Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice — Senua’s Schizophrenic Journey
By: Guilherme F. Mota
Tags: Game Journalism, Review, Hellblade, Senuas Sacrifice, Miscrosoft

Plot

Before we begin to address the plot of the game itself, it is important to understand a little more about the story that served as inspiration for this work, and I also point out that the historical events presented here are a very cut-out summary, so the complete information will be available through the links at the end of the article.

Image depicting the dress code of pictpeople. Source: thetimes.co.uk/

Long ago, in the British Iron Age, the Picts (from the Latin “painted”) emerged in the north-east of present-day Scotland. A very few is known about its origin and its social and cultural aspects, but historians claim that this ancient group of Celts was made up of a series of tribes that, over the years, established their own dominion in the ancient Strathmore (Scotland), and from there came to conquer small territories throughout northern Europe. Ancient documents describe these peoples as very violent warriors, carrying brutal savagery that stood out on the battlefield, along with their bodies, almost naked covered by various tattoos and paintings.

The second century in Europe was marked by a great military expansion by the ancient Empire of Roman Brittany (which currently corresponds to England, Wales, and southern Scotland), but with the rise of Publius Aelius Hadrian, emperor in force from 117 to 138 d.C, it was decided that the empire would focus on the control of its own lands and therefore, walls would be built along part of the territory to contain the invasions of ancient tribes, such as the saxons, scotches and the picts themselves.

From there, the construction of Hadrian’s Wall began, a fortification with more than 118km of stone and wood, that separated northern England from Scotland. With this, several tribes were forgotten beyond the wall, among them the Picts. Years later, in the mid-9th century, the Picts joined the rest of the Celtic groups that populated the region, and part of this junction was due to the various Viking invasions that occurred for more than three centuries.

And it is between of one these invasions that Hellblade takes place, where we accompany the journey of Senua, a young Celtic warrior who is on a perilous journey to try to resurrect her beloved, Dillion, a man who was brutally murdered during one of these Nordic invasions. The man was sacrificed in the name of Hela, goddess of the kingdom of the dead, and because of this, our protagonist will need to travel to Helheim, Norse hell, to retrieve the soul of her lover from the clutches of the evil entity.

What differentiates this story from the other is that Senua suffers from schizophrenia, a very severe chronic brain disease that affects the way a person perceives the reality around them, in the way that she thinks, feels, and behaves. Thus, in addition to the physical challenges, the protagonist will also have to deal with the mental symptoms of her illness, such as delusions, hallucinations, and voices that whisper in her ears at all times.

According to the information given by members of Ninja Theory itself, the idea for the development of the game is the result of the discovery, made in 2002, in England, of 26 metal pieces dated between 43 and 410 d.C, which would be offerings intended for the Celtic goddess Senuna.

The entity, previously unknown to much of the world came to the fore thanks to the work of researcher Alan Meek. And since then, the team of developers decided to produce a game that addressed these historical elements, using as a basis the classic journey of the hero mixed with denser themes, such as the psychological disorder experienced by the protagonist.

Gameplay

The combat mechanics are quite simple, in addition to the basic moves such as walking and running, Senua can perform two types of attacks, a weak and a strong, dodge and deflect. The character, furthermore, can perform a melee attack, to break the defense of enemies, especially those with shields, and also a special action, called “focus”.

With this ability, Senua can stop time for a few moments, which cancels the actions of certain enemies and facilitates their movement during battles. However, for this to occur the player must fill, with a number “x” of attacks, a kind of meter, represented by the mirror that the protagonist carries.

With these mechanics, the combat flows in a rather pleasurable way, but over time it also becomes somewhat repetitive and monotonous. Once the player has full control of his actions, it will be difficult to be surprised by some difficulty, even though I believe that this lack of depth is completely understandable, since this is clearly not the focus of the game. It is still possible for the player to have a lot of fun in the various clashes against enemies and bosses, which, by the way, are great, because, besides representation of mythological creatures, such as Surtr, the fire giant, and Valravn, the god of illusions, they are also representations of traumas that marked the life of the protagonist.

Here you can see elements of the scenario forming a rune that will free the path

Another very important element of the game are the puzzles, which, unfortunately, suffer from the same repetitiveness factor. Throughout the journey, Senua will come across several stamps that hinder their progress, and to unlock them the character will need to form symbols with objects scattered throughout the scenery, activate runes, travel between planes of reality, etc.

At first, these challenges seem interesting, since they are reflections of the distorted mind of the protagonist and play with her perception, modifying the map and the routes that can be traced. However, as we progress, the challenges become somewhat obtuse and it is possible that the player does not understand right away what must be done.

