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Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice |OT| The Mid-Tier, in Limbo
- Thread starter Wozman23
- Start date
2scoops
Member
Exactly how I played it. Absolutely loving the sound design.
Beat it tonight, loved it. 9/10. Puzzles were meh and I would've liked more combat scenarios.
They made the game they wanted to make without going too far into gaming tropes. RPG mechanics, huds, etc etc. To this extend I cannot fault what we have here.
Atmosphere, audio, story, graphics, and combat were all so well done. Combat just felt satisfying, and like I mentioned before didn't feel bloated with tons of pointless moves.
Fantastic work, and I hope we get a sequel someday.
It didn't topple Prey as my GOTY, but it definitely has the 2nd spot.
They made the game they wanted to make without going too far into gaming tropes. RPG mechanics, huds, etc etc. To this extend I cannot fault what we have here.
Atmosphere, audio, story, graphics, and combat were all so well done. Combat just felt satisfying, and like I mentioned before didn't feel bloated with tons of pointless moves.
Fantastic work, and I hope we get a sequel someday.
It didn't topple Prey as my GOTY, but it definitely has the 2nd spot.
NightShift
Member
Replaying the game and just noticed you can pause to go into photo mode even during cutscenes. Don't do it until after you finish the game though as you may shatter some illusions.
Freezasaurus
Member
Downloaded this Tuesday but didn't get a chance to start it until tonight. Really amazing atmosphere. This game may have the most excellent sound design of any game I've ever played. And the visuals are insane as well.
Frozone
Member
you must not be at a high resolution. The game can give you a constant 30FPS if you turn down the run it in natvie 4k. I had to take the special effects closely to make sure it's getting data that's not meant to be shown.
Not Spaceghost
Spaceghost
I'm at 1080p at very high everything and last i ran OBS to check fps it was clocking at solid 60.
How far along am I for those that completed it? Am I still early in?
I've beaten
then I
then I
And I stopped there after I regained control.
Also, any downside to not using 60 hz on ps4 pro? When I tried turning it off, I didn't see much differences, I guess texture resolution might have been slightly higher? Anyway, rather keep 60 hz all the way.
Game is great so far. The combat is better than what I expected. Nothing deep, but there's this constant pressure to focus and not miss a dodge or parry during combat. Also hitting and getting hit has a nice weight to it. And it feels like it helps the spongy-ish enemies not feel as spongy as they are.
I've beaten
Valravn and Surtr
crossed part of the bridge, beat that seemingly boss fight with a few normal enemies after.
got thrown off the bridge by what seemed to be implied to be Hela?
And I stopped there after I regained control.
Also, any downside to not using 60 hz on ps4 pro? When I tried turning it off, I didn't see much differences, I guess texture resolution might have been slightly higher? Anyway, rather keep 60 hz all the way.
Game is great so far. The combat is better than what I expected. Nothing deep, but there's this constant pressure to focus and not miss a dodge or parry during combat. Also hitting and getting hit has a nice weight to it. And it feels like it helps the spongy-ish enemies not feel as spongy as they are.
I'm not entirely sure but I'd say you're about halfway through? Maybe slightly more? I don't think playtime should vary too much for people on this one so if you're somewhere around the 3-4 hour mark, you're probably halfway through.
It's so great. There's a few exceptions, but not as many as you'd expect. You can zoom out and just see the rectangular-framed FMV scenes projected flat onto objects and space.
Thanks. Storywise felt like halfway I guess. As far as how many hours I played so far. I'm not sure, I suck at noticing time spent on a game.
Goddamn, this game. Just finished it and just...wow.
This game did such a tremendous job making me feel the weight of this journey, the heft of this burden. It made Senua's pain, anguish, despair, her fears, more palpable than probably anything else I've encountered in this medium. The outstanding visuals, acting (voiceworks and mo-cap) and incredible sound design attribute to what is likely one of, if not the, best atmospheres created in any game. The world is dark and bleak and hell truly feels frightening and eerie as it's supposed to.
This whole experience was just so...intense. Just an incredible game.
A couple of complaints I thought I should mention:
-There are about three combat sections where they throw way too many guys at you and it takes forever to complete.
-When triggering the runestones, oftentimes, the voices would get in the way of the tale being told, which was unfortunate. They really should mute the voices in these instances.
-Surprisingly there are some lip syncing issues in a few scenes, which were noticeable.
