Trickster
Member
Did I miss something?
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Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - Review Thread
- Thread starter Savantcore
- Start date
Did I miss something?
jim2point0
Banned
When I discovered that running has its own set of moves, I started spamming them in every fight. They're a lot of fun.
Also, if you charge attack the shield guys, your sword gets stuck in their shield and they flip you over.
You son of a bitch!
The animations for that are fantastic.
Having the source of sound that close to your ears enhances the feeling that there are voices in your head.
This is the Jimblade: Sterling's Sacrifice thread.
Savantcore
Unconfirmed Member
ArkhamFantasy
Member
So after 30 reviews it looks like we can say that this is Ninja Theory's 4th straight 80+ metacritic game with 4 different IPs. I think they deserve to be talked about as an upper tier developer (not naughty dog or rockstar, but just a tier below that).
Its very rare to see a developer make that many critically acclaimed games with so many different ip and play styles.
Its very rare to see a developer make that many critically acclaimed games with so many different ip and play styles.
Yeah. I loved DmC but can understand why it got the negative fan reaction it did. I think if the same action game had been released as an original IP, their rep would have gone way up.
Traxtech
Member
I wonder how many people haven't figured out that you can weave attacks to make different combos, isn't much variation but you can make a much longer combo vs just mashing light or heavy until the last hit.
Just finished it then, masterpiece in my eyes
ALSO please play it with headphones, you'll be doing yourself a biiiig favor in overall immersion and setting
Just finished it then, masterpiece in my eyes
ALSO please play it with headphones, you'll be doing yourself a biiiig favor in overall immersion and setting
Jim scoring this game a 1/10 because he couldn't finish it is beyond stupid and im glad he realised that.
I share the opinion that you shouldn't score a game until you have completed the story (or main campaign if applicable). If you can't finish it for whatever reason, you don't give it a score. A 1/10 out of frustration is childish, especially when this isn't even that long of a game. It is uncalled for retaliation. Bugs and glitches are to be expected in video games nowadays with how complex they are. You can still post a review on launch without a score, wait till its fixed, finish the game then give your score.
I share the opinion that you shouldn't score a game until you have completed the story (or main campaign if applicable). If you can't finish it for whatever reason, you don't give it a score. A 1/10 out of frustration is childish, especially when this isn't even that long of a game. It is uncalled for retaliation. Bugs and glitches are to be expected in video games nowadays with how complex they are. You can still post a review on launch without a score, wait till its fixed, finish the game then give your score.
You are right they are a very solid and proven team, I wish them to succeed commercially as they are critically.
You're totally right. I still need to play Enslaved...
Fredrik
Member
Most definitely, sending out a beloved old IP to a new dev and change so much about it was a bad idea, it didn't help Ninja Theory or Capcom or the DMC IP. DmC with a different title with no ties to Capcom or DMC would've been a whole different situation. Right now it gets compared to old DMC's rather than other action games released at that time. It's not a bad action game, it's just a very different (and from that perspective, bad) DMC.
At this point I'm really rooting for Ninja Theory. I think they've made a tremendous game here worthy of lots of praise. I certainly hope they at least get rewarded for best sound design of the year because nothing even come close to this, it's freakishly well done and so so unique.
Yautja_Warrior
Member
Definitely, they are a great developer and I like the direction they went with this too, making a cheaper, self published game but still has AAA production value. Hopefully they do more of these, as it's great to have a quality experience that isn't expensive for a change.
robotzombie
Member
They wouldn't have had the talent or capacity to release the same action game as an original IP. The gameplay is only as good as it is in DmC because of Capcom, not Ninja Theory. I'm not knocking them as a developer as a whole or trying to take away what they actually are good at mind you, but they would never have been able to make DmC's gameplay on their own.
It seems like there's a theme wrt who this repetitive conversation is centered around lol
As for the game... I'm pretty sure I was approaching the end last night before I had to quit. Holy shit, they nailed the atmosphere. Been playing with my PS Gold headphones on and this game gives me the full-on heebus jeebus. I was pretty high when I started it a couple of nights ago and I had to stop because I was getting legitimately uncomfortable.
The voice work is incredible. The visuals are far beyond what you'd expect for a $30 title. The combat is visually impactful and, while pretty simple, can get damn intense at times. They've done a great job of giving me the feeling that I'm fighting for Senua's life. I guess if I've got to complain, I'm not a big fan of the style of puzzles in the game. If there was a prompt that said "press options to skip this and just open the door", I'd smash that damn button. I've said something along the lines of "God dammit, not again" in response to an additional puzzle being revealed several times. Also, the game is pretty damn linear, to the point where I've encountered multiple instances where, if my goddamn warrior goddess could just crouch or climb some chest-high rocks, she could reach her goal. Also, the "corridor" nature of the level design kinda opens up at points but, sometimes, I run into situations where I'm not sure exactly where I can/should be going. Times like those, I almost wish the game was more linear.