Another mechanic that is also worth mentioning is that of the curse conferred on Senua. In the first few minutes of the campaing, we are surprised by a dark figure who curses the protagonist, leaving a black mark on her arm that will spread each little more each time we die and, if she comes to reach the character’s head, the whole journey will end immediately and the entire save will be deleted. This element catch the most unsuspecting players and creates an even more tense atmosphere for all the clashes and events to come.

Unfortunately, the producers have already gone public to inform us that all this was just a joke and that even if you die thousands of times, your files will not be deleted. Anyway, I believe that this remains a great mechanic, even if false, it manages to create a sense of fear and atention, both in the mind of the protagonist and in the player’s, which collaborates with all the message that the game wants to pass.

Design and Ambiance

Because it is a game that explores Viking culture, Hellblade, represents, with great fidelity, the scenarios of these groups. Here we come up with ordinated wooden inns with shields and runes, rocky islets, dark forests, stone buildings, swamps, and more. Unfortunately, given the great linearity, the player is unable to explore these places in-depth, following only a path previously defined by the developers.

Also, the scenarios count several “lorestones”. Magical rocks with runes, scattered across the map, which chronicle much of the ancient Viking belief, from the rise of kingdoms such as Ginungagap and Muspelheim, through the creation of the world from the body of Ymir, the first living creature, to the events that led to its end, the coming of Ragnarok.

A great highlight goes to Melina Juergens, the actress who

interprets Senua

The game presents the public one of the most beautiful environments of the genre, beating head-on with the graphic quality found in the great titles released that year, such as Nioh and Mass Effect Andromeda. Much of this beauty is due to the graphic engine used by Ninja Theory, which uses the capture of facial and body movements, to better represent the feelings, expressions, and actions of the characters. The game also has excerpts with scenes of real actors; at certain times, for example, Senua has visions of her past and in them are presented characters represented by actors, who interact directly with our hero. This technique is quite interesting since it contributes even more to the distorted construction of the worldview that the protagonist has.

The soundtrack, in turn, was composed in a joint work of two industrial rock bands, Combichrist, from the United States, and VNV Nation, from England. The melodies and songs are quite tense, complementing the dark setting of the game.

Still, on the sound aspects, I couldn’t help but talk about the voice system. As previously said, several people whisper in Senua’s ears, and to give a tone of greater realism, the developers chose to capture all these soundtracks with a binaural microphone (the famous one from ASMR), which allows us to determine the direction of the origin of each sound. At all times these voices speak to the character, insulting her (“coward”, “weak”, “stupid”), encouraging her (“she is a great warrior”, “that’s the way”) or giving tips on solving puzzles or about the weaknesses of enemies and bosses. All these elements have been thought to make the player as uncomfortable as Senua, especially if you are wearing a good headset.

Final Considerations

Hellblade is a game that presents itself as a different experience, uniting the big-budget of triple-A titles with a much more experimental and shorter gameplay, present in many indie productions. Therefore, I believe that the result of this work may not be appreciated by the entire public, especially by those players who value deeper combat mechanics, a more frantic pace, multiple missions, and a good replay factor.

But if you are a player who value an engaging and well-presented story, complemented with simple and direct gameplay, this is for sure an adventure that will please you. The game is great in addressing the historical themes, exciting the player to seek more information, in retracting the psychological aspect of the character, representing with great respect and seriousness the symptoms and behaviors of people suffering from schizophrenia, and in the creation of an exciting and heart touching story, of a warrior in her journey by acceptance and belonging.

All these qualities make Hellblade a right bet and a game that brings the same satisfaction that we have when finishing a good movie or a good book, leaving that taste of wanting more.

Speaking of “more”, in 2019, during the ceremony of the Game Awards, it was announced the development of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. Little has been said or shown about this sequence, even less about the changes that will be implemented, but by the trailer, we can get a notion that some changes will be implemented in the narrative, combat, and world-building.

By this photo you can already get an idea of the weight that the soundtrack will have in the sequence

Besides, the video also confirms that Ninja Theory will continue with its “rawer” approach to Scandinavian culture, a proof of this is given by the choice of the soundtrack, which, in this new game, will be developed in collaboration with Heilung, an experimental folk band composed of musicians from Norway, Denmark, and Germany. They songs are based on ancient chants and runes inscriptions dating back to the British Iron Age.

The sequel has no release date but will be an exclusive to PC and Microsoft consoles such as Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and S. You can check on the Hellblade’s II trailer here.

[Some images used in this article were taken from Google or from game community profiles on Steam]

Information sources:

Picts: www.britannica.com/topic/Pict

Hadrian’s Wall: www.english-lakes.com/hadrians_wall.htm

Celts: www.britannica.com/topic/Celt-people