As the credits roll I'm left reflecting on just how many times I was close to turning this off across its runtime.

The rune 'puzzles' - MAN, they weren't all that 'puzzling', just tedious, and for every time we got a cool cutscene providing some much needed narrative weight, woah there - have another rune puzzle! Dying to obscure visual effects isn't fun, nor is fighting a huge boss in the dark, OR being chased by a proximity-killing 'force'.

Literally every time I thought things were starting to come together, there was another element that was completely and utterly off-putting. Even the final fight didn't 'work' thematically because I was good enough at the combat to literally carry on fighting for a good 25 minutes, before finally just assuming "Well, it clearly wants me to die".

None of the live action actors' lip-sync was in time either, so even Dillion's final speech didn't land.

I truly champion Ninja Theory for such an ambitious game, but why on Earth did they have to obscure the story at every turn with some of the most arduous gameplay segments in recent memory? It's Final Fantasy XV Chapter 13-bad in spots, and that REALLY is saying something.

How did you guys get on? I really just wanted to take in the story, enjoy the radial audio warning me of incoming attacks and travel into the Norse underworld, but I can't say I enjoyed more than a few moments of it at any given time.

I stopped after the first boss when I had to backtrack thru the whole level to get back to the hub. I agree with your points from what I played. Shame because I really liked Enslaved and Heavenly Sword.

It's crap. Didn't finish it. The universal praise from the popular reviewers blows my freaking mind.

Being a reviewer myself, over time I think you build up this 'critical eye' that hand-waves away anything close to generic and champions fresh ideas, just because they're fresh.

I'm not saying Hellblade is a horrific pile of anything, but I think it's coasting by a LOT on its themes and interpretable messaging, rather than what's actually objectively there.

If you strip away the thematics, theatrics, world-building and graphics, the puzzles are some of the worst I've ever seen, and combat - whilst solid - can feel broken against multiple enemies.

If you strip away the thematics, theatrics, world-building and graphics, the puzzles are some of the worst I've ever seen, and combat - whilst solid - can feel broken against multiple enemies.

And there's your answer. There's a lot to like about this game and some critics put thematics, theatrics, world-building and graphics over gameplay. And there's nothing wrong with that. You can't objectively rate a game, you can write about your experience though. And if the good (theme & story) outweighs the bad (gameplay) it can still be a fun game for some. If you disagree and put more weight on gameplay, that's fine too, just another perspective.

I'd say it's always a mix of objectivity and subjectivity - workable functioning mechanics and acknowledgement of a developer's intentions, then how those things sit with you as a player/how they'd resonate with the wider cultural perspective. I can objectively say that swordplay in Hellblade is responsive and that blades meet bodies, but I can't say it'll be enjoyable to those looking for more mechanical variation.

All of which is to say: I think it's an objective problem that every time the story starts to come together, we're kicked back to solving rune puzzles. I totally get the first time (after the two paths when you emerge on the bridge) there's a renewed sense of drive stemming from slogging through the aforementioned puzzles, but that's literally all the game has to offer. Brad mentions in his review that this drive remained and overpowered the tedium of the puzzles, but the very fact they exist as an obstacle to the narrative feels like the devs 'needing' to insert gameplay where it was unnecessary.

I also don't think the notion of Senua constructing the world in her mind comes across at all - like, what's stopping me thinking she just lives in a fantasy world in the first place? The 'rules' of Hellblade's world come from the marketing, interviews with devs and the included documentary - which I think does more to ground her as a character than anything in-game.

Speaking of that doc, the process of "We wanted to do a hero's journey story about a damaged individual, so we researched damaged individuals and put their stories in the game" feels very... forced? I think Ninja Theory's heart is in the right place, but a lot of it had this "student art project" feel in terms of touching on themes rather than truly grappling with them, and ultimately that puts me off.

The last thing - and this is such a shame - is the most profound comment comes in the documentary, where the narrator/director talks about the notion of mental health not being cured through evolution. Why have we been afflicted by mental health issues for centuries? He concludes that it's to aid in creativity and perspectives on the world, which is a fantastic message to put out, put this is nowhere in the base game.

Yeah, out of all the stuff I've seen on this one, outside how gorgeous it looked nothing about it seemed like a "fun" video game.

Did you play with headphones?

Then there's no reason to play it. Watch a YouTube playthrough. I didn't even find the story compelling. It was too overdone and unrealistic. It gets a 1 out of 5 from me.

This is the million dollar question. Not saying it will completely change anyone's mind about the game, but the binaural audio is a huge component that people may be missing.

To each their own, I guess. The rune puzzles are too frequent and the combat is a bit simplistic, but I genuinely loved the game's aesthetic, voice acting, and story. I feel like it readily accomplished its goal of bringing back the mid-size game and actually handled the topic of mental illness with a lot of finesse. The binaural audio was a great touch, too. There was a lot of love given to this low budget baby, even if its motion capture was done in a Ninja Theory board room.

