require simple puzzle-solving to unlock, sections that require you to traverse quickly (usually to avoid danger), or the aforementioned combat sections, which usually happen in big arena-style areas. The game's puzzles primarily use a mechanic called Focus, where the camera zooms in, and, well, focuses on what you're looking at. This is how you interact with a lot of things in the game, though some things (like opening doors) are done simply by pressing A. Most of the puzzles involve you using Focus to line up objects in the environment to form the shape of runes, which will unlock corresponding doors, but there are a bunch of other mechanics that are introduced to mix things up. These include (but are not limited to) switching between a Light World and Dark World to change the environment, using controller vibrations or sound to navigate a pitch-black area, or lighting up areas with a torch to avoid a creature that hunts in darkness. From a gameplay standpoint, the puzzles aren't anything particularly difficult or unique, but I love the forced perspective angle they went for when it comes to the rune door puzzles (even if they got rather repetitive by the end). That said, what stands out to me about these puzzles is how they revolved around perceiving the game's world in a different way than we're used to. The way Senua sees the world is different from how most of us see reality, and the game builds around that notion to create puzzles that has her make sense of her perception in order to progress (e.g. looking at an area from a different angle reveals a path where one wasn't before). It's a novel approach that gets the point across, even if the puzzles themselves aren't the most engaging. Although you're navigating through a massive-looking 3D environment in the game, you don't really do any exploring apart from a number of puzzle sections that require you to look around. For the most part, the game takes you through the world in a linear fashion, and there are very few branching paths (if at all). The only optional thing you have to really look out for are the Lorestones, which are sometimes off the beaten path. The combat in this game is pretty simple; you have a light attack and a heavy attack with your sword, you can dodge, and you can block. Senua targets foes automatically, and all you have to do is approach and wallop them with the sword. It's not at all deep, and the flowchart of dodge-attack-attack-attack was more than enough to carry me through pretty much every enemy. There's little variety in terms of enemies, too, and that variety is largely irrelevant once you figure out what their attacks are and you know when to dodge (because once you figure that out, just beat the shit out of them). Combat only really gets tough when you start getting surrounded by enemies, and even the bosses (which, in all fairness, are all memorable fights) offer only a few new attacks to watch out for. The most depth you get is a sort of parry you can do when you time your block perfectly (which looks badass and feels satisfying to land, to be fair), a dash-strike that staggers most enemies, and the ability to use Focus in combat (which slows down time and makes shadow enemies vulnerable). The game is pretty lenient when you take too much damage. Instead of killing you outright, you get knocked down, and you have the opportunity to pull yourself back up before an enemy lands a mortal blow. You can also scale back the difficulty of combat at any time if you just want to experience the story. Overall, the combat was pretty average to me. It's not really groundbreaking or complex in any sense, but it feels mostly good to stab the shit out of freaky draugr-looking motherfuckers. The only real gripe I have is how battles immediately become less fun when there are too many enemies onscreen or you're fighting in a small arena; some breathing room would be nice. VERDICT: While Hellblade may not necessarily blow any minds in terms of its actual gameplay, it more than makes up for it as a full experience. The level of polish in the presentation is put to its most effective use by delivering an immersive experience, one that puts you in the shoes of someone who lives with psychosis. It's a subject matter that (as far as I know) hasn't been fully tackled in a game, and it's done so with a level of nuance that shows respect and a modicum of understanding to people who have actually experienced the condition. Along with Senua's heartbreaking tale and her harrowing journey to face Hela and her own trauma, it all comes together to deliver one of the most impactful games I've played in recent memory. Though I wish there were more variety in the combat, and the puzzles were more intricate, I think everything else was outstanding. I feel compelled to point out that this game isn't for everybody. It's not for people who are looking for a more straightforward experience where gameplay is the forefront, and works more for people who lean towards the story-driven titles that focus more on presentation and narrative. The plot itself is one of those emotionally heavy stories with serious, sometimes uncomfortable themes (especially since it tackles a subject matter that is unfortunately still treated as taboo by society), and if you're not into that, you may dislike this game. With all that said, I implore people who are willing to give this game a chance to do so; there's not many games that deliver the experience that Hellblade does, and I think it's a great example of how effective games can be as a highly artistic storytelling medium. Hellblade is available on Steam. Here's the link: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice on Steam (steampowered.com) - end -
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June 2024
Derryck
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