Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a marvelous work that does a fine job at portraying the torments of someone afflicted mental health issues. It's also a very good hack and slash, with a fantastic visual environment, an exquisite audio component with emphasis for its voice acting and an experience that's never enough to recommend again and again.

When you think you’re seeing a render in-game that looks too good for Switch, that’s because essentially a video is playing. Yes, the actual game part is lower resolution, and yes, of course if you can play it on PS4, Xbox One, or PC, you’ll get the better looking experience, but if you are a Switch-only console household then you’re getting a great looking game that sounds amazing, and tells a story with one of the best takes on mental health in a long time. Play it on handheld with headphones and you’ll be shocked, just don’t be surprised if it looks blurry (and sub-HD) on the big screen.

With the body of an AAA title and the soul of an independent game, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice presents a poignant narrative about mental illness. It is one of the most impressive games on Switch, both due to its visuals and its one-of-a-kind experience.

A very intense character study embedded in a captivating fantasy adventure. Technically surprisingly impressive on Switch.

To have Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice on Switch in this form is a blessing that you shouldn’t miss out on. The game itself is a psychological sensory experience that we thoroughly recommend, but the fact that it’s been translated to Switch in such a complete fashion is the true surprise here. It doesn’t feel like a downgrade at all – it stands proudly alongside the other ‘miracle’ ports on the system, arguably surpassing them in some ways. It’s a remarkable effort and a challenge to other developers who insist Switch couldn’t handle their games. Anything’s possible, it seems, and we take our hats off to QLOC – bravo.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is an exciting and touching narrative adventure; the conversion for Nintendo Switch is well made.

While the main appeal of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, – Psychosis and mental instability – was not for me there is still plenty of fun to be had with the game.

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a formidable concoction of beauty and psychological horror that’s often marred with a frequent claustrophobic sense of frustration. The rather cumbersome puzzle feature set in place would be something that I would usually consider as a weak link within a cast iron chain. Yet, to the developer’s credit, they have completely enforced exactly what they set out to do, sending my mind into a kaleidoscope of emotions that metaphorically ride across the five stages of grief.

Even on a personal level, Senua's determination should remind us more often that "even in darkness, the beauty of the world is always there ...".

While this port manages to reach the same emotional and spiritually resonant highs as other releases, it unfortunately features some inconsistent frame rate and subdued texture detail throughout, lessening the impact of some key moments. With that said, Hellblade is still largely intact on the more modest platform. In the Switch's tablet form, it gives the impression you're diving into an engrossing novel, making for a more intimate experience that can't found in other versions of the game.

An outstanding game that works pretty well on a console like Switch, especially on TV mode. Its performance on handheld mode is not good. That paired with some boring/repetitive mechanics that were on the other versions make this Switch version the least recommendable of them all, but still a fun and interesting game.

A good port for Nintendo Switch. If you didn't play Hellblade, this is the perfect time.

It is utterly solid, compelling to play, and at a price point you cannot argue with. It is also pretty cheap to buy comparative to other titles, and whilst not a AAA title, looks and plays like one. It is a short game that you can get through in a few hours if you do not explore, but even that will still give you a good experience, but one I doubt you will return to unless you loved the story like I did. Give it a shot.

Overall, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is wonderful on Switch. If you’re planning to play the game on TV, you should probably buy it for another console. However, if you’re willing to play the game held in your hands with headphones — the best way to play — then it’s a rewarding experience on Switch. Senua is a great character, and with the exception of God of War, Norse mythology has been relatively unexplored in gaming. While some gameplay elements left more to be desired, Senua’s journey is well worth seeing through on Switch.

The incredible port by QLOC has kept everything that made Hellblade enthralling completely intact, and besides a low resolution it’s difficult to tell the difference between the Switch port and the original versions without comparing them directly side-by-side. Hellblade is just as good on Switch as it was on other platforms, so now’s the perfect time to pick it up if you haven’t already had the chance to experience the journey of Senua’s Sacrifice.

As you can expect, Ninja Theory’s latest game has seen some technical sacrifices to fit Nintendo’s console, but the experience remains. Hellblade is a story that needs to be played, even if the gameplay isn’t as good.