Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Review: 3 Ups & 2 Downs

1. The Premise

The premise is really ambitious and well executed. Senua has psychosis; referred in the game as the Darkness cast on her by the Shadow, which causes her to hallucinate. The intention of Senua's Sacrifice is to make the gamer feel what is felt by a person suffering from this mental illness.

This is why the aforementioned uncertainty is so crucial: the gamer is supposed to question what's real and what's fake. Hellblade even lies to you multiple times in regards to where to go or how close you are to completing a puzzle.

Another important element of the game is trauma, which is closely associated with what Senua is experiencing. At some point Dillion says: "You cannot overcome suffering if you refuse to look at it." Hence the gory imagery - that's the unspoken element of war.

Being a warrior is not only adventure and glory, it's also decapitated bodies and bloody sacrifices to unknown gods. The game is informing the player about real-life consequences of violence, and it does so very successfully.