I keep suggesting this game to people. The story is pretty short, mechanics straight forward and game play very linear. But it is a ride. Do not read about it; no reviews, no strategies. Put on some good surround sound headphones, turn out the lights, and let the game carry you away.
One of the few games I’ve finished then immediately restarted.
If you have the ability, and aren’t prone to motion sickness, try the VR! It’s excellently done and the head tracking fits so natively the immersion is disturbing.
It’s also got a proper VR version. I know I’m speaking to an even smaller audience, but do not pass up the VR version if you are at all interested. The spatial sound in VR is even better. I can’t wait for the sequel, I hope they also do a VR version for it, but I’m not waiting, I’ll gladly play both if they do.
I’m not sure what would really come of adding motion controller support to it. The game just wasn’t designed with that in mind. I can’t even think of what they could do with it, let alone it being worth the time, effort, and money to add.
Quake 3 has an obvious use for motion controls.
What would you want to do with motion controls in hellblade? I can’t think of anything that would make any sense.
If you just want to be able to use touch controls to play it, you can do that. There’s just nothing to actually point or swing around or anything, all combat animations are canned and the enemy responses are fixed animation too and reliant on the characters fixed animations to trigger. So they would have to completely recreate combat from the ground up, and the combat isn’t even a focus of the game. It’s just not in any way a motion controls kind of game.
No outright jumpscares but the game is scary/tense during certain sections. One section happens in near complete darkness and playing that with headphones at 3AM is not the best idea.
If I remember right, they took extra special care with the audio for this with regards to spatial audio. Without spoiling much there’s a lot of voices and whispers that they wanted to feel were coming from different directions so headphones really change the experience.
For honestly not really loving the gameplay all that much, this game was so awesome and so memorable. I watched all the bts stuff afterwards and can’t wait for the next one. Really cool and unique game
Yeah, the sound was recorded spatially, with one of those surrogate heads with mics all over it. The voice actors moved all around the head when delivering their lines. It’s even better with VR spatial audio, I hope the sequel gets VR too.
There is a credit sequence in Asgard’s Wrath where you’re in a pub and a band is playing while the credits roll. Nothing fancy. But then I realised that when I turn my head, I can hear the instruments each coming from the specific place where the band member is. Such a small detail but it managed to blow my mind.
Yeah, that is just the default way audio works in VR. Spatial audio is the term for it. Since they are effectively tracking your ears, they being in a fixed, known location relative to the headset orientation, Spatial audio just makes sense. It’s easier than the faked positional audio of the oldendays on flat games and movies.
It’ll of course be less common in games that weren’t designed for VR originally like Senua’s sacrifice. But they leaned pretty heavily on real physicality when making the game. So it was one of the first flat games that had true spatial audio.
Almost any movie theater you go to in the last 10 years or so has also switched to spatial audio, Atmos is the name of the theater and flat game equivalent. So all sound is created at a specific co-ordinate, generally by having it be initially recorded with a mic array and actually being located at the position it should physically be. Alternately, in post when they are doing the CG, they can position the sound sources then too. And sound sources don’t have to be a single point, a sound can be created by the entire surface of an object, like a bell. So that the sound would reflect and refract accurately off other surfaces. Sound works alot like light, except slower.
And yet this was the first game I rage-uninstalled in 20 years or so. I really wanted to like it, but I just couldn’t get past the first boss fight, which was Valravn for me. I’m probably missing something, but I absolutely hate its combat system.
You may still dislike it now, but I’d recommend giving it another chance. I replayed it last year and now it feels like a stripped down version of God Of War 4(and maybe Ragnarok too but I haven’t played). Valravn was rough for sure though, cant blame you getting frustrated. I remember stopping there the very first time I played, it took a break of a few months before I came back and finished the whole thing.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
She is fighting some battles.
I keep suggesting this game to people. The story is pretty short, mechanics straight forward and game play very linear. But it is a ride. Do not read about it; no reviews, no strategies. Put on some good surround sound headphones, turn out the lights, and let the game carry you away.
One of the few games I’ve finished then immediately restarted.
