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Lttp - hellblade senuas sacrifice

I never played this game when it was released as it was branded around as some mental health game and at that time in my life I didn’t need any more jabs but holy shit how wrong was I…

checked it out on gamepass and I have honestly never played a game like this and it’s the perfect blend of mind fuckery storytelling and it’s now one of my favourite games

With a bigger budget I can’t wait to see what ninja theory do with the sequel …I was replaying god of war on ps5 but found myself pulled into this Greek mythology world and I think it’s a much better game.

special mention goes to the sound…put some headphones on and turn off your lights and freak out over the monsters under your bed

check it out…free on gamepass and 70% off on the PlayStation store

 

Kydd BlaZe

Member
*Norse mythology. Not Greek.

But yeah, this was definitely a game that surprised a lot of people. Would love to see what Ninja Theory can do with a larger budget for the sequel.
 

GHG

Gold Member
It's not Greek mythology.

I'm also surprised that you seem to have taken a liking to a repetitive walking simulator, but then maybe I shouldn't given the circumstances.
 

Matt_Fox

Member
I thought it had lots of good elements, but was 'thin'. The puzzles for each level became samey, and the 'tales of the norsemen' vocal recordings that acted as collectibles were rather stiff and mundane - like a museum audio tour.

I did really enjoy the graphics, the amibence and the combat, I hope the sequel doubles down on the action and the atmosphere.
 

jufonuk

not tag worthy
Had no idea there was a Switch version. How does it even run on that HW.
Nintendo magic, DF did something about it.
I was asking from a gameplay perspective as I was wondering if any switch owners bought it and if it was worth it, switch is my main games machine.

 
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Banjo64

cumsessed
Nintendo magic I guess let me see if DF did something
They did and if I recall, it actually looked very good.

The game is not for me though. The puzzles feel nonsensicle and the combat very wooden. The One S version also looked like absolute ass.
 

jonnyp

Member
There's barely any gameplay and the puzzles, enemies and combat are extremely repetitive. The presentation and atmosphere was nice (although the head voices were extremely annoying at times)

Seriously hope they expand gameplay, enemy variation and puzzles massively in the sequel - there is a good game there if they do.
 

Robb

Gold Member
I enjoyed it, mainly because of the fantastic sound design and visual "design". Felt very unique and reminded me a bit of Eternal Darkness.

There is a LOT of stuff to improve upon in the sequel though. I don't think the novelty of the themes etc. will impress/surprise as much the next time around. I hope they manage to deliver something great!
 
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kanjobazooie

Mouse Ball Fetishist
Great game, but the puzzles and long scenes weren't for me.
I hope HB2 is more action-based. I appreciate the theme and the story of the game, but the slow parts were tedious.

Also, please let us skip cutscenes.
 

Spaceman292

Banned
I ended up hating the puzzles. If you HAVE to put puzzles in your game, don't make it the type of puzzle that requires you to slowly jog from end to end of a confusingly laid out area.

Also I'm kind of disappointed that there was no final boss. But other than that it was great.
 

BigLee74

Member
Looked fantastic, sounded great, and I did enjoy it overall - but gameplay was very much on the thin side.

Puzzles were slightly better than the barebones combat, but that’s not saying much. The pace was also way too slow.

A decent first entry though, and looking forward to checking out the sequel.
 

deriks

4-Time GIF/Meme God
Looked fantastic, sounded great, and I did enjoy it overall - but gameplay was very much on the thin side.

Puzzles were slightly better than the barebones combat, but that’s not saying much. The pace was also way too slow.

A decent first entry though, and looking forward to checking out the sequel.
Yeah, it has too much walking and on corridors. It's a pretty good game, but some parts are boring as hell. The game is not big, so it's ok I guess. Also, the final wave of enemies is just too much, and doesn't really work because the game is not focused on combat
 

jufonuk

not tag worthy
So it’s more a style or substance style game ?

never played it I was expecting a combat heavy game (sword combat) with cut scenes and parts where it’s cinematic, mild exploration. Like Alan Wake style flow of action and story.

is that how it is ?
 