Then again, I also enjoyed Ryse for what it was (a six hour showpiece from Crytek for the Xbox One hardware), so what do I know? :-P I'd actually rank this a 4 out of 5 and put it in my top ten for the year. *shrug*

Edit addition: as an aside, I think if this game was a $60 title instead of a $30 title and had the budget to match, we might have seen less rune puzzles. Constraints and all that. Still a great ride, at least for some of us apparently.

I have not finished it but continue to like it a whole bunch. The combat is basic but feels great, the story interests me a great deal.

The runes I could give or take but they haven't been slowing me down.

@shalashaskauk666: Interesting, I actually figured that we're in Senua's self contructed hell of a mindscape due to the constant reminder of the mirror. Though, if someone were not as fascinated as myself to translate the rune circle on the first lore stone it may take until a little later in the game to get that first mirror hint. Because the first few words on that rune circle is "seek helas truth in mirror". And by the end of the game that whole thing comes full circle.

to me this always felt like a "wait till it's 15 dollars" kind of game anyway, so yeah I'll maybe be playing this around this time next year I guess.

Just from watching a 10+ minutes on Youtube I got annoyed with the voices, I couldn't imagine playing it for a long time if they're through out the whole thing. I like Ninja Theory too, but this game seemed like a bad idea. I think video game critics loving it is kinda like movie critics loving an indie or smaller movie like Crash or Shakespeare in Love when they weren't that great either.

Yes it is. Thats basicly what her gamelong dialogue with her mother ends up in.

I loved the game and i totally got enslaved wibes from it. Great story and atmosphere, some annoyances here and there but nothing that bothered my playthrough. Combat is an demon souls light without all heavy mechanics which fits perfectly when the game really aint about the combat or seing things twice and the puzzles are equaly so with more focus on atmosphere and being casual than some witness bullshit.

If you guys gets "annoyed by the voices" you can just turn off immediately because you are playing the wrong game. Its like watching Schindlers list when what you want is Last action hero.

It's probably an instance of this-game-talks-about-issues!, in concert with the notion that Ninja Theory deserves some retroactive praise.

I guess people could just be liking it though.

I finished it today and I have to agree that while I applaud Ninja Theory for all the hard work they put into researching this subject and depicting it in a very serious and respectful way - on the gameplay front Hellblade is a tedious experience to get through. After watching that documentary in the end I even understand why they chose those rune puzzles, as it makes thematic sense, but they don't do enough with them to keep it feeling fresh, or to be honest, even mildly involving.

The biggest problem this title has is that it's a 4hr experience, tops, that is stretches out to be twice that. They could have easily told this rather interesting and personal story in half the time, with half as many puzzles, less backtracking, and definitely shorter combat sequences. Throw in at least 2 more abilities to unlock throughout your stay and this would be a very enjoyable, tightly paced 3.5-4hr game. The audio-visual portion of the package is top notch, but you have to get through a lot of rather dull fluff to finally get to the interesting bits, and thats when they start laying on the combat and puzzles rather thick. Seemed like every other room I'd hit a stopgap in the form of another rune door.

Also I'm not sure what Brad saw in the boss encounters as I think they exemplified some of the worst qualities of the combat in dragging on for entirely too long without giving you any real hint how much longer you have to be hacking away at these things.

Absolutely hated the gameplay by the end of it. I was so irritated by the arbitrary combat sections. It really marred my whole opinion of the experience. I enjoyed the audio, it was visually fantastic, the voice acting was great. But man, those puzzles and combat just brought the game to a screeching halt way too often.

I disagree with most of the comments here, not saying you're wrong for feeling the way you all do though! Just want to say I genuinely loved this game. There was nothing revolutionary with the puzzles and combat for sure, but every other aspect blew me away. But I also love Life Is Strange which some people find tedious and pretentious.

That comes across as dismissive. That's like saying "oh, you didn't like Inception, you must not have gotten it... go watch Transformers". Also, you (indirectly) comparing a Norse game to a movie about the holocaust is kinda tacky IMO, since that did happen and affects people in real life. Obviously Senua's story is not a real one. I got what you were trying to say, but maybe don't go with a real world story next time.

@deathstriker: Well not that it matters but the main theme of the game is that this is very much reality and happening for people even though it might seem strange for "normal people".

Schindlers list was just at the top of my head and i didnt try to compare a game about mental illness to a movie about the Holocaust. I mean why would i do that, i think the comparison is pretty clear.

Theres nothing dismissive about watching lighthearted action.

I still want to play it, but I would never drop $30 for a digital only game.

I finished it in two sittings and on the whole I thought it was.. above average. I wouldn't say I liked it necessarily. I liked certain aspects of it, and some other aspects not so much. Presentation wise I thought the game was just fantastic. The visuals and sound design (especially with headphones) help to create an amazing atmosphere, and the different places you journey through were varied enough to keep my interest up the whole way through.

