Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Hellblade is a masterpiece that brings together storytelling, atmosphere, and gameplay into one powerful adventure.

86%Game Brain Score

story, gameplay

grinding, replayability

90% User Score Based on 33,509 reviews

Critic Score 83%Based on 52 reviews

Platforms

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About

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a single player hack and slash game with fantasy and historical themes. It was developed by Ninja Theory and was released on August 7, 2017. It received positive reviews from both critics and players.

In "Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice," players journey through a dark and twisted world as Senua, a Celtic warrior suffering from psychosis. Fighting against both external foes and internal demons, Senua battles to save her lover's soul and confront her own inner darkness. Using innovative binaural audio technology, the game immerses players in Senua's haunted mindscape and offers a powerful portrayal of mental illness.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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90%

Audience ScoreBased on 33,509 reviews

story9.3k positive mentions

grinding636 negative mentions

The emotional depth and immersive storytelling effectively portray the struggles of mental illness, creating a strong connection with players.
The game features stunning visuals, exceptional voice acting, and innovative sound design that enhance the overall atmospheric experience.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is praised for its commitment to delivering a high-quality experience without microtransactions or other exploitative monetization tactics.

The gameplay is criticized for being simplistic, repetitive, and lacking depth, with puzzles and combat often described as tedious.
Many players report technical issues, including bugs, glitches, and poor optimization that can disrupt the gaming experience.
The game's linear structure and limited replay value diminish its overall appeal, making it feel more like a one-time experience.

