HELLBLADE

EDITOR’S CHOICE

PUBLISHER NINJA THEORY / DEVELOPER NINJA THEORY / FORMAT XBOX ONE, PS4, PC / RELEASE DATE OUT NOW / COST £30

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

GO TO HELL... LITERALLY ZOE DELAHUNTY-LIGHT

Helheim is a lot quieter than we thought it would be. No wailing. No demons jumping around with pointy sticks. Senua, the warrior who you’re accompanying through this harsh land, walks through the forest with silent footsteps. Oddly for Ninja Theory’s action-adventure game, the only noise is coming from the voices in Senua’s head as she quests to save her lover Dillion. Jostling over each other, they doubt her, they push her onwards, they laugh when she thinks she’s making progress... and every so often, they help.

Hellblade does its best to make you feel like you’re alone. All the voices in your head make it painfully obvious how little human support surrounds you, their hoarse screaming when you’re fighting being the closest the game gets to a tutorial. But... it works. Simple controls mean that although you’re limited to a basic light and heavy attack (along with a vicious kick to break your enemy’s block), you’re given the building blocks for creating some brutal combos on the fly. There’s nothing quite like stumbling upon one by chance and being treated to a raw, bone-crunching finishing move that rewards you with enough time to give them a quick stab before dodging their flailing attack. Honestly, just try to resist yelping with glee. There’s no room for error either, as on Normal difficulty it only takes three hits – four if you count the one that makes Senua a bloody splatter on the dirt – for you to start all over again. Making the break

Hellblade isn’t harsh, though. Each enemy has a routine set of attacks and provides you with a whole second – two if you’re lucky – to exploit the break in its defences. Okay, so that doesn’t sound like a lot. Taking full advantage of these gaps in your enemy’s metaphorical armour (they’re all rippling with muscle, by the way) is the only way you’ll survive. We short cut

WHAT IS IT?

A hack-n-slash with a substantial dose of puzzles... and a touching representation of mental illness.

WHAT’S IT LIKE?

Expect to be biting your lip in concentration during lethal swordplay and its brain teasers.

WHO’S IT FOR?

Someone who enjoys the thrill of combat, but wants a break every now and again. know this sounds ridiculous, but Senua’s defeats are as rewarding as her victories. Every strangled scream you let out when you’re hit by a chipped axe is a lesson in patience and timing, encouraging you like a stern parent – or god, if you’re getting into Hellblade’s Celtic setting – to memorise the attack patterns of each foe you’re facing. Sometimes combat can get dull as the game suffers from a relatively slim amount of enemies. You know how the game sidesteps this, possibly its only fault? It throws more enemies at you.

Because once you’ve mastered taking on one target, Hellblade decides to give you a couple more. At first it’s horrifically stressful, but gradually it becomes second nature to evade to a position where all your enemies remain in your eyeline. When it all gets a bit too much – as it inevitably will – the voices start to become your most important resource, warning you when someone’s getting too close or yelling “evade!” just at the moment a

Senua is based on the ancient queen Boudica... she’s not someone you want to mess with

“It’s not very often that a ame like Hellblade comes alon ”

FAR LEFT Find lore stones to unlock your memories of outcast Druth.

RIGHT Guide Senua through the realms of Helheim, and make sure you’re always ready for a fight.

foe is swinging their sharp implement at your back. Developing that odd reliance on your voices makes you realise how used to them Senua is herself. Every now and again she’ll tell them to leave her alone... yet having them close by when everything else wants you dead is an odd kind of comfort.

Gods of war

Outnumbered, overwhelmed, and quite possibly intensely disturbed by the Norse gods you’re facing: this definitely isn’t a walk in the park. Sandy beaches scattered with wrecked longships and ruined houses tell you all you need to know about Senua’s world and own enigmatic past without being intrusive.

Far from being all about fighting, the game knows exactly when you need a break from hack-andslashing. Pacing is one of its greatest strengths. Between each duel to the death – hopefully not your own – are a series of puzzles set by fickle gods. Don’t overestimate the importance of breathing space like this in Hellblade. As frustration builds from each hectic round of combat there’s the risk of it getting too much, yet the brainteasers let you slow down a little and enjoy the scenery. Story seeps into each one. Senua is about as chatty as the growling horrors she wields her sword against, so these calm moments are the only chance you have to learn exactly what brought her to this nightmarish realm.

It’s not very often that a game like this comes along. Simple controls make you eventually see combat as a fluid, instinctual flurry of patterns that soon become second nature, almost identical to how Senua herself must understand fighting. Although there aren’t really enough enemy types, you’ll always feel challenged as you’re pushed to be better with every swing of your sword, every victory and defeat. Coupled with story-drenched puzzles to break up the intense hack-and-slashing makes Hellblade a beautifully-paced exploration of mental illness and inner strength. To put it simply, if you don’t join Senua in Hell you’re missing out on one of the most thoughtful games available on the Xbox One.

PORTRAYING PSYCHOSIS SENSITIVELY

Ninja Theory is aiming to donate up to $50,000 from the Xbox One sales to Mental Health America as a continuation of their commitment to a sensitive portrayal of psychosis, the mental illness Senua suffers from. During the development of Hellblade, Ninja Theory spoke to neuroscientist and psychosis expert Professor Paul Fletcher to ensure their representation of the illness was as accurate as possible, even going so far as to talk to people who suffer from the condition themselves.

LEFT Senua’s journey to find Hela isn’t going to be easy – but when you’ve got a sharp sword in one hand, where’s the fun in easy?

OXM VERDICT

A sensitive por trayal of mental illness and rigorous combat: Hellblade is almost per fect.