Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

 Xbox One
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 811 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 625 out of 811
  2. Mixed: 99 out of 811
  3. Negative: 87 out of 811
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  1. Atrocitylone
    Dec 29, 2019
    4
    Prepare for a lot of walking, running and voices. Game could have been much better but too much focus was on just telling the story rather than mechanics. However, when those mechanics do come into play you the player, if you dont know what's going on or what to do, you will be punished for it.
  2. Aftrthought051
    Mar 6, 2019
    2
    Imagine getting a new game, tearing it open and that eager anticipation to play welling up inside of you. Now keep that obsession, but now imagine before you play, you have to swim 300 laps,,,,,,with a weighted vest,,,,,,and for every 2 minutes of swimming you have to just sit there treading water for 5 minutes. Oh, and before you even start to swim, tread water for 10 minutes. That'sImagine getting a new game, tearing it open and that eager anticipation to play welling up inside of you. Now keep that obsession, but now imagine before you play, you have to swim 300 laps,,,,,,with a weighted vest,,,,,,and for every 2 minutes of swimming you have to just sit there treading water for 5 minutes. Oh, and before you even start to swim, tread water for 10 minutes. That's about as close to an analogy of playing Hellblade that I can give you. This game tries to tell some epic tale but unfortunately it only does justice to that infamous John Carmack quote from 1993: "A plot in a video game is about as useful as a plot in porn". I'm paraphrasing but you get the idea. The first thing you are greeted to when you play this game is a painful opening cinematic of the protagonist slowly rowing down a river as we listen to the voices in her head. The "whispers" of the voices in her head. Multiple ones. All talking at once. This is like playing a game where the main protagonist suffers from multiple personality disorder and you need to experience this because then you can hashtag how progressive you really are and virtual signal all your friends down in the dirt. You can't skip the cinematics which is equally painful since you will only care less about the plot as you carry on. The opening sequence takes a good 10 minutes to get through. No fast forward. No pushing a button to skip. I mean, imagine watching your porn, but you can't fast forward to the good parts? Porn on an eight track where you have to endure their terrible acting skills with an equally awful plot that the producer's cousin wrote. The good part of this game is that like any great porn movie, once you get to the action sequences (aka "the fighting" aka THE ROOT OF YOUR FLIPPING GAME!!!!), it is awesome. Great counters with pleasing results. Unfortunately, Ninja Theory thinks its storytelling is so grand that it doesn't need much combat. No tutorial either, but I guess that's a lazy way to say, "we make our games hard". No, you make your game like crap and tools praise you for it. This game is not difficult. What is difficult is staying awake as you so numbly and mindlessly wander from section to section to fulfill god awful puzzles that lack any imagination or intelligence to solve. The puzzles rely on you pushing a button, to focus in on some random stuff, and then "POOF!" The magic door is unlocked. Ooooo, I looked at something intently. I'm so smart. Yes, this is my first review ever for Metacritic because after playing this terrible game, I had to see what others said about it. I was horrified when I saw so many high scores praising this game. Coming from professional critics, I get it. Their job is to suck ass. But when I see such a high score from users, one begins to truly question the motives and legitness of Metacritic. Such a shame. I would personally rather have my nuts bashed in with a baseball bat by a naked Betty White because this game gives me worse visions than seeing her wrinkly body parts flap side to side as she hits me, and frankly I would get more pleasure from the sensation of having my nuts hit than playing this game. Nope, not into BDSM either. This game is a terrible porn movie that some tools are trying to pass for art. Move along. There is literally nothing to see here but a terrible game released at a bargain bin price to try to entice some poor souls to pay for it.… Expand
  3. Filluc
    Dec 31, 2018
    4
    The game is extremely boring and repetitive. Jogo muito repetitivo e com péssima jogabilidade.
  4. mattp1986
    Jul 9, 2020
    0
    Boring repetitive gameplay, story is ambitious but falls flat by the midway point. An 8 hour experience that gets boring after about 2-3 hours. Don't get all the hype and 9/10s this game received. Overhyped.
  5. greywolfe1214
    Aug 2, 2020
    3
    This was probably the most underwhelming game I have ever played. The only reason I am giving it a 3 is because it looks beautiful and the acting is decent. The game is about as boring as they come. I beat it in about 5 hours and I had to push myself to finish it because of how repetitive it is. I understand that many people liked it so more power to them but IMO the combat is atrociousThis was probably the most underwhelming game I have ever played. The only reason I am giving it a 3 is because it looks beautiful and the acting is decent. The game is about as boring as they come. I beat it in about 5 hours and I had to push myself to finish it because of how repetitive it is. I understand that many people liked it so more power to them but IMO the combat is atrocious and the puzzles are laughably easy. The sound design is interesting but overall wasn't as impactful to me as many found it to be, i found it interesting for about 5 minutes before I just ignored them as you would ignore background noise. I actually forgot about this game until I heard about the second one being announced, so I wanted to give my two cents to anyone looking to buy this game in anticipation of the sequel.… Expand
  6. Eglin
    Aug 14, 2019
    3
    In summary, Hellblade is a really bad Dark Souls clone. I expected great things from the game, having enjoyed previous games from Ninja Theory and encouraged by the progression of quality, but Hellblade marks a significant detour on their path. The first thirty minutes of the game are like an unskippable cutscene except less interesting. And the game only gets worse from there. WhenIn summary, Hellblade is a really bad Dark Souls clone. I expected great things from the game, having enjoyed previous games from Ninja Theory and encouraged by the progression of quality, but Hellblade marks a significant detour on their path. The first thirty minutes of the game are like an unskippable cutscene except less interesting. And the game only gets worse from there. When playing the game, I constantly felt that the design decisions were made with THE DESIGNERS in mind instead of THE PLAYERS. Unskippable slow-walk sequences are a great example and TBH, the whole game feels like one giant and unskippable slow-walk sequence. Not recommended and a bad enough game to take Ninja Theory completely off of my radar.… Expand
  7. DiegoLegarreta
    Aug 27, 2021
    0
    Excelente ambientación visual y musical. Graficos dignos de un Unreal Engine. La historia perfectamente desarrollada.
  8. Broyax
    Feb 6, 2019
    2
    Senua, une guerrière Viking (ou assimilé), trimbale le crâne de son petit copain à la ceinture... ça, on le devine plus ou moins vite selon les progrès de la narration qui se fait ici par bonds plus ou moins successifs ; or la narration est le gros souci de ce jeu, car franchement, même à la fin, on ne fait que supposer ce qui s'est passé et ce n'est qu'à la fin que l'on prend la mesure duSenua, une guerrière Viking (ou assimilé), trimbale le crâne de son petit copain à la ceinture... ça, on le devine plus ou moins vite selon les progrès de la narration qui se fait ici par bonds plus ou moins successifs ; or la narration est le gros souci de ce jeu, car franchement, même à la fin, on ne fait que supposer ce qui s'est passé et ce n'est qu'à la fin que l'on prend la mesure du traumatisme vécu par notre petite Senua...

