I just finished the game tonight and, along with several other moments in the game, I was moved to tears. And watching the Hellblade Feature, again, I couldn't help but cry.

Seeing Senua persevere against her illness was incredibly powerful. The combat was empowering, a way to enact vengenace on the thing that was causing her pain. In a lot of ways, placing this game in Norse (or any) mythology is perfect because it allows the mind to run absolutely wild with possibilities. It seemed to me while playing that there was nothing magical happening at all. She was broken by the horrific death of her lover, and after years of abuse and neglect, her mind snapped and accepted her visions as an absolute reality. There are no runes or monsters, nor gods, nor beasts that lurk in the dark. Just fear, ignorance inflicted on to Senua by zealots, and a lack of understanding of the mind. Like they say in the feature, the illness is caused not by the symptoms, but by the stigmatization of society.

So thank you, Ninja Theory, for listening to the people who experience psychosis and representing their lives in a way that is both faithful and artistic, and doing so in a way that ends shockingly optimistically. Thank you for having the courage to take on a project like this and the careful hand to execute it properly. Thank you for giving a voice to the people marginalized by our society's lack of proper mental health care.

I can see the people hating on the game who just want "sick combatz" and "gud puzzels" but the fact is that mental illness is not cool and fun and good and awesome, not with how its viewed currently. Mental illness can be a barrier when existing in society as it operates today. It can make you think terrible things and isolate you from the people who want to help you. It can be painful and terrifying and, honestly, a pain in the fucking ass. Hellblade is a game that isn't always fun, but it serves as a good example of a game that isn't always meant to be fun.

I'm just going to start repeating myself if I write much more, but I cannot say it enough. Hellblade is a fucking triumph in storytelling. Its themes are woven directly into every aspect of the game, from its mechanics to its story to its visuals. It takes the design principles of Walking Sims and marries them to what we view as traditional games, and it elevates both of them. There is not a single instance of pixel-on-screen that doesn't further the idea of Senua's mental state. It's truly a wonderful, if difficult to swallow, game.