Hellblade tells the story of Senua, a young Viking lady who suffers from psychosis and is near constantly accompanied by a chorus of voices in her head. You'll want to play this game with headphones as these voices will be your companions, regularly offering taunts, suggestions or bits of history as they float around your aural perception. Senua has had a tough life, being considered cursed by her father and her village but found solace in the love of one man, Dillion. After Dillion is killed, Senua decides that it's easier to lop off his head, stuff it in a bag, tie it to her belt and hike off the underworld to bring her love back than it is to start dating again. And so your story goes: unlocking challenges, solving puzzles and defeating enemies to gain access to Hela's realm. Luckily, Senua is a competent swordswoman, having both watched Dillion train and her own mind "identifying patterns" (plus your head-voices telling you when to evade a blow from behind)

To start, the world is very atmospheric. The voices around Senua haunt and compel and the visuals are well done although there's usually some sort of film grain or other effect keeping things from being as crisp as I'd like. Game play is extremely linear with few chances to leave the beaten path and even less to discover when you do. There are no skill trees or crafting or weapons to be located. You regularly encounter puzzles which are in the form of "Locate these runes" where you hunt for shapes in the landscape, mixed up by things such as gates or arches that subtly (or dramatically) change the world, fractured views of architecture that come together from a certain angle and other tricks. Much of the game is walking along, hearing the story come together and solving these riddles.

The other part is combat which is... okay? When it works, it works splendidly and looks great. Senua flashes her attacks, parries in dramatic fashion, kicks opponents to knock them off balance and the visuals of her fighting 7' tall animal-skulled wraiths is a delight. When it doesn't work, you'll find yourself swearing at the small arenas you fight in, the camera that is behind a tree as you're getting crushed or that the game's idea of making a challenge harder is "Add more guys". I found myself both looking forward to combat to break up the puzzles and dreading it as it often felt like a crap shoot.

All in all, Hellblade gets my recommendation. If you're looking for an "experience", it delivers in spades. If you want a technically impressive game, it has that. A puzzler, it seems pretty good. Probably the most well acted and best story I've gotten from a video game in a long while. If you're primarily interested in slaying enemies, you'll probably be left wanting.

Hellblade tells the story of Senua, a young Viking lady who suffers from psychosis and is near constantly accompanied by a chorus of voices in her head. You'll want to play this game with headphones as these voices will be your companions, regularly offering taunts, suggestions or bits of history as they float around your aural perception. Senua has had a tough life, being considered cursed by her father and her village but found solace in the love of one man, Dillion. After Dillion is killed, Senua decides that it's easier to lop off his head, stuff it in a bag, tie it to her belt and hike off the underworld to bring her love back than it is to start dating again. And so your story goes: unlocking challenges, solving puzzles and defeating enemies to gain access to Hela's realm. Luckily, Senua is a competent swordswoman, having both watched Dillion train and her own mind "identifying patterns" (plus your head-voices telling you when to evade a blow from behind) To start, the world is very atmospheric. The voices around Senua haunt and compel and the visuals are well done although there's usually some sort of film grain or other effect keeping things from being as crisp as I'd like. Game play is extremely linear with few chances to leave the beaten path and even less to discover when you do. There are no skill trees or crafting or weapons to be located. You regularly encounter puzzles which are in the form of "Locate these runes" where you hunt for shapes in the landscape, mixed up by things such as gates or arches that subtly (or dramatically) change the world, fractured views of architecture that come together from a certain angle and other tricks. Much of the game is walking along, hearing the story come together and solving these riddles. The other part is combat which is... okay? When it works, it works splendidly and looks great. Senua flashes her attacks, parries in dramatic fashion, kicks opponents to knock them off balance and the visuals of her fighting 7' tall animal-skulled wraiths is a delight. When it doesn't work, you'll find yourself swearing at the small arenas you fight in, the camera that is behind a tree as you're getting crushed or that the game's idea of making a challenge harder is "Add more guys". I found myself both looking forward to combat to break up the puzzles and dreading it as it often felt like a crap shoot. All in all, Hellblade gets my recommendation. If you're looking for an "experience", it delivers in spades. If you want a technically impressive game, it has that. A puzzler, it seems pretty good. Probably the most well acted and best story I've gotten from a video game in a long while. If you're primarily interested in slaying enemies, you'll probably be left wanting.