    Si on l'avait su plus tôt, on aurait eu plus d'empathie et on aurait compris pourquoi elle entend autant de voix dans sa jolie petite tête et pourquoi il lui manque quelques cases et pourquoi la lumière n'est pas allumée à tous les étages là-haut... ça, pour raconter une histoire, Hellblade est carrément à la masse, alors pour soit-disant nous parler -en même temps- de "maladie mentale", alors là franchement on rigole.

    Pourtant, les intentions sont là mais on note par exemple des dialogues sortis tout droit d'une pochette-surprise ou d'un horoscope du genre "accepte la mort avec joie et tout ira bien". On se croirait dans un mauvais sketch et j'espère que vous ne faites pas les psys à vos heures perdues chez Ninja Theory parce que ça fait peur !

    Nonobstant cet amateurisme, le jeu lui-même est de temps en temps un brin flippant comme peut l'être n'importe quel jeu d'horreur mais il faut le prendre sans connexion réelle avec quelque psychose ou autre dépression, paranoïa et tutti quanti que le développeur tente de nous faire avaler : c'est bien trop maladroit et bidon pour ça.

    L'ambiance nordique est là en tout cas, intrigante, délabrée, sinistre, étrange... un gugus nous raconte des légendes régulièrement et encore davantage lorsqu'on active des sortes de menhirs : c'est tout le folklore viking qui y passe ou presque. Le gars en question, on ne sait pas trop qui il est, ni pourquoi il nous parle autant mais bon... voilà quoi.

    Le jeu alterne des séances de combat avec des séances d'énigmes et toutes ces séances deviennent aussi répétitives que soûlantes : le nombre d'ennemis que le jeu peut vous balancer sans s'arrêter est assez hallucinant : là, ça tient à la fois du remplissage et du foutage de gueule. Le combat en lui-même n'est pas mauvais mais porte assez sur les nerfs : si je voulais dessouder des vilains pas beaux toutes les 5 minutes je jouerais à Grind Odyssey, le dernier Assassin's Creed en date !