story
20,192 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
51%
3%
The story of *Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice* is widely praised for its emotional depth and unique portrayal of mental illness, particularly psychosis, as it follows Senua, a Celtic warrior, on her harrowing quest to save her deceased lover's soul from the Norse underworld. Players appreciate the game's atmospheric storytelling, immersive sound design, and the integration of Norse mythology, which enhances the narrative experience. While some find the gameplay mechanics repetitive and simplistic, the compelling story and character development keep players engaged throughout the relatively short playtime.
- “The story follows Senua as she embarks on a harrowing journey to the Norse underworld, Helheim, to save the soul of her deceased lover, Dillion. It beautifully intertwines themes of mental illness, grief, and self-discovery.”
- “The story is captivating and deeply emotional, exploring themes of mental illness, loss, and the human struggle against inner torment. It is told through a combination of in-game events and haunting voiceovers.”
- “Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a masterclass in storytelling, visual and auditory design, and emotional engagement. The game's portrayal of schizophrenia is not just a backdrop for the story but is interwoven into gameplay and narrative, offering a window into the experiences of those living with the condition.”
- “The story is obviously the highlight; it's very well written with stellar acting and performance by Melina Juergens along with the other voice actors and live action actors.”
- “The story follows Senua as she goes to have Hela bring back the love of her life while confronting her darkness, which is psychosis, and the problems it brought her.”
- “The story is dark, tragic, but also deeply human.”
gameplay
8,340 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
63%
10%
The gameplay of *Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice* has received mixed reviews, with many players noting its simplicity and repetitiveness. While the combat mechanics are straightforward and can feel basic, they are often described as satisfying, especially when combined with the game's immersive narrative and atmospheric elements. The puzzles, primarily focused on perspective and environmental interaction, can become tedious over time, leading some players to feel that the gameplay serves more as a vehicle for storytelling rather than a robust gaming experience. Overall, those seeking deep gameplay mechanics may find it lacking, but the emotional depth and unique portrayal of mental illness resonate strongly with many players.
- “If you’re willing to accept simple gameplay in exchange for an emotionally powerful and expertly crafted experience, this game is absolutely worth your time.”
- “The gameplay mixes puzzle-solving, exploration, and combat in a very balanced way, creating a cohesive and engaging experience that keeps players engaged from start to finish.”
- “The gameplay consists of a mix of environmental puzzles and forced combat sections, which really takes advantage of the auditory aspects, especially through cues and narrating voices: I recommend a good pair of surround headphones to really enjoy this game.”
- “If you're looking for a gameplay-heavy action title, this may disappoint.”
- “The core gameplay is relatively shallow.”
- “The gameplay is underwhelming, to say the least.”
graphics
8,027 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
32%
1%
The graphics of *Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice* are widely praised for their stunning visual fidelity, creating a dark and immersive atmosphere that enhances the storytelling. Many reviewers highlight the game's exceptional attention to detail, particularly in character animations and environmental design, which effectively convey the protagonist's psychological struggles. Despite some minor technical issues and a few dated textures, the overall visual presentation remains impressive, even years after its release.
- “The visuals are stunning, creating a dark and grim atmosphere heavily inspired by Norse culture and mythology.”
- “The graphics are stunning, not so much in the level of detail or realism, but in the way they combine evocative models and environments with lighting to create the right atmosphere and immerse the player.”
- “The graphics are absolutely stunning, with gorgeous lighting and detailed textures that carry you through breathtaking Nordic landscapes as well as surreal visions from Senua’s tormented mind.”
- “I have an RTX 5090, turned off ray tracing and set all the graphics to low, but still it was a slideshow.”
- “I was a bit annoyed at some of the graphical/glitch complications I got for as old of a game as it is, (Senua moved forward standing still, Senua running forward but moving at a snail's pace, walking to certain locations and it locking).”
- “The graphics felt dated.”
atmosphere
3,399 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
64%
35%
1%
The atmosphere in "Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice" is widely praised for its stunning visuals, haunting sound design, and immersive storytelling, effectively conveying the protagonist's psychological struggles. Players note that the game excels in creating a dark, oppressive environment that enhances the emotional weight of the narrative, making it a unique experience in atmospheric gaming. While some criticize the gameplay mechanics as simplistic, the overall atmosphere and emotional depth are considered its standout features, making it a must-play for fans of story-driven and atmospheric games.
- “The visuals are stunning, creating a dark and grim atmosphere heavily inspired by Norse culture and mythology.”
- “The sound design, soundtrack, and atmosphere are all top-notch, and the game hits the sweet spot of being able to fully complete within 10 hours, just like if you were watching a series.”
- “The atmosphere is haunting, the sound design is phenomenal, and the voice acting pulls you deep into Senua’s fractured mind.”
- “While the atmosphere is impeccable, the pacing occasionally stumbles when you are forced to stop running from your demons to find a specific shadow on a wall.”
- “Considering this game's biggest selling point is the atmosphere, restarting the game and making you replay some things you have already done really breaks the immersion.”
- “The game leans way too hard on the atmosphere and forgets to make the actual gameplay fun.”
music
2,495 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
54%
44%
2%
The music in "Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice" has received widespread acclaim for its atmospheric and immersive qualities, effectively enhancing the game's emotional depth and narrative. Many players praised the soundtrack for its ability to evoke strong feelings during key moments, particularly in combat sequences, while the voice acting and sound design were also highlighted as exceptional. However, the ending credits song was frequently criticized for feeling out of place and detracting from the overall experience, with some players expressing disappointment that it did not align with the game's established tone.
- “The soundtrack is very good, and the sound design is excellent.”
- “The sound design, soundtrack, and atmosphere are all top notch, and the game hits the sweet spot of being able to fully complete within 10 hours, just like if you were watching a series.”
- “The soundtrack is incredible, particularly towards the latter half of the game.”
- “The ending music pulls you out of immersion; the tone change was a bit too strange for me.”
- “They build the whole game perfectly, and at the end, they throw a random pop song and a cringe catchphrase that ruins the whole atmosphere and immersion that you had while playing the story.”
- “The song at the end was just not fitting in with the theme of the rest of the game; it was starkly out of place.”
emotional
1,820 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of "Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice" is widely praised for its profound depth and immersive storytelling, which effectively portrays the struggles of mental illness through the protagonist's journey. Players report feeling a strong emotional connection to Senua, experiencing a range of feelings from fear and sadness to empathy and hope, often leading to tears during pivotal moments. The game's exceptional voice acting, stunning visuals, and innovative sound design further enhance its emotional impact, making it a memorable and haunting experience that resonates long after gameplay.
- “Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a hauntingly beautiful and emotionally intense game that stands as a powerful testament to what storytelling in video games can achieve.”
- “The story is a deeply emotional personal journey where Senua (and by extension you) travels through the desolate Nordic lands on a quest for revenge and salvation of the soul of her loved one.”
- “Senua's journey is dark, horrific and gut-wrenchingly sad, so if you like story-driven games, Hellblade offers you an intense and emotional experience.”
- “Probably because it was on a big sale and I like games that play on mental illness. This game is trash though, with a boring story and dialogue, and puzzles that are mind-numbingly boring.”
- “While the game has beautiful graphics, the boring story with poor optimization and linear gameplay turned me off.”
- “I found them to be irritating, pointless, and time-wasting attempts to stretch out this boring story, which is supposedly all about mental health.”
optimization
1,081 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
42%
14%
The optimization of "Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice" has received mixed feedback from players. While some commend its ability to run smoothly on various modern systems, others report significant stuttering, frame rate drops, and performance issues, particularly on AMD hardware. Overall, the game showcases impressive visuals and sound design, but many players feel that its optimization could be improved, especially given its age and the technical demands of its graphics.
- “The performance-wise, the loading times are amazing, almost instant, and the game runs super smoothly.”
- “Despite how good it looks, performance was great the entire time and I could easily max out the settings and still get fluid, stable gameplay.”
- “The game is well optimized only a few hours in and not come across any bugs, great graphics and smooth gameplay.”
- “The game is a stuttering mess and nothing I tried fixed it.”
- “It's poorly optimized, like most newer games.”
- “The real issue, though, is the terrible optimization, which takes a lot of effort just to make the game run properly.”
grinding
716 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
1%
10%
89%
The grinding aspect of the game has received overwhelmingly negative feedback, with many players describing the gameplay as tedious and repetitive. Puzzles often feel uninspired and overly simplistic, leading to frustration, while combat mechanics are criticized for being clunky and lacking variety, contributing to a sense of monotony. Overall, players express that the slow pacing and repetitive nature of both puzzles and combat detract from the otherwise compelling narrative and atmosphere.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “A bit grindy sometimes.”
- “High grind can become tedious but manageable.”
- “However overall, the game is just so tedious; the character moves so slowly, the combat is repetitive, the puzzles are even more repetitive and it just drags on.”
- “The puzzles are tedious, the combat is tedious and the walking about at an incredibly slow pace on a mostly linear path is very tedious.”
- “The puzzles can feel tedious and uninspired, and the combat can be incredibly basic and at times tedious and irritating.”
replayability
376 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
63%
27%
The game's replayability is generally considered very low, with many players noting that it can be completed in a short time (around 6-10 hours) and lacks significant content for multiple playthroughs. While some appreciate the unique narrative experience and may revisit it for story elements or collectibles, the linear structure and repetitive gameplay diminish its overall replay value. Most reviews suggest that it is best enjoyed as a one-time experience rather than a game to return to frequently.
- “This design choice rewards players for their curiosity and enhances the game's replayability.”
- “The game is a great, short story, and is well worth a purchase despite the brevity; even better if you can get it on sale, however, as it boasts limited replayability.”
- “While I liked the game a lot, I wouldn't say it has much replay value once beaten.”
- “The game is a great, short story, and is well worth a purchase despite the brevity (even better if you can get it on sale, however, as it boasts limited replayability).”
- “Limited replay value: due to its narrative-driven approach, some players might find the game has limited replay value once the story is fully experienced.”
- “Having said all that, there's no going around the fact that the game is extremely short and has zero replay value.”
stability
244 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
4%
86%
The game's stability has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting a variety of bugs and glitches that can disrupt gameplay, including getting stuck in terrain, unresponsive controls, and visual issues. While some users experienced no significant problems and praised the game's performance, others found the technical issues frustrating enough to detract from the overall experience. Overall, the game is described as a visually stunning but buggy experience, with stability issues that may require players to restart or reload progress frequently.
- “The game is extremely well optimized, bug free, very polished and stable.”
- “I encountered no bugs, no glitches, no loading times... nothing of that sort.”
- “The game ran at max settings with a consistent 60fps, no stuttering, no glitches, no crashes.”
- “The game is a buggy mess that can drive you insane.”
- “I have actually had to restart twice and lost over 40 minutes of progress due to getting stuck in a tree.”
- “Unfortunately, it seems a bit buggy in places, but it does make it easy to showcase the scenery, ambiance, and overall dark, emotive feel of the game.”
character development
198 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
49%
46%
5%
Character development in "Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice" is widely praised for its depth and emotional resonance, particularly in portraying Senua's struggles with mental illness, trauma, and grief. Many reviewers highlight the immersive storytelling and the protagonist's journey, which is enhanced by exceptional character design and voice acting. However, some critiques mention a lack of broader character development beyond Senua, with a few players feeling that the story can be convoluted or uninteresting at times. Overall, the game is recognized for its unique approach to character development, making it a standout experience in narrative-driven gaming.
- “The character development until the very end is awesome, and the darkness, anxiety, and how she overcomes it (through me) is interesting and very motivating.”
- “The story building and character development of Senua is great; the depictions of psychosis, isolation, trauma, and grief are very detailed and immersive.”
- “The heart of Hellblade is its storytelling and character development.”
- “Where it fell off for me was in the story and character development.”
- “It definitely was immersive and visually great, but the story is boring and feels messy; there's hardly any character development where you grow to like a character. Even the protagonist has nothing likable going for her.”
- “You get to lightly jog around and solve puzzles to progress an uninteresting story that you should care about when there's no character development beforehand.”
humor
94 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
97%
1%
2%
The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with players finding moments of levity in the absurdity of gameplay mechanics, such as the voices in the protagonist's head that both assist and mock the player. While some moments, like quirky cutscenes and unexpected dialogue, elicit genuine laughter, others can feel repetitive or annoying, leading to a blend of humor and frustration. Overall, the game's dark themes are often juxtaposed with comedic elements, creating a unique experience that can be both entertaining and unsettling.
- “The game will go from being hilariously easy to having an incredibly hard boss fight to then have another boss fight where the boss is a DUI hire or something and you can just fold him completely.”
- “It's also pretty funny that they've used the standard UE4 font for the subtitles.”
- “Funny enough, I may call it a 'game' but it's truly testing the definition, being that it's more of a seven-hour exposition dump littered with riddles and other incoherent nonsense.”
- “It's also one of the few games that I've seen in modern times that actually legitimately tries to put you into the head of someone suffering from a mental psychosis. Think of Deadpool's mental condition, except not funny at all. We're literally treated as another spectator inside Senua's head right off the bat, both by the narrator and Senua herself.”
- “*haha* it's not funny. Why did he stop?”
monetization
45 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
7%
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47%
The monetization aspect of the game has been praised for its absence of microtransactions, loot boxes, and other common cash-grab tactics prevalent in the industry. Reviewers appreciate the developers' commitment to delivering a high-quality experience without the burden of additional costs, highlighting that the game focuses on storytelling and gameplay rather than exploiting players financially. This refreshing approach has resonated with players, reinforcing the belief that games can be both meaningful and affordable without succumbing to industry trends.
- “It's so nice seeing a developer not leaning into looter shooters, DRM, microtransactions, and cheap, low-effort multiplayer.”
- “In a world riddled with microtransactions, loot boxes, and other nonsense meant only to take as much as possible from the gamer while offering as little as possible in return, this game is a shining example of how games should be.”
- “This game is truly amazing for an indie project, and for an indie title with no publisher that means no day one DLC, no microtransactions, or tack-on multiplayer nonsense or pre-order garbage.”
- “In a world riddled with microtransactions, loot boxes, and other such nonsense meant only to take as much as possible from the gamer while offering as little as possible in return, this game is a shining example of how games should be.”
- “A wonderful experience that, for once, is not bogged down and cheapened by petty attempts to extend play time and conjure illusions of value with fruitless treasure hunts, relentless grinding, and insulting microtransactions.”
- “We live in an age where AAA gaming is turning into a more and more shameless cash grab with every new launch.”

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83%Critics’ scoreBased on 52 critic reviews

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8h Median play time

9h Average play time

8h Main story

9h Completionist

6-10h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 260 analyzed playthroughs

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Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a hack and slash game with fantasy and historical themes.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Steam Deck and others.

The main story can be completed in around 8 hours, while the entire game is estimated to take about 9 hours to finish. On average players spend around 9 hours playing Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice was released on August 7, 2017.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice was developed by Ninja Theory.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice has received positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its grinding.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a single player game.

Similar games include Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, A Plague Tale: Innocence, INMOST, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, RiME and others.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

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