Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice VR Edition

“Despite minor setbacks, the game remains visually stunning, with many scenes taking full advantage of VR's immersive potential, particularly in its environmental storytelling and surreal visuals blending reality with Senua’s psychotic episodes.”

“Graphically breathtaking, it tells a dark, menacing and downright disturbing tale of human sacrifice, violence and insanity.”

“The graphics are probably the best I've ever seen in a game (although the normal edition may portray this better).”

“Hellblade's main puzzle type involves finding various runes in the environment around you to unlock a door (e.g., some sticks forming the rune when looked at from a particular angle, a shadow cast by a torch, a chunk of missing wall forming the outline of one, etc.). On top of these already having clever solutions that strike a solid balance between being fun to find without being too cryptic, the game consistently mixes them up with fresh new mechanics for manipulating the environment around you.”

“One area has you passing through gates that cause walls, stairs, or other structures visible through them to start or stop existing. Another has you swapping between drastically different 'light' and 'dark' versions of a mansion. The game properly expands on each of these special mechanics as you advance through their areas, and some of them even return alongside new mechanics in later zones. Despite sticking to the same core mechanic of rune-finding, they never get old.”

“These areas dip far more heavily into the game's horror themes, forming some genuinely pulse-pounding experiences as you avoid creatures pulled straight out of vividly-realized nightmares. I found them to be some of the game's most memorable moments, both from a gameplay perspective and from how they tied in with the story and Senua's character development.”

“The environments, from fog-laden forests to nightmarish underworlds, are rendered in stunning detail and feel oppressively close in VR, adding to the game’s eerie, claustrophobic atmosphere.”

“While not being a full VR experience, the game manages to create an incredibly intense atmosphere that even surpasses that of the original version.”

“The horror-esque atmosphere put me on edge most of the game and kept my heart racing in the more frightening levels.”

“First of all, it's one of the best ports from flat to PC VR, very optimized, with a lot of tunable settings.”

“Performance is very good; with a 3080 I'm able to max every setting and supersample quite a bit on Rift S and still get 80fps.”

“Playing it on an older computer of mine with an i7 930 (so old mixed reality headsets don't even work on it) and a 980ti without any stutter or visual degradation — so very well optimized as well (using Vive Pro).”

“This version is more than just a port; it enhances the emotional and atmospheric depth of the experience, making it one of the most unique offerings in VR gaming to date.”

“I've only played 8 hours for now on the Pimax 8K, and this game not only achieves one but two incredible things: it is a complete masterpiece of a game, with everything from graphics, music, story—everything is sublime. Thanks to VR, the emotional moments are 100x more powerful, where many times Senua is talking to you directly, like that moment in the tree. This almost made me cry since you really feel you are there beside her, and this is one of the things that makes VR the most powerful media device ever—it truly makes you feel anything so much more than any other media. So this is by far one of the best VR games ever.”

“The moments of emotional conflict and vulnerability are greatly amplified; you are centimetres away from Senua and you want to comfort her.”

“The ambience and soundtrack make for a great and creepy experience.”

“The music is perfectly fitting and sets the mood from tragic, sad, to heroic and badass.”

“The soundtrack is the best original music in a game, maybe of all time; the last boss fight's beat is unforgettable years later.”

“No glitches, no bugs, etc. I can't wait for this amazing group of devs to come out with another masterpiece.”

“This game runs great on lower end PCs too.”

“Pro's: amazing graphics, great optimization (runs great on medium settings with 390x, 7700k), cool story, lots of camera and graphic settings.”

“All of the actors involved were flawless, and I especially loved the voices in my head, racing from hilarious to sinister in the speed of a single thought.”

“Voices, voices in your head, telling you what to do, what not to do, when to do what, laughing at you, crying for you, helping you, driving you crazy... right from the beginning, you can hear them.”

“I find myself laughing at forum posts with people complaining about "lack of roomscale" and "just a sitting down experience."”

“These areas dip far more heavily into the game's horror themes, forming some genuinely pulse-pounding experiences as you avoid creatures pulled straight out of vividly-realized nightmares, and I found them to be some of the game's most memorable moments, both from a gameplay perspective and from the ways they tied in with the story and Senua's character development.”

“Storytelling, voice acting, level and character design, and sound effects are all top-notch, making it one of the best games of the last years for me.”