This game did such a tremendous job making me feel the weight of this journey, the heft of this burden. It made Senua's pain, anguish, despair, her fears, more palpable than probably anything else I've encountered in this medium. The outstanding visuals, acting (voiceworks and mo-cap) and incredible sound design attribute to what is likely one of, if not the, best atmospheres created in any game. The world is dark and bleak and hell truly feels frightening and eerie as it's supposed to.
This whole experience was just so...intense. Just an incredible game.
A couple of complaints I thought I should mention:
-There are about three combat sections where they throw way too many guys at you and it takes forever to complete.
-When triggering the runestones, oftentimes, the voices would get in the way of the tale being told, which was unfortunate. They really should mute the voices in these instances.
-Surprisingly there are some lip syncing issues in a few scenes, which were noticeable.
NightShift
Member
I just discovered that in some scenes "Senua Visible?" is off by default. If you turn it back on, get out of photo mode and continue on with the cutscene, you may see another Senua standing still as the scene goes on.
TheTurboFD
Member
Just got to the part where
the sword turns blue indefinitely and you're fighting countless waves of enemies.
Man it was awesome but I wish I knew that I was supposed to die instead of fighting for what felt like 15 minutes straight. I got the hint once my R2 stopped activating lol
Man it was awesome but I wish I knew that I was supposed to die instead of fighting for what felt like 15 minutes straight. I got the hint once my R2 stopped activating lol
BoxManLocke
Member
What's up with the cheap, 48kbps mp3 quality sound effect when stepping in puddles ?
Sounds like a placeholder that was left there by mistake. Sticks out like a sore thumb, as the rest of the sound design is flawless.
Sounds like a placeholder that was left there by mistake. Sticks out like a sore thumb, as the rest of the sound design is flawless.
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
It's been a long time since I played it, but I really liked it iirc.
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
Random aside: how can there be, like, twenty people given the credit of *lead* developer. That seems... contradictory. I mean I get it it's what they call senior developer, but it's still kind of weird.
I only spotted that in the scenes where you focus on the faces hidden in the environment, there's a crazy kaleidoscopic effect on everything except Senua, it looks neat. I guess we should just be happy that Senua isn't T-posing in the background at least.
It actually reviewed pretty well, it's metacritic rating at 80%. I thought enslaved was good but certainly flawed. The combat was similar to Hellblade in its simplicity but way too loose and unsatisfying, platforming was completely on rail, and while the characters were good the overall story is probably NT's weakest (not counting DmC, of course). Overall, it's a solid game that's carried by Andy Serkis' great performance and Monkey&Trip's relationship.
xviper
Member
finished the
bosses
now i know why this game is 30$, it's so bad, so boring, so repetitive, so linear, with garbage story, the main character does nothing but screams, you have nothing to collect, nothing to upgrade, just nothing, the combat is good, but it gets very repetitive after 2 or 3 combat sections, it's the same shit over and over and over
Hellblade is like a tech demo, i appreciate the price, they didn't scam us like The order 1886 with a 60$ price tag, they were honest about how bad their game is and made it 30$, but still, i don't score games based on their price, i treat it as a full game, and from what i played, it's garbage, unless something else changes later in the game, but so far, i wouldn't even pay 10$ for it
fire and illusion
now i know why this game is 30$, it's so bad, so boring, so repetitive, so linear, with garbage story, the main character does nothing but screams, you have nothing to collect, nothing to upgrade, just nothing, the combat is good, but it gets very repetitive after 2 or 3 combat sections, it's the same shit over and over and over
Hellblade is like a tech demo, i appreciate the price, they didn't scam us like The order 1886 with a 60$ price tag, they were honest about how bad their game is and made it 30$, but still, i don't score games based on their price, i treat it as a full game, and from what i played, it's garbage, unless something else changes later in the game, but so far, i wouldn't even pay 10$ for it
No problem, man, glad to hear you're still interested. I highly recommend it, as per my original post.Behind Horizon and Prey, it's my favourite game of the year.This makes much more sense. Thanks for explaining your opinion.So I guess this won't be the kind of anxiety I go through every day. I'm still very much interested because of the stuff you've been explaining. Might bite on it soon.
Hope you have some way of dealing with your anxiety. Must be rough.
I wouldn't say it was underrated, as Scoops points it, it reviewed pretty well. It certainly showed that Ninja Theory is a great developer and the people there are good storytellers, who can make write complex and interesting characters. Hellblade is just on another level, because of the subject matter and the maturity it's dealt with.
