Poll of the Day > Anyone here play Hellblade: Sensua's Sacrifice?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I just recently played through it myself. As a game it's pretty bare bones. Very linear, simple repetitive combat, no upgrades or RPG mechanics. As a story and a work of interactive art though, it's outstanding. It looks beautiful. A lot of bleak and bloody environments that fit the story and setting well.

Where this game really shines though, is its sound design and portrayal of schizophrenia. The main character suffers from schizophrenic psychosis and is constantly hearing voices and seeing shadows follow her. The designers talked to actual doctors and mental health experts so they could give an accurate portrayal, and it really shows. You constantly have different voices encouraging, discouraging, mocking, supporting, etc. The game recommends playing with headphones, but this was almost too immersive for me. I had a bad psychedelic trip almost 6 years ago that left me with temporary psychosis (don't do research chemicals). Hearing voices, seeing shadows, the works. And seeing/hearing that sensation so accurately portrayed in an interactive medium was a bit stressful lol.

The only other portrayal of schizophrenia I've seen that really helps you empathize with the character one this level is the movie Clean, Shaven (another masterclass in sound design and highly recommended if you want a disturbing film).

Anyway, definitely worth playing if you want a good story. If you play your games primarily for the game mechanics, then this one might be skippable, but I still recommend giving it a shot.

Highly disappointed that Microsoft bought the studio so the sequel won't be on PlayStation. Might have to invest in an Xbox at some point.

Yeah I really loved it, great art direction

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I really enjoyed it, though by the end it had gotten pretty stale mechanically and I was ready for it to be over. I'm skeptical about the sequel because of that, but we'll see.

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Awesome game. Play it with headphones or a good audio setup. One of the best games for sound design I've ever played.

Kinda bummed Microsoft bought the studio because I like most of Ninja Theory's games. Maybe they won't make their games PC/Xbox exclusive but I doubt it

lol I commented off the topic title before reading your post. In agreement with you

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I own it, but haven't touched it yet. Looks interesting so I will probably play it eventually, maybe after I finish Yakuza: Like a Dragon and I am waiting for the Yakuza Remastered collection to come to PC.

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funkyfritter posted...

I really enjoyed it, though by the end it had gotten pretty stale mechanically and I was ready for it to be over. I'm skeptical about the sequel because of that, but we'll see.

Yeah, this about sums up my feelings on it.

Fuck those scary-ass monsters in the darkness section, by the way.

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funkyfritter posted...

I really enjoyed it, though by the end it had gotten pretty stale mechanically and I was ready for it to be over. I'm skeptical about the sequel because of that, but we'll see.

That about sums it up. It's very well done in all aspects but the combat.

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I was playing through it on Gamepass, but those "match the backgrounds to make shapes" puzzles were just too annoying.
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