Release: 2017
Developer/Publisher: Ninja Theory
Genre: Action, Puzzle
Gameplay Stats: 7 hours, 14/14 achievements
I don't really know what to say about this game without getting into specifics, which I usually try to avoid. All I'll say here is that I don't think I would recommend the game. I can see why people would, but I didn't overly enjoy my time with it. Mild spoilers from here on out!
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I found this game to be frustrating. I enjoyed the story and the little visual puzzles were interesting. They kind of reminded me of some parts of The Witness! But I think this game sometimes does a poor job explaining what it wants from the player. In a couple of occasions I died several times in a row and didn't understand why, which made it a little frustrating. I am a little slow at understanding sometimes, but eventually a voice clip would explain what was going on, I just wish that voice clip had been given priority over a hallucination. That brings me to another point, most media doesn't tell you that you are experiencing a story through an unreliable narrator until close to the climax/resolution, but Hellblade tells you straight away. I get that making the player uncomfortable was part of the goal, but I also had some hesitation engaging with parts of the game because of it. I was waiting for some of the hallucinations to not be real, but they all seemed to be. I thought that the combat in the game felt entirely tacked on and I didn't find it interesting. It seemed poorly implemented and some of the longer fight sequences long overstayed their welcome. I walked away from the game feeling like it was a better idea than it was a game. I think playing as a character with schizophrenia was kind of neat, but I think I would've liked it better if the mechanics were different. [6/10]
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