I recently played the sequel to Hellblade a few months ago and while it had some major issues particular with combat and it's walking sections, I did find it to have some compelling aspects about it. A large part of me did wonder, "I did beat the original a few years ago. How come my memories of that game aren't that strong?" I thought it was because at the time I played, I mainly just wanted to get to the end credits and cross a title off my ever growing list. It's still that way now but I've become more game and by extension media savvy since then. The whole thing was weird. There is a PS5 port of the Senua's Scarifice that came free with an initial PS4 purchase so that gave me the motivation I needed to replay it.
Upon replaying it, a large part of me can see why it never really resonated with me. It's by no means bad but it does fall into the trap that Ninja Theory's games can fall into where the game is very well acted, looks great visually and their stories are generally well presented but the actual game side of it can feel lacking. The Definitive Edition DmC was the exception when it came to gameplay but the story presentation faultered halfway through the game.Senua's Scarifice when summed up simpily is basically, "do a bunch of lining up symbols puzzles, walk or jog then combat" rinse repeat.
The story I'll give credit for in that it has the whole, "always following the player character and never cutting" style of presentation in a 3rd person camera game that came out after The Last of Us and before God of War 2018. As a result, when combined with the mocap performances and the visual direction it can feel like a very immersive tale experiencing the intense sorrow and grief Senua is feeling. You feel just as lost and confused as she is. What's also interesting is the voices instead Senua's head. It can feel just as creepy when you hear it as Senua can be by them and how the player needs to press on in spite of them constantly blaring and arguing with each other. It's a pretty well told tale using gaming as a medium to tell it rather rely excessively on cinematic cutscenes.
The lore stones I enjoyed listening to when I found them. It doesn't have much to do with the actual game's plot but they are so well acted and weirdly intriguing that I couldn't help but be glued to listening when playing.
This is wear the game loses steam. The gameplay is mostly spent doing the same puzzles where all you do is navigating level and line up Senua's vision, use focus and the object can materialize so much or at least a good portion of the game is this. There is some clever level design early game where you are in the Valravn's Keep and you need to go through portals and use Senua's sightline to have parts of the environment pop up to get across parts of the map so she can finally focus and have the environment materialize. Thing is stuff like this is few and far between. There is some other sections that stand out but both of those instances involved Senua being chased by a monster and then has to line up symbols while chased.
There are many moments in the game where there are 3 symbols on a door and you have to navigate the sqaure space to find all 3 symbols to open the door. This happens so many times that I slowly started to groan upon seeing them when they popped up. You slove and open the door the same way so many times. If I enjoyed doing this, I could put up with it but it's the same task with rarely if ever any new varations on it. Whole thing made me take breaks from the game after a point.
Combat fares better and out of all Ninja Theory's non DmC games, the combat here is kind of decent. You have quick and heavy attacks with your sword and a melee strike. There is also a parry with a very forgiving timing window. There is also focus during combat where with each strike and parry, it recharges. You can also evade and you also have the voices in Senua's head giving you heads up on when to dodge and move out of the way. There is more to chew on here admittedly and in the moment, combat feel very gratifying when you defeat an enemy wave.
However one major issue is that combat remains the same for much of the game with no new weapons or new abilites so while the combat does seemingly have things going for it, there's a reason why there isn't challenge rooms or an endless mode. Enemy variety while okay sort of just mainly becomes regular humanoid enemy, shield guy, bigger guy and the same enemies but needing focus to attack them.
The ending section is brilliant. In that it is scripted to have the player lose but the odds are so overwhelming and it can give the feeling that you could out on top but ultimately Senua won't get out of her delusions unless she stops fighting. It is scripted for you to lose but it is very well contextualized that it's worth praising.
Overall, Senua's Scarifice has a lot going for it as a narrative game but the gameplay is serviceable at best and tedious at worst.
No comments:
Post a Comment