Overall, this game has been pretty incredible so far. The gripes are few and far between, and probably mostly fueled by the fact that the last game I completed from beginning to end wast BotW, which is such a huge departure from this type of experience. If I had to sum this title up in one sentence: "This game is like The Order: 1886 except with Norse mythology, an interesting protagonist and it's actually very damn good." It makes me feel things in ways few games have. It makes me wonder how a game like Eternal Darkness would come across if made with today's technology. I absolutely can't wait to get home and finish this one off.
As for the game... I'm pretty sure I was approaching the end last night before I had to quit. Holy shit, they nailed the atmosphere. Been playing with my PS Gold headphones on and this game gives me the full-on heebus jeebus. I was pretty high when I started it a couple of nights ago and I had to stop because I was getting legitimately uncomfortable.
The voice work is incredible. The visuals are far beyond what you'd expect for a $30 title. The combat is visually impactful and, while pretty simple, can get damn intense at times. They've done a great job of giving me the feeling that I'm fighting for Senua's life. I guess if I've got to complain, I'm not a big fan of the style of puzzles in the game. If there was a prompt that said "press options to skip this and just open the door", I'd smash that damn button. I've said something along the lines of "God dammit, not again" in response to an additional puzzle being revealed several times. Also, the game is pretty damn linear, to the point where I've encountered multiple instances where, if my goddamn warrior goddess could just crouch or climb some chest-high rocks, she could reach her goal. Also, the "corridor" nature of the level design kinda opens up at points but, sometimes, I run into situations where I'm not sure exactly where I can/should be going. Times like those, I almost wish the game was more linear.
Overall, this game has been pretty incredible so far. The gripes are few and far between, and probably mostly fueled by the fact that the last game I completed from beginning to end wast BotW, which is such a huge departure from this type of experience. If I had to sum this title up in one sentence: "This game is like The Order: 1886 except with Norse mythology, an interesting protagonist and it's actually very damn good." It makes me feel things in ways few games have. It makes me wonder how a game like Eternal Darkness would come across if made with today's technology. I absolutely can't wait to get home and finish this one off.
You don't, you really don't.
I'm reluctant to say I'd publish a review based on this, but when there's a truly game-save breaking bug late in a game, especially when that game is constructed around a carefully built-up emotional experience, a glitch meaning I have to go through the motions again just to get to where I had been utterly decimates the impact of that whole experience. Even assuming I'm just disappointed and not angry (if I had been actively engrossed), I find it almost impossible to overcome a negative reaction to that. If a game is at all likely to lose your progress through that kind of technical glitch, I'm inclined to legitimately call it broken, and not worth the time and risk of playing.
I understand that it's always theoretically a risk, but I'm talking about combining an otherwise gripping experience with a hightened likelihood of this sort of error.
All that being said, I'm going to play the heck out of this game. It looks fascinating. Sterling's issue sounds isolated, but that sort of disruption shouldn't be downplayed.
So see above for my more specific thoughts, but if the criticism of a game is that it isn't functional in some basic way due to glitches, I think you can make the case for a 1/10. Like, I think the starting point for all games is "functional," and that seems like a legitimate use of the one-to-ten scale. That said, I agree (especially in the days of easy patching/updates), publishing a review based on that ends up being a loaded statement if you're a particularly far-reaching editorial voice.
I understand that it's always theoretically a risk, but I'm talking about combining an otherwise gripping experience with a hightened likelihood of this sort of error.
All that being said, I'm going to play the heck out of this game. It looks fascinating. Sterling's issue sounds isolated, but that sort of disruption shouldn't be downplayed.
So see above for my more specific thoughts, but if the criticism of a game is that it isn't functional in some basic way due to glitches, I think you can make the case for a 1/10. Like, I think the starting point for all games is "functional," and that seems like a legitimate use of the one-to-ten scale. That said, I agree (especially in the days of easy patching/updates), publishing a review based on that ends up being a loaded statement if you're a particularly far-reaching editorial voice.
It's not clear to me what you mean. Did Capcom design the combat themselves, or are you saying they gave Ninja Theory enough money to successfully develop the combat? If it's the latter, then that's true for most developers.