If you have the ability, and aren’t prone to motion sickness, try the VR! It’s excellently done and the head tracking fits so natively the immersion is disturbing.
It’s also got a proper VR version. I know I’m speaking to an even smaller audience, but do not pass up the VR version if you are at all interested. The spatial sound in VR is even better. I can’t wait for the sequel, I hope they also do a VR version for it, but I’m not waiting, I’ll gladly play both if they do.
Well, now I’m interested.
Edit: No motion controllers support. That’s disappointing.
I’m not sure what would really come of adding motion controller support to it. The game just wasn’t designed with that in mind. I can’t even think of what they could do with it, let alone it being worth the time, effort, and money to add.
Excuses. Quake 3 Arena wasn’t designed with VR in mind and it’s awesome.
Quake 3 has an obvious use for motion controls. What would you want to do with motion controls in hellblade? I can’t think of anything that would make any sense. If you just want to be able to use touch controls to play it, you can do that. There’s just nothing to actually point or swing around or anything, all combat animations are canned and the enemy responses are fixed animation too and reliant on the characters fixed animations to trigger. So they would have to completely recreate combat from the ground up, and the combat isn’t even a focus of the game. It’s just not in any way a motion controls kind of game.
Any jump scares or spookiness?
No outright jumpscares but the game is scary/tense during certain sections. One section happens in near complete darkness and playing that with headphones at 3AM is not the best idea.
Gotcha. So, 3am, dark room, 7.1 surround on 11…
Headphones are actually better for the creepiness-factor/immersion for this game.
If I remember right, they took extra special care with the audio for this with regards to spatial audio. Without spoiling much there’s a lot of voices and whispers that they wanted to feel were coming from different directions so headphones really change the experience.
For honestly not really loving the gameplay all that much, this game was so awesome and so memorable. I watched all the bts stuff afterwards and can’t wait for the next one. Really cool and unique game
Yeah, the sound was recorded spatially, with one of those surrogate heads with mics all over it. The voice actors moved all around the head when delivering their lines. It’s even better with VR spatial audio, I hope the sequel gets VR too.
There is a credit sequence in Asgard’s Wrath where you’re in a pub and a band is playing while the credits roll. Nothing fancy. But then I realised that when I turn my head, I can hear the instruments each coming from the specific place where the band member is. Such a small detail but it managed to blow my mind.
Yeah, that is just the default way audio works in VR. Spatial audio is the term for it. Since they are effectively tracking your ears, they being in a fixed, known location relative to the headset orientation, Spatial audio just makes sense. It’s easier than the faked positional audio of the oldendays on flat games and movies.
It’ll of course be less common in games that weren’t designed for VR originally like Senua’s sacrifice. But they leaned pretty heavily on real physicality when making the game. So it was one of the first flat games that had true spatial audio.
Almost any movie theater you go to in the last 10 years or so has also switched to spatial audio, Atmos is the name of the theater and flat game equivalent. So all sound is created at a specific co-ordinate, generally by having it be initially recorded with a mic array and actually being located at the position it should physically be. Alternately, in post when they are doing the CG, they can position the sound sources then too. And sound sources don’t have to be a single point, a sound can be created by the entire surface of an object, like a bell. So that the sound would reflect and refract accurately off other surfaces. Sound works alot like light, except slower.
Agree, I have a legit Atmos theater setup, and the headphones still are the better option.
And the sequel releases next month!
Wait what. How did i miss that release date!
It’s incredible. Once you’ve played the game, you realize just how absurd this tweet is – and it’s very absurd to start with
And yet this was the first game I rage-uninstalled in 20 years or so. I really wanted to like it, but I just couldn’t get past the first boss fight, which was Valravn for me. I’m probably missing something, but I absolutely hate its combat system.
You may still dislike it now, but I’d recommend giving it another chance. I replayed it last year and now it feels like a stripped down version of God Of War 4(and maybe Ragnarok too but I haven’t played). Valravn was rough for sure though, cant blame you getting frustrated. I remember stopping there the very first time I played, it took a break of a few months before I came back and finished the whole thing.