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It was a breath of fresh air that's for sure.

But it was far from perfect.
I liked the enemy design. Next one should have more combat, less trying to 'simulate mental illness', and zero aim-camera 'puzzles'.
 

GHG

Gold Member
So it’s more a style or substance style game ?

never played it I’m expecting a combat heavy game with cut scenes and parts where it’s cinematic. Like Alan Wake style.

is that how it is ?


It's not combat heavy at all and what's there of the combat is very basic.

Alan Wake is a cinematic action game whereas this is primarily a cinematic walking sim.
 

nemiroff

Gold Member
If it wasn't for some of the kinda cumbersome puzzles it might have ended up on one of my favorite games lists. Looking forward to a more efficient Hellblade 2, but with the thick atmosphere retained.
 
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jufonuk

not tag worthy
It's not combat heavy at all and what's there of the combat is very basic.

Alan Wake is a cinematic action game whereas this is primarily a cinematic walking sim.
Thank you for this. You got what I was getting at and yeah. I don’t want a walking sim with basic combat. So it’s a pass. I think ill get the Ninja Gaiden collection then.
 

Pilgrimzero

Member
I went through the majority of the game without realizing I could flash stun the enemies.

Game ended to soon though as a game ending bug caused a boss not to spawn and the single auto save only the game uses saved at the glitched boss fight.
 

Shrap

Member
It was very shallow gameplay wise and super monotonous to play. The concept was cool though and it kept me intrigued until the end of the (very short) game.
 

AJUMP23

Member
I played about half the game before I decided to stop. I didn't like the way the game was trying to mess with you by adding all the whispering voices. I decided to stop playing. I also didn't find the combat very good.
 

skit_data

Member
It’s cool, unique and very impressive graphically IMO. I really look forward to see how the sequel will look and play now that they’re part of XGS.

Unfortunately, the gameplay was a little too slow for my taste, the combat was not my cup of tea and the game kept crashing everytime I reached a certain point. I played the later parts of it at my cousins place, though. All in all, a good game but I have better games in my backlog that I will prioritize playing before this.

Edit: Something that might add is that I’ve been spoiled in a certain way:

I know that the black corruption will never reach Senuas head, and that there is no permadeath
 
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For $30 it was a good time. I felt they dropped the ball with the final boss. Like they could’ve done something cool with Hela but it was just a bunch of normal enemies you ended up fighting. I may replay it in 60fps mode on the SX sometime considering I first played it on the One S.

I’m really hoping 2 improves on everything from the first game and it’s a bit longer, as it has potential to be great. If it’s just more of the same as the first then it’ll probably just be a Gamepass “rental” for me.
 

Kuranghi

Member
I just turned the combat difficulty down to minimum immediately to basically skip that part of the game but I did enjoy some of the boss battles quite a bit, other not so much. The main reason to play this is for the sound design and themes, the voice acting from the father was really good for me. I enjoyed finding all the collectibles/"audio diaries" and seeing the slightly extended ending as well.

This is a game of spectacle, don't go into looking for a good gameplay loop or puzzles as good as the best of the rest of games, it was a great fun time for me and I'd definitely play again in a couple of years, but hopefully Hellblade 2 will scratch that itch, I just hope they don't try to make it into more of a traditional game because I'm sure that won't be great.

Make sure you have your headphones on for it if you only have shitty TV speakers definitely, although if you have it the surround sound is also amazing, where the voices come out of different channels, its super well done.

When this guys voice came in the first time I had a big grin on my face, I really like the DSPs they used on the voices in this game a lot, I'm marked it spoilers just in case:




Don't watch much of that if you actually want to play it ofc.
 
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Kuranghi

Member
I played about half the game before I decided to stop. I didn't like the way the game was trying to mess with you by adding all the whispering voices. I decided to stop playing. I also didn't find the combat very good.

It wasn't trying to mess with you, it was trying to show you what its like to have mental health problems where you have voices in your head that influence you. The combat was shite, if you go back to it just turn the difficulty to minimum.
 

anthony2690

Banned

That's annoying it would come after I finish it a couple months back.
That being said, I didn't think the game was as special as everyone makes it out to be.
But I can see huge potential with the sequel, if they can make combat better, better puzzle design and a more interesting world to explore and maybe some npcs etc.
As I like the setting.
 
There's barely any gameplay and the puzzles, enemies and combat are extremely repetitive. The presentation and atmosphere was nice (although the head voices were extremely annoying at times)

Seriously hope they expand gameplay, enemy variation and puzzles massively in the sequel - there is a good game there if they do.

Yeah, I just played it and I found it disappointing. Great presentation, as mentioned, but the puzzles ranged from boring and tedious to aggressively "unfun". And the combat was just simple going through the motions type of repetitive stuff without any substance. It's a shame because the setting and style were so good, but I ended up feeling it was not a worthwhile experience overall. I'm not the type to do this, but this game seems well suited to a youtube walkthrough more than a game with controller in-hand imho. I enjoyed Ninja Theory's PS3 stuff much more - Heavenly Sword, DmC and Enslaved.
 

Skifi28

Member
It was "fine" as an experience, but I wouldn't be interested in ever playing it again. It's too linear and it doesn't excel at anything. Once the novelty wore off, it was mostly boring and I was hoping for it to end sooner rather than later. I'd prefer they went back to enslaved over a sequel to this, but we shall see.
 

BabyYoda

Banned
This was definitely a divisive game, personally it blew me away, it was good to put my £2.64 earphones to such good use, I think they leveled up several times because of the amazing audio work! Jokes aside, it was an unforgettable experience! I was also late to the party, although not as late as you it seems, definitely has to be played with headphones/earphones though, it's the first game I ever played where they clearly built the whole experience around 3d sound, more please!
 
This was definitely a divisive game, personally it blew me away, it was good to put my £2.64 earphones to such good use, I think they leveled up several times because of the amazing audio work! Jokes aside, it was an unforgettable experience! I was also late to the party, although not as late as you it seems, definitely has to be played with headphones/earphones though, it's the first game I ever played where they clearly built the whole experience around 3d sound, more please!
I did play with headphones, and the "voices" certainly did add to the atmosphere, but again I just felt let down by the *game* aspect of the game. I would love to have seen that presentation melded with some more thoughtful interactive elements.
 

Fahdis

Member
Game excels at the story, audio, atmosphere and graphics. Senua in herself is also unique and her body motion/voice actor is HOT AF and beautiful too. I gave it a personal 7/10. Fighting is subpar, puzzles suck ass, collectibles are included just to waste time. Lol, I gave the game even more time at the end due to the unlimited amounts of enemies.
 

BabyYoda

Banned
I did play with headphones, and the "voices" certainly did add to the atmosphere, but again I just felt let down by the *game* aspect of the game. I would love to have seen that presentation melded with some more thoughtful interactive elements.
Yeah I get it, but then again I really enjoyed What Remains of Edith Finch...I really need good gameplay as well, but I suppose the narrative and audio were strong and unique enough that the combat and puzzles not being mind-blowing were OK to me, I did find the combat to be competent though and rather visceral, albeit, both the combat and puzzles were rather repetitive. The narrative and world need to be exceptional for me to forgive these qualities, in both of these cases they were really excellent imho and I was so engrossed that it didn't matter.

Hopefully the Hellblade sequel can improve the weaker areas though, whilst building on what worked in the first game and adding some needed depth also.
 

Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
Don't forget to use headphones when playing this game.

If you're not doing that, go back and do it. Quite the experience.
 

Tmac

Member
I read this thread title as Hellblade, Sensual Sacrifice lol.

That could be an interesting game.
 
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Naked Lunch

Member
I forced myself to finish it due to co-workers pressure talking about how amazing it is.
Felt exactly like a Sony 1st party walking simulator.
Neat concept and ideas but as a game - a solid 4/10.
The second game better have some gameplay.
 
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