I thought the cutscenes were really well done, in particular the inclusion of FMV was really cool and effective.

One big gripe I have with the game is with its overuse and over reliance on narration. I wish this game would let itself breathe at times, but it was just fixed on having constant dialogue playing while you walk/run anywhere. Whether it was the voices (which I thought were fine but also a bit overused) or the woman talking about Senua in third person. Particularly with the latter I had no interest in hearing her exposition or whatever. Not everything has to be explained, even if it's in vague poetic terms. The cutscenes were the only thing story wise that I paid attention to because they were well done. Lazy narration playing during gameplay is not compelling and it gets in the way and breaks the atmosphere of exploring the world. Her voice was also weirdly detailed sounding in a disturbing ASMR way, which I am NOT a fan of. In any case.

I thought the combat was alright. It was simple but it looked cool and some of the boss battles were fun enough. The lock on system of switching between enemies was garbage though. The rune puzzles were not the most compelling, but I thought some of the environmental puzzles were neat.

EDIT: Oh and I also didn't care much for the ending and I thought the song in the credits was fucking awful.

EDIT2: I also want to ask, because I know the devs consulted historians in making this game and I don't know much about it, but were the vikings really that brutal when raiding the celts/picts? Did they burn them on stakes and shit?

Man, I completely disagree. I really enjoyed this game. I was fully anticipating this being another classic-style Ninja Theory-ass game, but I really enjoyed what they did here. I even liked the puzzles. It felt, dare I say, casual. Which surprisingly was right up my alley (coming from someone who platinums every Souls game there is /humble). I don't really see the comments about the combat being simplistic though. The first couple fights sure, but later in the game (Sea of Corpses for instance) it's pretty dang hectic and tough.

I really liked the Norse trappings, and that the setting wasn't the really even the focus of the story. They built this awesome beautiful world, but the main character is too wrapped up in her own mind to even draw attention to it. I seriously applaud them for going for a game like this, especially in this day and age where originality is sometimes pretty damn hard to come by. I love it when games take risks, and I feel like this one (mostly) nailed it.

Also it's a pretty easy platinum too #justsayin

This game would have being better if they didn't force the "this game is about psychological struggle" banner every 15 minutes. It's totally unnecessary, and as some one who had some psychological issues in the past. It feels kinda condemning in a weird way. Just let the player figure out here psychological struggle, not some dumb health warning banner.

I found the graphics and story and the setting itself pulled me through when the gameplay was rather repetitive. I also found it very stressful to play, and almost didn't come back to it a few times mostly because of the oppressive feel of the game. I'm not one to watch horror movies or anything, and this came close on several occasions. It really kept me on edge. Still, I am really glad I played through it. It was a very unique experience. I just wish I had found all of the runes telling the history of the northmen. Those were excellent, but I missed at least one in every section so never go to hear the end of the stories.

@ezekiel: How is the story being unrealistic a negative? It takes place in her mind.

I loved the game so much and it definitely one of the best things I've played so far this year.

The combat wasn't always great and the rune puzzles got repetitive but they fit into the game thematically so well and they're really easy for the most part so it didn't bother me. I really enjoyed the perspective puzzles though.

I just loved the experience of playing through this game with my wife. We were both blown away by it.

Also, I generally don't enjoy wearing headphones but they really are a must with this game.

Because that's not how people with depression and psychosis think. They kept talking so long about how they wanted it to be believable and spoke to psychologists, but what they made is overdone and exploitative.

This discussion about mental illness in games is relevant: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/663.1004843-Mental-Illness-Represented-in-Games

@ezekiel: oh I see what you're saying, I think I misunderstood what you meant. I apologise.

Having said that, did you watch the documentary thing that comes with the game? Not only did they speak to psychologists, they also consulted with people who have psychosis over a number of years. Admittedly you have to assume that they are being honest but they seem genuinely pleased with the representation of psychosis within the game.

I think you also have to remember that it is a videogame so they might have to exaggerate certain things, like for example how vivid a hallucination could be for it to work in the context of a videogame that is taking place inside someone's head.

I do not have psychosis so I can't speak to what it's like but I think this game should be applauded for trying harder than any game I can think of to actually represent metal health issues in a more realistic way even if they don't get everything right.

@ezekiel: I read that thread and while there are valid arguments to be made about the way this game handles mental illness, I think you also run the risk of underestimating or understating how powerful psychosis can really be. I have not experienced one myself, but I have witnessed someone close who has since I was a kid and the whole theme of Senua running around in this abandoned Viking settlement, believing it to be full of demons and angry gods is not ridiculous. The visuals though are obviously heavily exaggerated and not realistic in any sense, and there is valid criticism to be pointed at that.