In the game Hellblade Senua S Sacrifice, the plot can stun any player. Initially, there is no background or explanation. The user hears only the voices in the head of the main character and from these fragments should add a complete picture of what is happening. Despite this, the game is deservedly considered one of the best in 2017. A review of the main elements in the article will prove this. The plot is also enticing if it is fully understood.
Important project details
In a masterpiece from the developers of Hellblade Senua S Sacrifice, the plot has a deep connection with Norse mythology. For example, players should know what Helfheim is, where the main character goes. This is one of the nine worlds where all people fall after death. The giantess Hel dominates there, whom Odin cast down into the dark depths. According to legend, it’s impossible to get out, because the gates are guarded by the four-eyed dog Garm and guard Modgood. The game has a dark style, since the psychological horror was chosen as the genre. The appropriate atmosphere is supported by high-quality sound.
Story line
In Hellblade Senua S Sacrifice, the plot begins in 791 AD, the scene of action is Northern Europe. At this time, pagan tribes lived in the region, who believed in their pantheon of gods. Around the same moment, the Vikings landed on the Orkney Islands and destroyed the Celtic people there. The main character from the Pictish people of Senua is a warrior in her tribe. She goes to Helfheim with the severed head of her beloved man Dillion, in order to try to bring him back to life. The man was the only one who treated the girl differently than other fellow tribesmen. He saw her good sides and managed to love. Their relationship after the outbreak of the plague was in a state of stress. When Senua was not in the village, she was attacked by warlike Vikings. They ravaged the settlement, killed many residents, and Dillion himself was put to death, which in history is called the “Bloody Eagle”. Since the murder was committed by Scandinavian tribes, the main character is convinced that her lover is held captive by the goddess Hel. She wants to go to her place and bargain for the guy’s soul.
Split personality
Throughout the story in Hellblade Senua S Sacrifice, voices will speak in the head of the main character. The girl suffers from psychosis, which has taken on the form of two personalities in her. They will accompany her on the way to Helfheim and comment on what is happening in the game. This is the echoes of her illness, which make themselves felt constantly. As a child, the girl suffered greatly from the fact that her father, named Zinbel, tried to eradicate the disease from the body. He was a Druid of the Picts and considered psychosis a curse from the gods. The father subjected his daughter to various torments, since he considered this a way to get rid of the “dark essence” of Senua. The psychosis was hereditary and was transmitted to the main character from the mother. Zinbel burned her at the stake to eradicate the “darkness” that could spread to other people. During the trip, the girl will also see images from the past. Often, the already dead Dillion, the cruel father who escaped from the Viking captivity, Drut and other personalities will come to her.
The ups and downs of history
The difficulty in explaining the plot in Hellblade Senua S Sacrifice is due to the fact that the game has many references to Scandinavian mythology. For ordinary people who are unfamiliar with this epic, it will be difficult to understand who the main character is fighting with. For example, at first she searches for the entrance to Helheim and fights with unknown warriors. Further before her in the guise of enemies appear Surt and Valnav. The first is a fiery giant, and the second is a huge raven. Then she will be able to take possession of Gram - a sword for killing the gods, fight the three-headed Garm and ultimately reach Hel herself. To understand all this without relevant knowledge is difficult. And the spirit of history with mythology cannot be fully felt. As a result, it turns out that before the game it is worth familiarizing yourself with the Scandinavian stories, at least superficially. Then the battles will seem more epic, and Senua’s path is not so unknown. Knowledge of stories will allow you to more feel the plot and experiences about this.
Difficulty filing
On one mythology, the plot explanations in the Hellblade Senua S Sacrifice do not end there. The user will have to read all the above information, as well as get used to the unusual presentation of data in the game. If the user just sat down to relax at the next computer entertainment, then he may be disappointed. The first moments in the game are simply devoid of fights, exciting events, and more. The heroine moves along the path and at the same time hears a voiceover. He constantly sets out philosophical ideas, talks about the difficulties on the way, but does not specify anything. There are hints that the girl is going to Helheim, but for what and what kind of world this is, no one speaks directly to the user. Even a prepared player for such a presentation will have to be patient to read a lot of text from the developers with subtitles (there is no Russian voice acting). At the same time, one voiceover is mixed with those that are said in the head of the main character. It is really difficult to extract grains of facts from speech, and therefore many immediately go to seek an explanation of the plot of this project.
Project Development Phase
In the Hellblade Senua S Sacrifice game, a twelve-person team made the storyline. These people teamed up with the flagship Ninja Theory Studio and started making their own masterpiece. They spent only a few hundred pounds on the first video, because they created it using equipment purchased from other people. Even a cricket helmet was used, which the masters used for motion capture technology. The user who joined the game for the first time might think that this is a large AAA project and hundreds of authors took part in the work on it. All this is thanks to a quality study of the outside world and character animation. The main character on the face at certain times clearly reads fear, horror, hatred, regret and other emotions. The creators approached the work with the game wisely and without large budgets step by step went to their goal. They came up with their own unique concept, and although the project did not work out perfect, but it clearly deserves the attention of every gamer.