    C'est le même souci pour les énigmes qui consistent à repérer et aligner des runes dans l'environnement... un peu comme les codes QR de Watch Dogs mais en pire. C'est pas évident du tout surtout pour les gens comme moi qui sont dépendants du champ ! je ne sais combien de runes on se tape ici et là mais c'est beaucoup, beaucoup trop...tout ça pour ouvrir des putains de portes.

    En fait, je me rends compte qu'il n'y a pas grand-chose de positif à dire sur Hellblade et pourtant si, au moins une chose ! le jeu est très beau, vraiment magnifique, techniquement et artistiquement. Première fois que je vois un développeur maîtriser aussi bien l'Unreal 4, car à part sur Gears of War 4, ce moteur tourne comme une patate. Sauf ici où il tourne comme un charme en 1080/60 ou 4K/30 (sur Xbox One X).

    C'est donc cette beauté combinée à la curiosité qui m'a poussé à aller jusqu'au bout : pour la beauté, on est jamais déçu ; pour la curiosité, on est pas vraiment satisfait. Là, aussi, encore ces maladresses de narration, ces dialogues creux et cette histoire qui n'en est pas une. Malgré une actrice principale assez touchante. Oui, elle n'a pas l'air bien, cette pauvre petite : elle aurait mérité un jeu à la hauteur de son malheur. Ce sera pour une autre fois.    … Expand
  9. Stopdumbingdown
    Apr 22, 2020
    2
    early game check- 7

    dont normally do this but for this game its deserved: got bored

    sound? playing with headphones is superb
    combat? shallow and boring and repetitive