Souls fans in the thread: thoughts on combat or anything else?
Don't trust any others opinions
The combat is very basic and isn't comparable to the dark souls combat, it's dodge, parry and light and heavy slash, it's fun at first but after 6 hours you wish there wasn't that much combat in the game.
I finished this last night and overall I really enjoyed the game and experience.
I liked the story progression and whilst the combat and puzzles weren't exactly difficult they at least felt part of the world. Some of the puzzles did feel like padding on occasion but I preferred that to just walking about.
I liked the implementation of the face mirror puzzles, that worked really well.
Combat was solid but became quite straight forward towards the end with only enemies spawning right behind me causing me any problem. I did like pacing of the combat, the slow tense feeling as the enemy approached, occasional raising both arms as if to say 'come on then' .
Boss battle where ok but it only felt tense as I was unsure how long they would last, the only thing I was a disappointed with was the final battle
but the voices gave me a prompt so it didn't bug me that much.
Speaking of voices I really liked the implementation of the voices in your head (I recommend head phones, otherwise I doesn't have the same impact in my opinion) not only to create an unsettling feeling but also gives you world and gameplay cues without obvious hand holding. Not quite subliminal but I definitely felt as though it didn't break the fourth wall.
The audio in general is very good and some of the fights have very lovely music which not only fits the world but really sets the right tone for the fights.
Graphically it is great too, some nice lighting which is well used for some of the puzzles not just for general atmosphere and design.
Coming back to the story, I really liked the way it developed and flowed. I enjoyed the listening to the runes which where really well voiced and acted. It just felt very consistent and engaging, though to be far the game itself is very immersive. Senua's performance was very good too, both in terms of voicing and acting. Though two things did grate for me, one was referring to Loki's daughter as Hela rather than Hel and for such and complex, disturbing and intriguing story I just felt the ending was a little too tidy and not satisfying for me.
.
Story spoiler
So as a sum of it's parts it is a very good if short game, but Ninja Theory did let themselves down again with their QA. I experience quite a few bugs in DMC and again unfortunately bugs appeared this game. I had a crash bug which sent back to the PS4 menu, a bug which meant I got hit after I defeated the last enemy in an encounter and my sword didn't sheath so I couldn't continue and had to reload and then my sword stayed sheathed for the final encounter. Whilst I didn't get the infamous game breaking glitch it did leave a bit of a sour taste in what is a relatively short game.
Also what is the point of the perma-death feature?
So overall I did really like the game and compared to other games, whether AAA or Indie, it stacks up really well, but I just wish they would schedule in a bit more time into QA.
I liked the story progression and whilst the combat and puzzles weren't exactly difficult they at least felt part of the world. Some of the puzzles did feel like padding on occasion but I preferred that to just walking about.
I liked the implementation of the face mirror puzzles, that worked really well.
Combat was solid but became quite straight forward towards the end with only enemies spawning right behind me causing me any problem. I did like pacing of the combat, the slow tense feeling as the enemy approached, occasional raising both arms as if to say 'come on then' .
Boss battle where ok but it only felt tense as I was unsure how long they would last, the only thing I was a disappointed with was the final battle
where in the final phase you are supposed to die, it reminded me of the ending of God of War III
Speaking of voices I really liked the implementation of the voices in your head (I recommend head phones, otherwise I doesn't have the same impact in my opinion) not only to create an unsettling feeling but also gives you world and gameplay cues without obvious hand holding. Not quite subliminal but I definitely felt as though it didn't break the fourth wall.
The audio in general is very good and some of the fights have very lovely music which not only fits the world but really sets the right tone for the fights.
Graphically it is great too, some nice lighting which is well used for some of the puzzles not just for general atmosphere and design.
Coming back to the story, I really liked the way it developed and flowed. I enjoyed the listening to the runes which where really well voiced and acted. It just felt very consistent and engaging, though to be far the game itself is very immersive. Senua's performance was very good too, both in terms of voicing and acting. Though two things did grate for me, one was referring to Loki's daughter as Hela rather than Hel and for such and complex, disturbing and intriguing story I just felt the ending was a little too tidy and not satisfying for me.
I didn't like the ending music, not that it was bad but just didn't seem to fit with the rest of the game
Story spoiler
I really liked the fact that Senua was a Celt and the game explored the idea of different gods and peoples being effected by the Norse men. It was also interesting that domestic and child abuse where also commented on, not just Senua's psyhcosis
So as a sum of it's parts it is a very good if short game, but Ninja Theory did let themselves down again with their QA. I experience quite a few bugs in DMC and again unfortunately bugs appeared this game. I had a crash bug which sent back to the PS4 menu, a bug which meant I got hit after I defeated the last enemy in an encounter and my sword didn't sheath so I couldn't continue and had to reload and then my sword stayed sheathed for the final encounter. Whilst I didn't get the infamous game breaking glitch it did leave a bit of a sour taste in what is a relatively short game.
Also what is the point of the perma-death feature?
So overall I did really like the game and compared to other games, whether AAA or Indie, it stacks up really well, but I just wish they would schedule in a bit more time into QA.
Some hyperbole aside, this is kind of how I felt -- except I didn't think the combat was good. I refunded the game, which is something I really never do. It's the first time I've refunded something on Steam.
I wanted to like it and I respect what they wanted to do, but as a video game I just didn't think it was good.
ScientificPizza
Banned
it'd be much, much better if every enemy didn't take so many hits to kill tbh
The former.
xviper
Member
by making us play this garbage boring repetitive game
Did you try your local library?
Anyway, really loving this so far. Rune hunting can be a pain in the ass sometimes but since I don't feel like it's a mechanic that's meant to be "fun" but more to convey the obsessive tedium of someone seeking patterns in mundane situations I'll accept it. My only real complaint so far would be that enemies take way, waaaaaay too many hits to kill, as some have already mentioned.
I think I'm nearing the end -
over halfway through the sword trials
Corpsepyre
Banned
Is there a single ending or multiple?
Single ending.
or Double ending, if u count the perma-death.
And the sprint attack, dash attack, and kick.
alexbull_uk
Member
Played about an hour so far and the sound design is something else... its crazy how well the binaural sound can work.
Im really liking this so far. Interesting themes, fun combat and really beautiful. If it carries on well then its a steal for £25.
Im really liking this so far. Interesting themes, fun combat and really beautiful. If it carries on well then its a steal for £25.
Jangowuzhere
Banned
Not sure how I feel about the FMV in this game.
I honestly couldn't tell that they were using recorded actors for the various memories in the game at first. Druth looks amazing with the grain, filters, and crazy colors covering up his video. However, when you get to
, he is super OBVIOUSLY a real life dude. I wish they did a bit more to disguise that a bit more. It kinda pulls you out of the experience a bit having this believable rendered world and then having actual real footage playing next to it.
I honestly couldn't tell that they were using recorded actors for the various memories in the game at first. Druth looks amazing with the grain, filters, and crazy colors covering up his video. However, when you get to
Dillion
Agreed. I'm loving this game so far, but that part totally stuck out to me as odd and not very well done. It's even weirder knowing the game is so pristine in every technical aspect.
TheDeftone
Member
- normal ending.
- normal ending including special scene for collecting all lorestones.
I think that's underselling it. Light attacks, heavy attacks and guard break are different based on whether they are following a chain, whether they are after a dodge, after a sprint. Later on you are able to charge up your heavy attacks, two different parry follow ups whether its a light or heavy attack. The main thing about it is the combat encounters are just not terribly difficult, though it gets a bit more challenging at the end. Even with that said, the combat did feel pretty satisfying and I did like the boss fights.
On a separate note, this game is amazing. Everything in it is towards a singular vision of the story they are trying to tell.
The vikings haunting her are the ones that raided her village and killed Dillion. The shapes that she tries to lineup as puzzles are part of her psychosis. The permadeath system (still not positive whether it is real or not) is there to make the player feel the immanent fear of death and the visions and voices that she was dealing with. The specific segment where she is crawling around in the dark barely able to see her hand in front of her face while trying to avoid these abominations was so intense! The game managed to invoke feelings I don't really feel when playing games, what a refreshing game.
Glass Shark
Banned
dont bother with this game and get a refund if you can, if you want to skip cutscenes this game will be wasted on youunskipable cutscenes
unskipable cutscenes
You skip Cutscenes on your 1st playthrough of games?
He probably means if you have to replay the game or restart a section lol...
Backlog and summer are holding me back on this but I will grab it soon enough.
I found a spot where you can have 3 Senuas in the shot.