Game world
To begin the review of the game Hellblade Senua S Sacrifice with the plot is correct, so that the user understands the whole essence of the project, but even without the story itself, it has features. These include the atmosphere of the game world in the spirit of gloomy Scandinavian legends about gods and giants. Senua suffers from a rare form of psychosis and at the same time goes to the world of dead souls with the head of his beloved man Dillion. Already these three facts indicate that the environment should correspond to the gloomy internal state of the main character. The developers managed to convey this thanks to the excellent graphics and musical performance from Andy La Plagua. Some sounds are made so that the hero can determine by ear their source. This is to simplify some puzzles a bit. In the game world you can often see a tree with hanged people, huge monsters, gloomy transitions on different types of terrain and a suddenly changing landscape. All this only fuels interest in the game each time.
Combat system
If in the review of the plot of the Hellblade Senua S Sacrifice there are many features, then the combat system, on the contrary, shines with simplicity. The authors decided not to invent anything new, but to use classic battles with a third-person view. The main character Senua was a warrior in her tribe, and therefore has handled melee weapons. Her arsenal has a light and heavy attack. The first hits fast, but not too hard, and the second vice versa. To protect more options in store. Here, blocking, dodging, and even slowing down time can be used to your advantage. It is worth saying that the block only works if you put it already at the time of the attack by the enemy. Constantly dodging is the best way to avoid the damage done, especially in a battle against several opponents. Different types of enemies in the game are vulnerable to certain combinations of skills. In the first moments of the battle, try them and remember the way of victory in the future. The appearance of monsters is repeated at different points in the game.
Riddles in the game
Since the story of the passage is the main aspect in the Hellblade Senua S Sacrifice game and the developers have focused on it, the fighting style has remained an order of magnitude lower in quality. As you progress through the world of the living and Helheim, the main character will find locked gates. To open them, you must enter the concentration mode in order to see the desired rune. A similar sign must be found on the ground. It can be hidden among stones, at the intersection of tree branches, or in other elements of the world. The system is quite interesting, but its uniformity is a clear minus. Riddles do not change and do not bring anything new to the gameplay throughout the entire playing time. Often they will have to be solved for a while, which only complicates the task, but does not cause enthusiasm for the player. With the advent of the dead, there will only be more of them, and therefore everyone who wants to see the end of this project should be patient. Even a sincere fan of this work, it will become boring to solve them over time.
Project Benefits
The obvious advantages of the project include the meaning of the plot of Hellblade Senua S Sacrifice. The heroine, despite all the internal warnings, illness and fears, goes to the terrible world of the dead to return her beloved. The presentation of Scandinavian mythology is laudable, as monsters and events can interest a player who knows nothing about it. The central character deserves special attention. Senua clearly shows all internal experiences and conflicts with current events. Even in the headpieces, emotions are visible on her face. The user involuntarily takes them and begins to empathize with her. This is achieved thanks to the work of developers with graphics, facial expressions and gestures. The game world looks nice, the graphics correspond to a dark style and an uplifting atmosphere. The project has another interesting feature - you can’t die a lot in it, since the heroine is infected with a disease that spreads after each defeat. At one point, the system will simply delete the save file and you will have to start all over again.
All cons
If the plot of the game Hellblade Senua S Sacrifice is an advantage, then the pitch is rather a minus. The developers noted their own style, which fell to the liking of part of the audience. Only the majority of users had to use additional resources on the Web in order to deal with the state of the main character and current events. No background has been presented, and from many philosophical reflections of voice-overs, we have to build up bit by bit history. Another minus is too simple a combat system. When the user learns the behavior of all enemies, then the battle will become more of a burden than an attractive aspect. Opponents do not show anything new, and Senua has too narrow an arsenal of techniques. At the same time, the user should act as carefully as possible, since dying is not recommended here. As a result, the battles take a long and exhausting time, and this will not appeal to players who decide to relax in their free time.
Ending game
In the Hellblade Senua S Sacrifice project, the plot and the endings are connected. With a standard walkthrough, the heroine finally meets the giantess Hel, who is the mistress of the world of the dead. It is impossible to win a fight with her, since she is immortal and has tremendous power. At the end, Senua weakens and surrenders. The ruthless enemy takes Gram from her and stabs the girl with the same sword. After this, the giantess throws Dillion's head off a cliff, and after a moment becomes the main character. The promise of the developers here is to reconcile the girl with the death of her own person. She realized that it was impossible to return the dead back and managed to cope with grief. There is also a secret ending in the project, which becomes available if you find all the "stones of knowledge." Then Senua will meet with the runaway slave Drut. The man will say that he was in fact the Picts ambassador to the Vikings, but betrayed his tribe due to torture. He will describe another traitor in his speeches, which in fact resembles the girl's father - the druid Zinbel.
Summary
In the Hellblade Senua S Sacrifice project, a storyline takes some time, but it's worth it. The project deserves attention at least because of the unusual presentation. 12 people managed to make the AAA class game, and many of the best developer studios with a huge staff cannot achieve the results that the guys from Ninja Theory showed. It has its drawbacks, but lovers of an interesting presentation and psychological component will become real fans of this work. Boring moments will be replaced by an interesting presentation, and the main character always clings to the emotions that she conveys to the players through the monitor screen.