B&B Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice

Welcome to Brew and Breakdown. Without further ado, let’s begin. 

Our game featured today is Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. According to IGN it unfolds like a beautiful, dark, tense visual novel, placing the excellently raw, human performance of its main character front and center on her journey into the land of the Northmen.. IGN gave this title a 9 out of 10.

Wikipedia states, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a 2017 action-adventure game developed and published by the British video game development studio Ninja Theory. Set in a dark fantasy world inspired by Norse mythology and Celtic culture, the game follows Senua, a Pict warrior who must make her way to Helheim by defeating otherworldly entities and facing their challenges, in order to rescue the soul of her dead lover from the goddess Hela. It was released worldwide for PlayStation 4, and Windows in August 2017, Xbox One in April 2018, Nintendo Switch in April 2019, and Xbox Series X and Series S in August 2021. Hellblade features support for virtual reality, which was added in a 2018 update.

Self-described as an "independent AAA game", Hellblade was created by a team of approximately twenty developers led by writer and director Tameem Antoniades. The game blends different gameplay mechanics and concepts like puzzle solving, psychological horror and melee combat. Voice acting is an integral part of the game, while its cutscenes combine motion capture by Melina Juergens, and live action performances by other actors. The game's narrative serves as a metaphor for the character's struggle with psychosis, as Senua, who suffers from the condition but believes it to be a curse, is haunted by an entity known as the "Darkness", voices in her head known as "Furies", and memories from her past. To properly represent psychosis, developers worked closely with neuroscientists, mental health specialists, and people living with the condition.

Hellblade was a commercial success and was well-received by critics, who praised it as a work of art and applauded its uncommon choice of revolving around psychosis, the quality and uniqueness of its approach of the condition, and its story and main character. Its overall presentation, along with Juergens' performance, was also considered superior in quality to what independent games usually provide, although its gameplay and other elements received some criticism. The game sold over a million copies across all platforms by June 2018. A sequel, Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, was announced at The Game Awards 2019.

With further analysis we see what Brandin Tyrrel has to say in his IGN review. Brandin states, I spent the majority of my six-hour playthrough of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice grasping for a touchstone to understand the experience. It unfolds like a beautiful, dark, tense visual novel, placing the excellently raw, human performance of its main character front and center on her journey into the land of the Northmen. Her story is one of confusion, sadness, fear, and loss, and it’s punctuated by moments of beauty, and strength that has left a lasting impression on me.

It follows the titular Senua, a celtic warrior, who embarks on a mission to the homeland of the Northmen in order to penetrate the depths of their version of hell, the mythological Norse land of the dead called Helheim. It's bound by threads of historical fiction, historical non-fiction, mythology, and metaphor all admirably weaved together to create a unique backdrop that's ripe for exploring the darker tones and themes Hellblade tackles.

But as impressive as its story is, Ninja Theory’s smart design reinforces the sensory nature of the harrowing tale through subtle and intuitive mechanics. Even before the game begins, you're prompted to play with headphones in order to capitalize on the binaural audio design (simulated three-dimensional sound). This is used to great effect as the voices that plague Senua are in constant chatter, dancing around her head in creepy ways that feel as though you're never alone.

Visually Hellblade is a gorgeous game to take in – sun-soaked rocky beaches, vividly distorted streaks of color and light, and deep darkness that strangles the screen, there's a variety of hues, saturation, and exposures that convey meaning in most areas. 

The Decision 

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a Masterpiece. Perfection. Enough said. Brew and Breakdown gives this title, 

5 out of Five, Coffee Beans. Its overall gameplay aesthetic and mechanics are timelessly enduring. Senua’s Sacrifice itself is psychoactive, mesmerizing.

Sadly, this Brew and Breakdown has come to an end. Thank you for tuning in to Xbox Intel. 

Intel next time.