Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Review

Celtic warrior Senua is embarking on a treacherous path to save her beloved from death. Accompany her on this journey to find Senua's true self!

Do you go through this as well? After finishing a game you feel empty. You want more, but you know that repeated playthroughs will never be the same as the first time. I think I felt like this after finishing SOMA and more recently, Talos Principle. Both games make you think about things which you do not stop and ponder about on a daily basis. What is consciousness? In Hellblade, Ninja Theory got together with professionals and doctors to show us how mental health issues can affect an individual. The game offers a bleak, but interesting insight upon a psyche of a suffering person.

We learn who Senua is and where she comes from as the game goes on. At the beginning, we witness how she tries to reach Niflheim on her little raft, the land which is the entry to Helheim, her final destination. In Viking hell it is Hela, the ruler of death, who is the only one capable of returning a lost soul back from the Underworld. Getting to Helheim will not be easy. The bridge is guarded by a giant door with two large emblems and in order to unlock it, Senua needs to delve deep into the domains of Viking gods Surtr and Valravn. It is up to you which you go through first but both offer a very different experience. If you know about Surtr and what he is, you can already guess that this path will be like walking through inferno. He is the god of fire and Senua has to step a foot on the scorched ground, which still bears the screams of the people which burned to death there. To get through this fiery place, Senua must activate Surtr's signs scattered across the land. Touching one will materialize the moment when the fire consumed everything and you have a short time to get out of there and avoid choking to death. 

Luckily our heroine is not helpless, she is a skilled warrior after all and knows how to handle her sword. Later on, she will even master slowing down time as certain enemies can only be damaged in that state. You have one button for a light attack, second button for a heavy attack, one for dodging which is very important, and last one is for blocking. As I have been playing the Devil May Cry series for several years, this felt a bit too simplified to me and while you can lock onto enemies, you cannot really chain combos too much. The battles do not happen often and are usually spaced in between puzzle sequences. On higher difficulties the enemies get a lot tougher and dodging is something you have to master. I definitely recommend a gamepad, though, a keyboard might not be too comfortable.

Second boss is Valravn, the master of illusions and will drag you through a dark forest, where nothing is as it seems. If you ever get stuck, know, that looking at things from a different angle can help a lot. The way forward is blocked by raven insignias and to do that, you have to align the correct three symbols. If you persevere and kill Valravn, the way to the bridge will be open. It is not, however, the end of your journey, but merely a beginning to understand Senua's past. The game has some interesting mechanics up its sleeve but you have to discover that on your own.

All of this is merely a vehicle to express Senua's true feelings. Those, who are going or went through something similar, will understand. It is best to describe as being lost in hopelessness and fear, to know nothing will make you happy. Just like Senua, who lost everything. You will just know that something went horribly wrong in her past, something she chose to block out. Something which will never fully heal and caused other personalities emerge in her mind. She is not alone on her journey – there are others, voices of encouragement, cowardice and fear, but also of bravery. They are always present, just like the darkness which sleeps within our heroine. You will hear their whispers, quiet or loud. If you are unsure on where to go, some will mock you. Others will doubt your abilities. It is something I had not experienced it before in a game and it hard to explain and better to hear on your own. Besides your own voices in your head there are also other characters, which emerge over time. Druth is a mysterious ally, whose purpose is to guide you. His stories tell you more about the Viking gods and their customs. Throughout the game you'll also find rune stones and if you find them all, you´ll receive an extra scene at the end. Senua is not by any means ordinary and sees symbols and faces everywhere, where normal people see mundane objects. Sometimes it´s just a play of shadow and fire, but it's enough for the symbol to appear. The search gets progressively harder, but there are indicators on the screen if you are close enough to one.

The graphics are beautiful and the game supports 4K resolution as well, if you have a good enough pc to run it. The sunset views above the bridge leading to Helheim, the fiery paths of Surtr, or storms in the dark forest are just a few environments which you will keep pressing F12. Senua's own character model has been made with the slightest details and sometimes it is hard to believe, she is not real. I must applaud the developers here, because it gives Senua more credibility and she also has a natural face mimicry. How she looks at you, the player, feels unique, like you are there with her all along. It is hard to not feel the oppressive uneasiness together with her. That is the price which is worth to pay because Hellblade is an experience which no other game can give you.

The sound engineering is done exceptionally well and it is recommended to play only with your headphones on, otherwise you might miss a lot. The voices, which haunt Senua throughout the game, have various volume and are important part of the game. The voice acting is professional and particularly Senua's voice actor sounds impactful (she received an award for it) and she did a great job on portraying Senua's pain. She definitely belongs to one of the best video game characters introduced to us in 2017. The music is more atmospheric and changes dynamically, depending what is happening on the screen. It will reside in the background when solving puzzles, other times it rumbles when you are slicing through your enemies. Sometimes even you are not sure if the developers are just playing you, or there are legitimate reasons to be alarmed. The biggest minus is that some mechanics are being repeated maybe too often (especially the puzzles which consist of lining up the symbols) and the fights can get a bit taxing over time. However, as the game is only about 8-9 hours long, which passes quite fast, these faults do not interfere too much.

You should know the least before playing this game. Do not watch the videos, maybe look at a few screenshots. Play this with your headphones on and best at night. Leave yourself to be dragged into the dark world and engulf yourself into darkness together with Senua and her alter egos. Stand against her worst nightmares and grab your sword tightly into your hands. Only by witnessing the truth you can overcome the hardship which awaits you. There is no way back, the raft is gone and the world of unknown stands before you.

Score: 8,5/10
(PC version)

+ exposure of mental health problems

+ great atmosphere

+ believable characters

+ beautiful visuals

+ audio

- repeated puzzles

- fights can get repetitive after a while

Upcoming game reviews

It´s been a while since I posted frequently but that is about to change. I have decided I will start posting game reviews for new and older games in English. I have been a review writer for ten years now but it was always exclusively in my native language, Slovak. Many of them are published here. It is time to change that and while I still write the reviews in Slovak first and then rewrite them to English, it is not a mere translation. I find myself changing few things here and there, so it´s not an exact copy of the text. 

 

I was on hiatus from writing for like a year but the recent games which I got to play gave me inspiration to start writing again. It´s notably Shadow of the Colossus remake for PS4 and Hellblade: Senua´s Sacrifice. I might write reviews for some of the other games I have played recently too. Since the original reviews are all in Slovak, I felt it is time to broaden my reader base and make it possible for them to be read by wider audience. I hope you´ll enjoy reading these reviews as much as I had fun writing them.

London Comic Con October 2017

I have been postponing a round up of last year´s MCM Comic Con for a while and it is time I have shared a blog post about it as well. I have posted the photos on my Ancient´s Den facebook page but have not really shared my experience.

This time, we bought priority weekend tickets and got a hotel nearby to avoid going backwards and forwards between the days. I must say it was still quite exhausting but worth it. The first two days I have cosplayed as wraith Raziel again. I have used the wig from my Lt. Raziel cosplay and it was a bit better but I still ordered another a new, shorter haired wig afterwards. Again, I was battling my cowl falling down constantly so I´ve put on a rubber band, but that proved too painful after a while. Luckily, my contact lenses did not fall out this time!

Friday was very casual and I have really enjoyed myself. Lots of people recognized me again, so it made me happy and we have seen lots of amazing cosplays I have never seen before! I´ve never been to MCM on a Saturday and I think I´ll avoid it from now on. The sheer volume of people in comparison to Friday was overwhelming. We got to see the professional cosplayers masquerade  which had fellow Slovak and Czech cosplayers taking part. I was a bit sad to learn none of them got in first three places, as their cosplays were masterfully done (kudos especially to the Predator and his well done presentation!), the act I actually liked the least won for some reason and it did not think it was too fair... We also met up with some of my friends that night, fellow Lucinvampire, Nat, Inrezairo and others. Lucinvampire had her awesome hooded Kain costume from BO2 and was the only other LOK cosplayer (besides Bazielim being a vampire worshipper) during the weekend that I had seen.

Sunday was again more relaxed but it had a lot higher volume of families in, so I think I´ll stick with exclusively attending Fridays only from now on. It can be challenging if you have large wings or tail to fit in places. I had my Regina cosplay on, which did not suffer from being bulky but had its own discomforts - my heels had to be patched up so I could endure the pain of slightly tighter boots and the "wetsuit"-like overal I had on was not too flexible in certain places either... We still had a good fun, though, and I would have gone again. It was a good experiment to see if I can last three days of cosplaying and certainly having a hotel nearby helped a lot. We slept well and were just 15mins bus ride away from the venue. Also, the looks on people´s faces and driver´s heads turning as they pass you are hilarious.

However, few weeks ago MCM Comic Con was bought out by a new company and one of their first moves was to massively increase the prices, which I think is outrageous. For October 2017 we payed £50 for a priority weekend entry per person, this year it was increased to £65, which is 30% increase in price! No reason for this increase was given so far and I am not sure anything will actually change, so sadly, I have given up on going anymore to MCM. Luckily, I have discovered that there exists a lot more affordable option at London Film and Comic Con which takes place in Olympia. Friday afternoon entry is only £12, which I think is really good price, so for £26 I can have 2 Friday tickets, while at MCM that would only be for 1 ticket. It will be my first time there, so I am curious and excited to see the venue. See you there!

MCM Comic Con Gallery 2017

(on Imgur with captions)

Raina’s top ten games of 2017

Hello there!

I primarily want to stress these are the games which I have played or finished during 2017, not games published during that year. I still have a big back log of older games I need to go through. I really want to play AC Origins but still need to finish AC Syndicate which kinda bores me, unfortunately. I have been introduced to a new series, however, and I do not regret it. I see the "YOU DIED" screen too many times per day now, I must say. Dark Souls are something you start playing and think this sucks or that you suck as a player but you keep going and going and then suddenly 30h have passed and you wonder where did the time go. It reminds me back to the days when I was trying to beat the Dante Mut Die mode on DMC3 and DMC1. I am hoping the upcoming remasters for pc will be improved ports, those games deserve it. My next one on the play list after that is probably DS2 and 3, with Bloodborne awaiting me on ps4 as well. One of my other to do lists is to finally record a full playthrough of Soul Reaver 2, which is long overdue and I should start on that shortly, hopefully.

1. Persona 5

10/10

We had to wait for almost 10 years for another Persona sequel and damn, it was well worth the wait. Easily the most fun I had in an jrpg in a long while and enjoyed it thoroughly. P-team listened and improved the things from P4 and overall, P5 is a masterpiece with excellent story, fun mechanics, catchy songs and improved combat. It took me 160h to finish this beast of a game and was the sole reason I got a PlayStation 4. The only gripe is that the affinity to elements is not present (like it was in SMTIV:A) and Hama/Mudo skills are back to being chance based (SMTIV had them damage based), luckily the new curse/bless attacks remedies that. Overall, Persona 5 deserves its place on the top of my list. Who wouldn´t want to be a Phantom Thief? You´ll never see it comiiing!!!

2. Prey

9/10

I bought Prey in a sale and was only told that it is like Bioshock so I was not sure what to expect (I always got bored of Bio1 and never finished it). I was wrong – Prey delivered in every regard. The last time I got really hooked into a game this much was SOMA. Now Prey has its own tricks up its sleeves and the gameplay is very non-linear. You can kill whoever you want, even NPCs and the story reacts to your choices. Talos 1 Station is huge to explore and the Typhon enemies are formidable (hearing their footsteps and muttering is always freaky), not to mention the Nightmare enemy... It´s weird that the game got progressively easier as you went on with more powers and guns at your arsenal, but it was always a challenge to play and provided enough different settings that blasting Typhon never got boring. I happily searched every cabinet and drawer just to get more resources and craft more items. It never feels tedious in Prey and many things are optional (my final time was 33h, which is superb for an fps). Recommended to play with headphones on, I really enjoyed Prey and hope it will get a sequel.

3. Hellblade

8,5/10

I´ve only heard a few things here and there about Hellblade, looked at the screenshots which looked really nice but it was mostly the portrayal of mental health issues which intrigued me. Now, having witnessed Senua´s internal suffering and her resolve to fight against it resonated deep within me. We all bear our battles in our heads, against the demons clawing their way into our skulls and whispering truths and lies alike. Senua´s darkness stems from many factors, which we as players get to see as she fights her way to Helheim, the hell of her own making. All the supernatural elements feel real and when you have to face demons with giant axes, you have little time to think but to dodge and deliver a deadly blow. Hellblade is about 9h long and even though I wished for more, it gave me proper chills, not from the fights, but from the endless void which Senua is surrounded by. The game shows us that the pain and suffering within is just as real on the inside and Hellblade is definitely an experience like no other.

4. The Talos Principle

8/10

Talos Principe is a hidden gem on this list. The only thing I knew about it was that it was about puzzles in outside areas. That´s what it is on the surface. Its true value, however, lies within. In simple terms it discusses the nature of life and what is considered as being alive, but this notions has many colourful interpretations and the game lets you decide and express yourself. You can even leave messages for other players. Talos captivated me by its complexity of story, which you can actually completely skip, and is one of the big surprises on my list (and it has damn hard puzzles for which you need to erase all what you´ve known about puzzle solving and employ a fresh look). The conversations in this game are masterfully done and felt like a reward after each puzzle area solved.

5. The Last Guardian

8/10

After the troubled development of being originally a PS3 game and almost not releasing, TLG finally saw the light and was released on PS4. Having played and enjoyed both ICO and SOTC, I had to buy TLG as well, as I admire Ueda´s work in general. The characteristic landscapes and structures, the strong bonds between the characters and a mysterious story in the background, all of it is back in TLG. I am aware of the negative press given to Trico and it´s AI, however, I wanted to see for myself before I condemn the game. I must say I only experienced trouble a few times, when Trico would not jump somewhere. It´s behaviour is really lively as an AI can currently get and I got attached to the creature, just like the boy did in the game. It was a fun ride and I loved solving puzzles with Trico´s help. If you like previous games from Ueda, this one will not disappoint you. It has a few technical issues (mainly framerate drops in some areas) but nothing which badly hindered my experience.

6. RE7

9/10

Resi is back in this fresh new form of a first person perspective and it really did wonders. After a rather bland action and explosion based RE6, the series felt stagnating and in a need of a proper revivel. All this was achieved in 7 - back are the haunting close corridors and narrow pathways, puzzle solving and real fear of your character´s life. First person perspective adds a lot to the experience and being back in a mansion like environment makes me reminiscence a lot about RE1. Even the different key types are back. Well done, Capcom, for bringing RE series back on its track. Looking forward for the next one!

7. Dark Souls

8,5/10

 

People were not kidding about the games being hardcore. I never really tried it until recently and then put it down when I did like 5hp damage to a skeleton at the beginning and kept getting really frustrated with enemy respawns. I have picked it up again upon a friend´s recommendation and with the fan fix, it plays a lot better. I still die a lot and I am already almost 30 hours in, it definitely made me return to it every night. The game does not hold your hand, it just throws you into the world and you are left to fend for yourself. No map, no hints on where to go, only your resolve to kill that knight enemy again and again until you finally succeed. Repetition has usually a negative connotation, but for Dark Souls, it´s a necessity. You will die over and over, only to either throw the controller against the wall or keep trying. It is a true test in patience and of your fighting skills, but something inside you makes you want more and you´ll keep coming back to it.

8. Journey

8/10

Journey starts simple. It teaches you can walk, jump and… sing. Singing a tone is very important in the game, as you wake up pieces of cloth around the world and the more you have, the more powerful you get. It sounds really weird on paper, but the beautiful environments and fun puzzles make this game unforgettable. Primarily, it teaches it´s not the final goal, but the journey, which matters. A truly wonderful game.

9. Tale of Two Sons

8/10

This little game was gifted to me ages ago but I never took the time to try and play. I am glad that I did in the end. The controls are tricky but cleverly done – you control both brothers with a thumb stick each, which takes time to get used to but it adds to the unique experience. The game displays many emotions even though you just observe and do simple things – brotherly love, helping others with daily tasks, showing kindness, courage and ability to come to terms with sorrow… It´s a very humble experience about life which I recommend to play through.

10. Edith Finch

-

The steam reviews were promising one of the best story telling experiences and they were not wrong. What remains of Edith Finch is a strongly story driven game which takes only 2 hours but it is very intensive experience. You witness the final moments before the mysterious deaths of the long deceased family members and you are not there to solve them, but to learn more about their lives. Despite being really short (you can finish it in 2 hours) and more of a narrative oriented walking simulator, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Merry Christmas from TAD!

Merry Christmas from the Ancient´s Den to all my fans!  

 

Kain is already on his way to bring you all presents! If you haven´t watched yet, why not spend a cosy evening in the presence of Defiance? Complete walkthrough with modded visuals await you below:

Next year I will record and post a walkthrough of Soul Reaver 2 in widescreen mode.
Hope 2018 will be a good year for all of us!

Ho, ho, ho!

 

Widescreen patches for Soul Reaver 2 and Defiance

I have recently discovered that both Defiance and SR2 have already widescreen patches published by afterdyons. You can find them on the widescreen forum here. Just download the files and place them where your game is located and enjoy the fullscreen beauty of Legacy of Kain on pc!

High quality Legacy of Kain models by the Hylden

Patrick Johnson aka The Hylden has posted his portfolio on Art Station. He features many high quality models he made himself, some of which will appear in Soul Revenant as well. Take a peek at his awesome skills and you can also download all of those images (they make for an awesome wallpaper for a LOK fan like me). If you like what you see, you can also support him at his paypal: pagejson1@gmail.com

MCM Comic Con countdown and other news

After few months of silence, I am back. With new computer and new ideas, hopefully, will be back here more often! I needed an upgrade so instead of investing money in a laptop which could not keep up with the current trends, went for build my own desktop this time and finally can keep up with modern games (i5 6600 for win7 and gtx 1060 6GB). Also purchased mechanical keyboard and wow, that is a huge difference! Fully recommend it to anybody who types a lot.

The latest progress in Soul Revenant revealed the new sluagh and Dumahim and next on the line would be the Melchahim. At the moment we are bit of stuck as we need a new gameplay programmer to help with combat, so if you know anybody who would be interested to join our team, please let me know. Kyle Misko is also working hard and he recently is tackling the soundtrack of Soul Reaver, reimagined for Soul Revenant. His latest piece is for the City and shall be unveiled soon. More frequent updates are found at our facebook page.

In two weeks, Comic Con is back at the Excel Arena and I will be attending all three days. Last time we were super exhausting coming back and forth to the venue, so this time we are staying over at hotel which is closeby. I can announce that I will be cosplaying as wraith Raziel once again on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, I will be cosplaying as one of my favourite japanese horror ps1 videogames. Can you guess? If not, come and say hello at Comic Con, I´ll be wearing grey and black.

That concludes a little round up for now, I will photos from Comic Con once it´s over. Only two weeks to go! See you there!

Digital Foundry gets a look at Soul Reaver

The latest video on Digital foundry might interest most of you. It includes a great in-depth analysis of the techniques used to make the game and it contains loads of information on how loading, textures and audio works. They even included some of my SR1 beta footage in there:

You can read the article here.

Bonus interview with Ben Lincoln below:

Contribute your action figure photos to VGC!

Do you have any collectible figures at home? There is a new website called Videogame Collectible Catalogue which could use your help! I have already contributed some of my pictures from my collection, but if you have anything which was not put up on the website just yet, feel free to submit your photos and join in the reward system!

Is Square Enix offering up LOK to the indie scene?

SE Collective creator, Phil Elliott, wants to know whether you will be interested in LOK game made by an indie company. Show some support for our fan Soul Revenant project if you can! Show them that Legacy of Kain fans still exist and roam this land!