To say this game was an adventure is an understatement. This isn’t just a game that one plays to pass the time. The game is an educational experience that I will never forget. Helblade, Senuas sacrifice is about a young Celtic warrior on a mission to find her lover's captured soul. On the surface, it sounds like an interesting plotline, within the game you fight monsters and encounter unique creatures and stumble across story points that drive the plotline even further. This is all amazing but not what made this game one of my favorites and brought me to an emotional standstill. The character Senua has a form of psychosis known as Schizophrenia. She experiences both auditory and visual hallucinations and delusions that form her reality creating the very monsters she has to battle. Causing chaos, disruption, and rot to grow and manifest bringing to life the things that were swept under the rug for too long.
Walking in Her Mind:
Hellblade was created with the help of Paul Fletcher, a neuroscientist and psychosis expert at the University of Cambridge. He along with Ninja Theory created this beautiful story that jumps leaps and bounds and can be associated with on all levels, not just from a viewpoint of someone who might have Schizophrenia. Senuas's main focus is to find the soul of her lost lover Dillion. With her thoughts caught in a sandstorm of delusions, voices, and visual hallucinations that try to trick and also help her she becomes angry, hopeful, and determined to see the end, even if that means her death. Ninja Theory created a character that someone could easily associate with in terms of how the character acts the conditions that she has even the fears of herself. Schizophrenia is a disease that affects how one thinks and acts when one has this disorder they will have auditory and visual hallucinations which in effect cause delusions and will branch out into other mental illnesses such as BPD (Bi-Polar Disorder) Anxiety, paranoia, and many others. Senuas's character thrives on the delusion of saving the lost soul of her lover so he can be brought to a place of rest. Fearful of what she might encounter, she sees hallucinations of monsters, creatures that she met on a spirit quest when she went to the wilds, and eyes in structures that surround her.
Throughout the game, I really felt as if I was walking in the shoes of someone who has schizophrenia, the voices, the hallucinations all of the factors that create her life in the cosmic illusion of her mind. Using binaural headphones, Ninja Theory was able to capture what having multiple voices/entities is like, and relaying that to someone (like me) who does not have this form or any form of psychosis. The auditory hallucinations made me, for the first time in a game fearful of what’s to come and filled me with anxiety to a degree. All I know is that now that I’ve experienced a simulation of what it's like to have schizophrenia I can say with certainty that I admire those who have to go through it every day. The control, the strength, and power it takes to walk through a life where your mind at times can be with or heavily against you.
Simulated Reality: within the game hell blade, the combination of puzzles used to further the story made the game even more immersive to go through. Not very often will I see puzzles coincide with how the game and its story flow together. The only other games where the puzzles really matched the story through and through are in the Silent Hill games, Resident Evil, Sweet Home, and The Evil Within. Not to say that other games don’t have puzzles that carry the story but Hellblades puzzles are directly linked to Senua’s condition, the history of her and her family, and how she perceives the world around her. Puzzles such as finding shapes similar to those on doors to unlock them really show us how the mind works for those who are not just schizophrenic patients but people who can spot patterns, and shapes in everyday objects and areas. Even with the concept of anxiety arose, which I really associated with. I suffer from anxiety, that without exaggeration will keep me up some nights. And to see her anxiety played out not just in boss battles but in certain cutscenes made me more emotional than I ever thought I would be playing this game. The way in which mental disorders are conducted within this reality, this story, this game is done so respectfully and to a degree that is educating the person who is playing. At the end of it all, I would love to see this game used as a way to teach Psychology students how schizophrenia works since it is something so extreme that the normal, everyday person could not even comprehend how or why the disease functions the way it does. With this game, I really feel as if it is a necessity to bring it into a college/university setting to educate and help others understand what it is like for those who suffer from the condition.
The Gods of Control: the gods were all that was believed, all that was known, all that was trusted in historic Celtic times. There was a god of winter, there was a goddess of fire, there were so many factors that controlled people’s lives. When someone had, what we know now today as a mental disorder, it was called Geilt, meaning “one who goes mad from terror” when Senua goes into the wilds and is experiencing the horrible things that she is, she is experiencing Geilt. Zynbel, her father tries to control her using the gods as a way to be manipulative and cruel, saying that her mother is fine now because she is with the gods and didn’t believe in the voices and images she was seeing. I am massively paraphrasing right now, but Zynbel's character is one of a cultist's mind if there was such a thing back in old Celtic times. The rot that appears up Senuas arm, according to Zynbel is that of the demons that possess her. Since it is her father saying all of this, Senua believes him and trusts in his knowledge that he knows what’s best, but also knows that something isn’t right, and needs to find her own answers. Later on, Senua finds out that her father lied to her, that he killed the mother because of her “demons”, and since Schizophrenia has a genetic link, senua has the same affliction and therefore Zynbel tries to control her in the same way as the mother if not driving her further into madness when Senua discuss her journey of going into the wilds.
Learning to Love your Chaos:
By the end of the game, Senua reaches an epiphany of sorts and looks within for the answers, instead of outside sources. The voices, instead of harming her a lot of the time try to help her in ways of motivation and support. This is when Senua finally meets Hella. In Norse mythology, Hella was banished with her siblings by Odin. Odin then gave her domination over the nine worlds of hell that make up Helheim. I find is interesting that the Norse mythology of hell is similar to dantes inferno where, there Dante spoke of nine layers of death, and the ninth layer is hell itself. Hellas hall was called Elivdnir, which means sleet cold. We can again reference Dantes depiction of hell here as well since he discusses too, a cold bitter place. It’s very interesting how both Dante and Norse mythology think of hell in the same way dark, cold, and lifeless. When Senua faces hella she is facing herself, she is facing the part of her that she wants to extinguish and exile from her soul. When Hella kills Senua, that is Senua killing of the part of her that is no longer needed or wanted to survive. She is able to let go of her lover Dillion in a healthy way and move on from her anger and bitter nature.
Final Thoughts: This game is simple in its mechanics and how it is delivered as far as controls and puzzles go. I would highly recommend this game for anyone who is mentally stable enough to play it. This is not a “diss” nor is this a way of being patronizing, this is me, the writer telling you, the reader that I want you to have a wonderful time playing this, and become more educated through playing this and walk away from a changed (for the better) person and if you are experiencing high levels of depression or anxiety, or have Schizophrenia yourself understand what this game is and test out samples on YouTube, or read up on it before you play it. That is my disclaimer that is my caveat. You will get sucked into this game and without warning as well. Ninja Theory is very smart in how they used immersion tactics and how they bluffed about having permadeath as well. The rot that grows on your arms will never reach your head, it might get close, but it will never go there. It was a smart choice and created this sense of nervous anticipation with every moment. The buildup of tension as each death in the game, each moment of closeness to a resolution comes by that darkness creeps up, and makes light at the end of the tunnel seem so close yet so far away.
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