Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice has you battling Norse monsters and personal demons
Celtic and Viking mythology, a driven hero seeking to redeem the soul of a fallen lover through a Norse fantasy hell-scape? Shut up and take my money! Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is the latest release for English game developer Ninja Theory.
The same folks that have given us cult hits such as the epic Heavenly Sword, the strange Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, and the emo version of the ridiculous Devil May Cry franchise have bestowed a gift upon us once again. Ninja Theory’s small portfolio boasts some of the most refined games in terms of artistic style and level design elevating their titles as gems that are worth playing.
Hellblade’s launch trailer leapt at me through a dense fog of personal doubt at the new game and I found Hellblade tucked away on the list of bigger AAA titles. This led me into developer diaries, sound track samples, and company research and oh baby let me say this: I’m excited to tell you about this game.Dark, moody, foreboding, a warrior woman with dreads and woad face paint fighting horrifying monsters with a sword. This could be Ninja Theory’s magnum opus!
The premise of Hellblade will focus on protagonist Sensua and her quest to fight the powers of Norseman hell in order to save the soul of her fallen lover. The journey will take place during the dark days of Ragnarok or the Celtic apocalypse or Bonaroo or whatever.
At first glance the game will grab you with scenes of burning world trees and strange bark splintered monstrosities trying to hack a filthy and dreadlocked warrior woman to pieces. The art style reminds me of early Silent Hill games combined with the Hollywood re-kick of the Tomb Raider series with that delicious 4k rendering that makes your head tilt ever so slightly as the drops of ersatz rain slide down the heroine’s face.
Considering Ninja Theory’s past works it’s easy to believe that Hellblade will be graphically gorgeous on the PS4 and geared up PC’s able to run it.
Yet the intrigue of Hellblade doesn’t end with the high end visuals and spiffy trailers. I had initially dismissed Hellblade as a Dark Souls clone witwwh a female hero skinned over the same old uber difficult crap that has been recoded ad nauseum for years now. What Ninja Theory has done here is craft a deeply personal journey through the horrors of madness and human psychosis.
They did this by having a team of head shrinks and psychiatrists sit in with the story development team and consult on the game design during sequences of perceived duress and high action. Hellblade will take the titular Senua and the player through a dark narrative and visceral representation of a person’s struggle with mental illness.
Which leaves me wondering if Ninja Theory’s take on this subject will have players fight hordes of monsters one level only for it to turn out later to be a village of women, children and puppies or that the entire journey was a fever dream induced by head lice and bad writing.
We’ve seen video games toy with controversial subjects and every now and again dip a toe into the deep pools of human mental disorder. Very few games try it and even fewer get it right, or at the least get the intended effect conveyed to the player.
Going into this adventure knowing that Senua is possibly a fragile human alone with her psychosis in a hostile environment raises many questions. I want to see how they pull this off and if it leads to further examination towards the intrinsic value of depicting real human issues through interaction and immersion within video gaming.
Could the days of the impervious monster slaying world saving silent badass may give way to the susceptible, morally ambiguous, and outspoken badass trying to save themselves from the world? Who knows if Hellblade will be successful at this approach, at the very least it will be a spectacle to experience.
So far my impressions are positive though I believe Hellblade will only sit right with that niche of gamers who value story driven content and thoughtful gameplay over deliberate button repetitions and sharp visuals.
From DC’s Wonder Woman to Horizon: Zero Dawn’s Aloy, 2017 so far has given us a watershed period of great female protagonists within films and games. Senua may be the gritty humanist hero we may not want but possibly need to explore the insidious darkness that lurks not only within her mind but also in our very own.
When not vaporizing zombies or leading space marines as a mousepad Mattis, Brandon Watson is making gourmet pancakes and promoting local artists.