I’m usually not the the one to follow the hype train; in fact I usually try to avoid the son of a bitch whenever I can. If you happened to be near me during the The Force Awakens hype or the hype that followed Skyrim , I was pretty abrasive towards them; truthfully I loved them in both cases. Hellblade, is a pretty similar scenario.
Senua is a woman who lost it all and is on a quest that maybe hopeless. Plagued by a horde of omnipresent voices that won’t let her be and a rot that threatens to overtake her if the demonic forces or her agonizing visions don’t kill her first. Surrounded by death, loss, madness, and the clashing of voices as she fights to save her love and slay the darkness inside herself and the forces that stand in her way…
I sincerely have to say this is one of my favorite games of the PS4 generation and possibly all time. While the combat and puzzle solving are both simple and solid, they take a backseat to a phenomenal story and a frightening tension filled experience that pretty damn accurately portrays mental illness. Senua isn’t a super stoic heroine with a tragic background (she’s not female Kratos from GOW as I initially thought she’d be); Senua is a very tragic, tortured soul that feels the fear and pain of what the game throws at her but struggles on. The atmosphere and enemy designs are amazing and I can’t give enough credit to the voice work in this game; this game mind-fucks and fills you with tension even just exploring. The game isn’t perfect, there are times the puzzles can be picky and essentially they are all the same kind and the nature of the game itself is repetitive in hindsight but I can overlook that for the experience and storytelling most games ignore. I highly recommend it, especially for a good single player story. May the game bring you glory.
Savior Gaming 