Finaika
Member
Is this better than Enslaved?
I just bought it, so I'm hoping..
But how could it not be? I hated enslaved. The gameplay was boring, repetitive, etc.
GavinUK86
Member
Yes you do.
Don't listen to this guy.
That's debatable. This is a more linear and structured game than Enslaved. They're very different but both very, very good.
Everyone needs to play Hellblade though, I finished it about an hour ago and it blew my mind.
Ninja Theory are 4/4 with me. They haven't made a bad game yet in my opinion.
They deserve all the success. I hope this does well for them.
DirtyLarry
Member
Picked it up and hoping to get some real time with it tomorrow and this weekend, but hot damn it is a looker. The fan on my PS4 Pro was super loud though. I have never heard it this loud actually.
Astral Dog
Member
Both, they learned a lot from Capcom developers on how to design the combat and enemy animations as they were having trouble, if that takes credit away for them or doesn't really matter its up to you. Though its a positive outcome regardless
Radical Edward
Member
Ideally, you should have some sort of grading rubric to keep it all consistent and transparent. Scores will vary, depending on how you weigh certain criteria but I can't see 9 points being assigned to a game's technical aspects. Rating anything based on pure emotion is never a good look.
Not totally disagreeing here, but I wouldn't call the game experience (in the context of the game flubbing it's own pacing because of a technical glitch ruining progress) "pure emotion."
I would call "the ability to finish the game" and "the impact of a story based game's story" worthy of the majority of its value. This isn't math, it's assessing an experience.
I just finished this game, it was pretty damned impressive. They managed to tell a very tightly focused story, everything in the game was in service to the story and they executed it really well. The combat felt a bit too easy at times but the combat system didn't lack depth per say. I enjoyed chaining together sprinting attacks, dashing attacks, regular light and heavy combos, kicks and landing a perfectly timed parry + riposte was very satisfying. I'd say some of the puzzles were probably the weak point of the game but still again, in service to the story so they had some merit in that way.
GameAddict411
Member
I have always Ninja Theory. All their games had a layer of polish that is quite rare in the gaming industry. I even liked DmC even though I was fan of the original DMC 1-4. This game puts them back on the map. I wish them luck, and success with their game.
https://youtu.be/Q-J3V1tN7uk
Had to sit and think about this game and everything it did and how it did it for a couple days. Hope you all enjoy the review, and I hope the rest of the industry learns a thing or two about how they tackled such an important issue such as mental health is such a superb fashion.
5/5 from me.
Had to sit and think about this game and everything it did and how it did it for a couple days. Hope you all enjoy the review, and I hope the rest of the industry learns a thing or two about how they tackled such an important issue such as mental health is such a superb fashion.
5/5 from me.
He can be a dick all he wants but part of being that dick is taking the heat
so..I think I'm doing something wrong since I've given up on the game after 1 hr 20 mins as I can't stand the mechanics here.
Visuals and audio are impressive yes, the story so far is eh, I get that it's doubling down on telling the story through the lens of mental illness but it's not doing much to me..anyway, I'm on my 3rd matching symbols with the environment "puzzle" in a roll and it is really frustrating and getting on my nerves to repeat such "puzzles" that I just stopped playing. Please send help.
Visuals and audio are impressive yes, the story so far is eh, I get that it's doubling down on telling the story through the lens of mental illness but it's not doing much to me..anyway, I'm on my 3rd matching symbols with the environment "puzzle" in a roll and it is really frustrating and getting on my nerves to repeat such "puzzles" that I just stopped playing. Please send help.
Yeah the puzzles can get annoying. In the second half of the game you have some better puzzles, albeit still with the symbols, but more varied and interesting.
Yeah, I thought the story had its fair share of issues, and the writing feels bloated on too many occasions, but it's unique enough to be worth finishing. Stick with it some more, and if you still find it annoying quit.
I think that in order to fully appreciate what Senua's Sacrifice is doing as an artistic work you need to be able to stomach mechanics that are there not to be "fun", but to communicate a theme:
- The rune puzzles become tedious and downright frustrating at times, but they work as a means to communicate an obsessive need to seek patterns and meaning in one's environment.
- Combat encounters can be overwhelming most of the time because the enemies always feel like they take way too many hits to kill and have a habit of surrounding you while your attention is always squarely focused on one at a time... But when you overcome waves of them you feel like you've faced insurmountable odds, while also dreading the next encounter you know is ahead of you.
- The threat of permadeath gives weight to every encounter with the possibility of failure, making every one stressful whereas other games like SOMA or Amnesia could be undone by just failing a few times and realizing how little was actually at stake.
I've always had a huge appreciation for developers who design games with "objectively unfun" mechanics for artistic purposes - Silent Hill 4 for instance was mainly criticized for being rife with unfun, stressful design decisions that actually work very well in conveying that game's themes. Most horror games (actual horror, not Resi4 horror) rely on some gameplay element to build tension and put the player in an uncomfortable position. Very few games actually take it as far as Senua's does though, and while that's going to turn a lot of people just looking for escapism away I believe Ninja Theory should be lauded for it. There's real artistic intent here that shouldn't be dismissed as bad design.
- The rune puzzles become tedious and downright frustrating at times, but they work as a means to communicate an obsessive need to seek patterns and meaning in one's environment.
- Combat encounters can be overwhelming most of the time because the enemies always feel like they take way too many hits to kill and have a habit of surrounding you while your attention is always squarely focused on one at a time... But when you overcome waves of them you feel like you've faced insurmountable odds, while also dreading the next encounter you know is ahead of you.
- The threat of permadeath gives weight to every encounter with the possibility of failure, making every one stressful whereas other games like SOMA or Amnesia could be undone by just failing a few times and realizing how little was actually at stake.
I've always had a huge appreciation for developers who design games with "objectively unfun" mechanics for artistic purposes - Silent Hill 4 for instance was mainly criticized for being rife with unfun, stressful design decisions that actually work very well in conveying that game's themes. Most horror games (actual horror, not Resi4 horror) rely on some gameplay element to build tension and put the player in an uncomfortable position. Very few games actually take it as far as Senua's does though, and while that's going to turn a lot of people just looking for escapism away I believe Ninja Theory should be lauded for it. There's real artistic intent here that shouldn't be dismissed as bad design.
Polygonal_Sprite
Gold Member
Looks very interesting and visually stunning.
Astral Dog
Member
No, it benefited Ninja Theory because, believe it or not, it was a collaboration and they learned to make better games from that experience. They just didn't make DMC on their own
Edit: huh i swear this was on the front page 😅
AgentP
Thinks mods influence posters politics. Promoted to QAnon Editor.
I bought this recently for $17 and after 1-2 hours it's safe to say this game isn't fun. I like the voice acting and environments, but the actual game play is not fun and often frustrating. Maybe it changes, but it seems to be repetitive sequences of "spot the letters", "run through fire" and "fight the badguy". What am I missing? I just got to the first boss, which was ok, at least something different.
Vawn
Banned
The Last of Us 2 won't be fun either.
Strife In a Teacup
Member
Game is absolutely awesome. Easily the reason MS bought them, without question.
Kacho
Member
I’ve heard it gets better as you go on but I haven’t play it myself so I can’t speak specifics.
That sounds like Ninja Theory though. This game reminds me of that Heavenly Sword game they did on PS3. Not fun but it sure looked pretty.
Humdinger
Gold Member
Well, there's more to it than just that. There's lore, there's interaction with various entities, there's Senua's internal monolog, there's combat. The letter puzzles are overdone, though, so if you don't like those, well, you're not going to like the rest of the game, because there's lots more where that came from. "Run through the fire" is just with one of the initial bosses and won't be a repetitive mechanic. "Fight the bad guy" ... well, yeah, there will be plenty of that, like there is in every videogame.
If you don't like it, you don't need to force yourself to play. I will say, though, that I had a hard time with the first couple of hours -- I found it frustrating. Valvavyn in particular drove me nuts. I kept getting lost in that puzzle and couldn't work it out. I think the devs made a mistake putting that one (which imo is the hardest puzzle in the game) up front, before you've even learned the game's language.
Once you get through the first two bosses (Valravyn and the fire guy), it gets better. I'd encourage you to push through at least past that. It's really a remarkable game, but it does take some work.
AeonGaidenRaiden
Member
I think everyone should give the game a chance especially since its not too long. Even myself,when i first bought it I think I got up to the first 1/3 of the game. The combat wasnt clixking with me and even worse I went the wrong way and kinda got bored and lost.
3 months later, I restarted it, finished it and was blown away. Now everything clicked as it should. I actually wish there was a physical copy to have in my collection. Its a very moody game but still thevisuals aregreat especially closer to the end stages.
3 months later, I restarted it, finished it and was blown away. Now everything clicked as it should. I actually wish there was a physical copy to have in my collection. Its a very moody game but still thevisuals aregreat especially closer to the end stages.