I do not want to bore you, so I’m going to be brief, but I have to list them because it’s important for the analysis. The first is strictly personal,
and it is the interest that the works of Ninja Theory always awaken in me.. The second is the study’s attempt to create a relevant paradigm in the industry. After years working for third parties in the form of different publishers, this proj
ect has been carried out independently. In a risky “I stew it, I eat it,” the British team finances and distributes its project in a leap of faith withou
t any safety net. Something that can be a maneuver of unparalleled cunning if it goes well, or a decision that endangers the study and that unanimously denoste with those phrases of “was seen coming” that so abound among the many “prophets a posteriori” of internet .
The thing is that for a project of these characteristics they wanted to look for a land where they felt comfortable enough to mitigate in some way
that loose rope that was going to be the development and the results. For this they have chosen a Senua’s Sacrifice that collects everything that until now has turned them into one of the most recognizable studios of the videogame industry. Something that, in my eyes, is a success.
It is easy to see elements of Enslaved or Heavenly Sword in this imposing Hellblade , less clear are the contributions of a DMC that is to date its less author work by far, although it is equally remarkable with the passage of time. But even so the journey of his tortured h
eroine has identity and personality. It is a journey of action and adventures that does not make it emotionally easy for the player or its protagonist, but in its playable content has enough positive elements to be highly recommended for fans of the genre.
Twisted Road
In the videogame we are the Senua that gives the title its name. A character that moves away from the stereotypes that lately seem to dictate the genre, and that demonstrates the ability of the studio to create great heroes and heroines. This time the protagonist has two particularities: the first, of which I can barely talk to you, is the inexhaustible fue
Since we started the adventure we already feel that we are facing something big. Some of the scales feed the colossal sense of the game.
I do not say that you are going to finish between 7 and 9 hours of a one-sitting campaign , you may reach 10 if you are somewhat clumsy with the puzzles, but you must be clear that in the final glossy third there is a point of no return in the that histo
ry catches you and does not let go. At that moment abandoning the command and away from the television or computer becomes an exercise in willpower that I have not been able to carry out, and I have been carried away by the fantasy of Senua and his mysterious journey through Helheim Fascinated by the mystery of knowing what was to come. Always getting a result that was up to my expectations, and that were not exactly low.
Fortunately or not, what is clear is that the young woman is not alone in her journey. He suffers a kind of psychosis that causes him to hear all kinds of voices in his head: voices that combine, overlap and sometimes even give him totally contradictory ad
vice and ideas. The brain of Senua goes in several directions at the same time, which causes a real chaos in his mind that the title represents in an unbeatable way with a stratospheric audio work that the program recommends us to listen with helmets to max
imize its effect. The bewilderment not only invades her, but in many moments also does it with us. Neither helps the head that carries the character hanging from his belt and with that, if that was not enough, also communicates;I want the Head of Alfredo García from Sam Peckimpah.
Senua’s Sacrifice manages very well to master the rhythm
There is a reason for each of the elements that make up the mental illness of Senua and there is also a different projection for all of them, and all of them receive an explanation in about three-four final hours of the campaign, which, as we say, are c
Ninja Theory had already shown that he knew how to write, and very well, and also that he handled well those necessary springs to scene brilliantly those video games as great in the narrative as Enslaved or Heavenly Sword. Also, even when their sto
ries were nonsense (in the most affectionate sense of the expression) without complications that were put at the service of not obstructing the narrative as in the case of DMC. Hellblade, on the other hand, is its maximum sample of maturity . A videogame that shows that you do not need massive, complex narratives with countless characters to achieve something deep, exciting and that shows an enormous sensitivity.
The Eternal Challenge
Of course, what shines most in the video game is the ability of the British studio to integrate all the playable narrative in a very interesting way. There are the classic cinematic, yes, but not too many for the volume of things that we are told, and Hellblade prefers to expose everything he has to say to us through our own participation.
On the one hand, the scenarios
They tell us their own story. They are varied and are recreated with the usual good taste of the studio, displaying the talent of their artists and sometimes offering a lot of information. The downside of this is that Ninja Theory has wanted to have everything so tied and well tied that these are tremendously linear, so our journeys from point A to B are very, very limited. I have no
problem with video games that do not leave much room for the freedom of the amateur, I enjoy the same as the open worlds, but it can shock some fans that the title proposes such a closed formula. In fact, there is no reward in the form of collectibles or things to discover for an exploration that borders on the nonexistent beyond finding the final point of each of the sets.