    very short and still have to force-finish the game
    ok story

    very overrated and mindless
    extremely exaggerated “mental” component of game

    early game = end game

    end rating- at $1.99 a 2
  10. anti-mage
    May 21, 2019
    3
    A silly game with stupid puzzles and sick voices. Do not waste money and time on it.
  11. Steyraus
    Aug 22, 2020
    3
    This game is literally look at a shape , ind that shape in the environment, walk walk walk , walk, 2 minute fight, find shape in the environment. Ninja Theory were smart making this games small and fast to capitalize on what is popular with games journalist and You Tuber at the time "Mental Illness" . They ate this junk up , like a banana sunday, but the banana is a turd. It allowed themThis game is literally look at a shape , ind that shape in the environment, walk walk walk , walk, 2 minute fight, find shape in the environment. Ninja Theory were smart making this games small and fast to capitalize on what is popular with games journalist and You Tuber at the time "Mental Illness" . They ate this junk up , like a banana sunday, but the banana is a turd. It allowed them all to wallow in their one self diagnose mental issues and promote the game at the same time.
    One of the most overrated game ever. Even visually its not even on par with average looking games of this generation and the 3D audio was a complete gimmick, nothing that hadn't been done better already.    … Expand
  12. julian111
    Apr 4, 2020
    1
    Stupid battle mechanics, really stupid!! Avoid it at all cost. Nice atmosphere but that is all
  13. hamahama
    Nov 3, 2020
    4
    gmeplay is very bad and i din't like it too much .... graphics is good ... the story is not enough good ... reaaly this game is abig dissapointement for me
  14. MontyBurns77
    Feb 15, 2021
    1
    Sure, it's beautiful to look at but it's incredibly boring. Walk, walk, hear voices. More walking, more voices. Poor combat. Walk, voices. Silly puzzle. Walk, walk, walk, voices, same poor combat, same puzzle style. Not really a "game" as such ...
  15. lostsol
    Apr 13, 2020
    2
    Nice graphics but:
    1- Scandinavian theme: big fail
    2- game without a clear direction: fail
    3- mediocre puzzles and gameplay: what’s left?
    4- poor level design: massive waste of time.
  16. Bene86
    Jul 2, 2021
    1
    I didnt enjoyed the game because of the story, its garbage. I dont like the idea around a **** girl and the graphics are semicore.
  17. Tom11th
    Nov 6, 2022
    3
    Hellblade may be a very good, story-driven game, but.... the gameplay, for me, was awful and frustrating. The game may have some deeper meaning, some story to tell, but it's hard to enjoy it when the lack of precision of the combat system breaks up the immersion. A pretty game, nothing more.
    Form over substance. Not recommended, unless you're a masochist.
  18. Marcelo-Daniel
    Feb 19, 2022
    1
    Jogqbilidade travada e história nada cativante... que a continuação seja melhor ao menos
  19. clovensmile
    Sep 30, 2020
    1
    Based on reviews I expected great visuals but in reality in HDR on my Oled TV the game looks very mediocre and washed out. God of War, Forza Horizon 4, Gears 5 these are the game with great picture.
    I expected great audio with binaural technology . In reality nothing special. Dolby Atmos games sound 100 times far better.
    Not to mention that the whole game I was very stressed out not to    Based on reviews I expected great visuals but in reality in HDR on my Oled TV the game looks very mediocre and washed out. God of War, Forza Horizon 4, Gears 5 these are the game with great picture.
    I expected great audio with binaural technology . In reality nothing special. Dolby Atmos games sound 100 times far better.
    Not to mention that the whole game I was very stressed out not to die permanently. As the developers used a very stupid way -if you die many times you will get a permanent death and will have to start all over again. And the game is quite challenging, I died many times.
    The story didn't touch me at all. all things considered I was disappointed with this game.    … Expand
  20. Wanderer9090
    Jun 22, 2022
    3
    This game looks beautiful but I hadn't a clue as to what I was doing. Unlike many reviewers I couldn't solve the puzzles and had to rely on walkthroughs to do it, so it became a chore rather than a pleasure. A lot of rinse and repeat and wandering around.
  21. 1Nine8Two
    Feb 4, 2022
    0
    Played 52 minutes of this game hoping it would get better, it didn’t. I’ve never been so bored playing a game in my life. Can I get my 52 minutes refunded?
  22. Limpdurst
    Dec 27, 2022
    4
    This game totally turned me off after a couple of hours. The visuals and sound design is stunning, but the gameplay mechanic is boring and frustrating. The protagonist is very slow, puzzles are boring and feel like a chore. Combat is easy, repetitive and all the enemies are the same. Such a shame, because the desingn and overall feel is so immersive and amazing. I uninstalled it and iThis game totally turned me off after a couple of hours. The visuals and sound design is stunning, but the gameplay mechanic is boring and frustrating. The protagonist is very slow, puzzles are boring and feel like a chore. Combat is easy, repetitive and all the enemies are the same. Such a shame, because the desingn and overall feel is so immersive and amazing. I uninstalled it and i don't think I'm coming back.… Expand
  23. DarkArcanin3
    Feb 26, 2023
    0
    Chapter 10 fight **** dog **** Overall this game is the biggest hype train
  24. LilitNefara
    May 27, 2023
    4
    Задумка с тьмой невероятная. Видимо были завышенные ожидания, 50/50
  25. Motichoor420
    Jun 9, 2023
    4
    I hate to admit it but, after many attempts to try and fall in love with this game, I just cant love it any more. It has given me more migraines thanks to a combination of misguided puzzles, aimless wandering around, and genuinely somber/depressing sounds and environments. Sure, it may be aimed at psychosis, its experiences and its overcoming (and most would relate to it very much) butI hate to admit it but, after many attempts to try and fall in love with this game, I just cant love it any more. It has given me more migraines thanks to a combination of misguided puzzles, aimless wandering around, and genuinely somber/depressing sounds and environments. Sure, it may be aimed at psychosis, its experiences and its overcoming (and most would relate to it very much) but for a guy like me who has suffered depression for more than 20 years, it was a completely different experience. Something akin to Silent Hill 2 (though not as chillingly spooky). The only praise I have for this game is the graphics and sound effects, which are simply outstanding. Otherwise it is quite a massive letdown for me. I was eager to play this in the hope Ninja Theory made classics like Enslaved and Heavenly Sword. But boy was I let down afterwards.… Expand
  26. nik7588
    Jun 27, 2022
    2
    Yea this was painful - its basically like you are just watching an animated movie and occasionally tapping a button. After 2 hours of walking around i gave up

Awards & Rankings

10
#10 Best Xbox One Game of 2018
6
#6 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2018
19
#19 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
88

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. Jeuxvideo.com
    Jun 3, 2018
    85
    Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice takes us on a long road to hell paved with contemplative yet stressful scenes, and an impressive respect for Norse myths and legends.
    Read full review
  2. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    May 26, 2018
    90
    A sensitive portrayal of mental illness and rigorous combat: Hellblade is almost perfect. [June 2018, p.84]
  3. XBLA Fans
    May 10, 2018
    100
    As a game, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is the cross between a puzzle-lite walking simulator and a brutal action-adventure. Despite some mild design and middling technical flaws, it balances both aspects rather well. As a narrative, this is one fantastic experience. It’s an honest, challenging look at battling mental illness that will stick with you long after the credits roll. It’s as beautiful as it is soul-crushing, making it a must play for anyone who still has a soul to crush.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »