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Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - Review Thread

Z

zashga

Member
Haven't played the game, but if it's as Jim describes (good/great game with a game-ending bug) then his reaction seems appropriate. Seeing one outlier negative review draws attention to the issue far more effectively than if he had mentioned it in a footnote somewhere and lowered his score by half a point. If it actually ruined his time with the game, then a negative score is appropriate.

Also, games criticism would be in a much better place if we didn't expect all outlets to agree on the "right" score for a given game. Looking for reviews that are more than 10 points off the metacritic average and excoriating the writer as irresponsible or "just looking for clicks" is dumb.
 
R

Radical Edward

Member
Z3M0G said:
If Sony found this during a certification process, they would have blocked the sale of the game.

This is a show-stopper bug, as we call it.
Click to expand...
Awesome. Bugs aren't always found before certification ie every bethesda game. It sucks but it will only affect some players. It's great jim found it so early but a 1/10 is dumb. I'm playing and enjoying Shadow Tactics on PS4 that still has shitty bugs from its pc release. I wouldn't give the game a 1/10 because otherwise, it is quite amazing.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Hey so...look, other reviews

Eurogamer - Essential
Hellblade is a remarkable game. Despite some frustrations in execution and some design decisions that are likely to drive some players away, Hellblade is a superb exploration of mental illness told with poise and poignancy.
Click to expand...

AV Club
Hellblade’s battle with mental illness is an agonizing story only games could tell

Even upon finishing the game, it’s not entirely clear what, if anything, you did was “real” and what was constructed by Senua’s mind. The truth is it doesn’t matter because it was all real to her, a terrifying collision of the tragic life she’s survived and the illness she’s been battling. What makes Hellblade extraordinary is just how thoroughly and thoughtfully Ninja Theory went about making it feel real for us, too.
Click to expand...
 
R

rtcn63

Member
A story only games could tell but the actual gameplay elements being pointed out by other reviewers as often detracting from the experience? I give.
 
V

ViciousDS

Banned
I just realized something


Where is ACG's review? It's the only one that matters



edit: omg.....its burried in the middle of scores.....can we please put scoreless games on the top or bottom

He said buy it......im buying it!!!
 
P

perineumlick

Member
I personally would have contacted the developer before putting a review up. Giving it a 1/10 just screams clickbait. How many times have we seen reviewers put up "Review in progress" or some kind of disclaimer because there were certain aspects of the game that they were unable to experience? In this case, Sterling was unable to complete the game because of a bug; how is writing a review giving his readers an accurate assessment of his experience when he was unable to even complete the game properly? It just seems grimey to me.
 
S

SomedayTheFire

Member
perineumlick said:
I personally would have contacted the developer before putting a review up. Giving it a 1/10 just screams clickbait. How many times have we seen reviewers put up "Review in progress" or some kind of disclaimer because there were certain aspects of the game that they were unable to experience? In this case, Sterling was unable to complete the game because of a bug; how is writing a review giving his readers an accurate assessment of his experience when he was unable to even complete the game properly? It just seems grimey to me.
Click to expand...
Is not being able to complete the game suddenly not part of his experience?
 
G

GrayFoxBH

Member
ViciousDS said:
I just realized something


Where is ACG's review? It's the only one that matters



edit: omg.....its burried in the middle of scores.....can we please put scoreless games on the top or bottom

He said buy it......im buying it!!!
Click to expand...
It's out, just check his youtube channel.
 
P

perineumlick

Member
SomedayTheFire said:
Is not being able to complete the game suddenly not part of his experience?
Click to expand...

Seeing as how it doesn't seem to be a widespread problem it seems that he's the exception rather than the rule. That's why I personally would have thought it to be a defective copy, or sought clarification from the devs first. But hey, I don't review games for a living, so what do I know?
 
W

WonkyPanda

Member
SomedayTheFire said:
That's what an unreliable protagonist is. Known as unreliable narrator in other media
Click to expand...


I don’t know why I read it as “unrelatable protagonist”. I suppose an argument could be made that it’s a spoiler, but it’s a bit loose tbh, especially when the subject matter of the game is considered.
 
B

Brazil

Living in the shadow of Amaz
I was gonna pick this up either way because it's Ninja Theory, but these reviews are really reassuring.

Also: you fucked up, Jim. But it's alright.
 
F

Fury451

Banned
Ninja Theory continues to be a tragically underrated developer. Glad to see it's considered to be good by and large.
 
J

Jeronimo Jones

Member
Looks like this turned out well, I liked the concept from the beginning and watched some of the dev diaries, but went light on details as it got closer. Good call.
 
A

AndersK

Member
Ninja theory is the only developer this side of ND for whom their facial animation is an actual selling point.

I could watch heavenly blade cutscenes all day.
 
F

FantasticMrFoxdie

Mumber
perineumlick said:
I personally would have contacted the developer before putting a review up. Giving it a 1/10 just screams clickbait. How many times have we seen reviewers put up "Review in progress" or some kind of disclaimer because there were certain aspects of the game that they were unable to experience? In this case, Sterling was unable to complete the game because of a bug; how is writing a review giving his readers an accurate assessment of his experience when he was unable to even complete the game properly? It just seems grimey to me.
Click to expand...

This isn't the first time hes done something like this even without a gamebreaking bug.

The guy is just terrible at his job.

But I guess not considering this thread is majority about him, he did it. Congrats to him on the clicks.




Back to the game. How scary is this game? Is it more psychological or are there jump scares?
 
J

Jeronimo Jones

Member
FantasticMrFoxdie said:
This isn't the first time hes done something like this even without a gamebreaking bug.

The guy is just terrible at his job.

But I guess not considering this thread is majority about him, he did it. Congrats to him on the clicks.
Click to expand...

It does seem like he's always up for some review controversy.

He could have handled things differently, but he goes with what will generate the most noise, then fixes it to show what a good guy he is and gets praised for it.
 
Z

Z3M0G

Member
So Jim updated the review but:

- He couldn't finish it due to the bug
- He couldn't backtrack to recover the issue
- He was 7 hours into the game (damn near the end)

He is only reviewing what he played.

Edit: He also mentions the permadeath thing... I'll say no more.
 
S

SMG

Member
Z3M0G said:
Listening now... did he explain if he could resume his original save to the end?
Click to expand...

No, due to the shitty one auto-save / no roll back implementation.
I agree more with his 1/10. For him the game broke and showed the weaknesses of those save decisions.
Thankfully the video shows the area and ill know to go over to the flame.
 
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