History VideoGame / HellbladeSenuasSacrifice

* GenreBusting: It's a narrative-driven and cutscene-heavy adventure game with relatively sparse HackAndSlash combat, long, borderline WalkingSimulator segments and lots of [[RuleOfSymbolism symbolic]] environmental puzzles set in what the protagonist sees as the Norse underworld and horror elements straight out of ''Franchise/SilentHill''. Suffice to say, don't go in expecting ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' with Myth/NorseMythology.

* SlidingScaleOfFourthWallHardness: During introduction, the Narrator, one of the two most prominent voices in Senua's head, acknowledges the player as a new voice and narrates her story to you throughout the game. Senua looks directly into the camera at several key moments, although whether she is addressing the player is uncertain. In regular gameplay, it's actually impossible to look straight into Senua's face as she always turns her head away from the camera when it comes close.

* DarknessEqualsDeath: Darkness is never a good thing in the game as it stands for Senua's illness and environments suddenly becoming darker often herald a change for the worse. There are, however, some parts where she must run from light source to light source while hallucinations assail her, as staying in the darkness any longer than necessary will kill her. [[spoiler:Garmr can actually spit darkness in his boss fight. Have fun fighting him while your screen mostly shows Senua's hallucinations in the darkness rather than the actual enemy who's still trying to eviscerate you.]] [[spoiler: It is also implied in the ending that Senua grows to accept her mental disorder [[DarkIsNotEvil and stops thinking of it as a curse]].]]

* BreathWeapon: The Beast breathes [[CastingAShadow pure darkness]].

* CastingAShadow: The Beast uses this in its boss fight. Especially dangerous as darkness is Senua's major TraumaButton.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: When hunting for runes or ravens, you don't have to align the lines perfectly - as long as you get them mostly in the right place, the game will accept the rune or mark as found. Also, when you're close to the position where you can align a rune, the rune starts appearing all over Senua's vision, sharply limiting the area you need to search for alignable objects.

* OrpheanRescue: Senua's goal is to get into Helheim and recover Dillion's soul from Hela.

* AbusiveParents: '''Zynbel.''' He emotionally and physically tortured his daughter for years in an effort to rid her of her "darkness", which included locking her up in a pit and constantly belittling and shaming her for her mental illness, believing it to be a curse from the gods. [[spoiler:He also killed Senua's mother by burning her alive, when Senua was only five years old.]]
* ActionGirl: Senua herself, a female Celtic warrior.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Averted. The symptoms of Senua's "darkness" strongly indicate that it's paranoid schizophrenia, and as mentioned under ShownTheirWork, there was considerable effort taken to ensure that the portrayal was accurate. While it's never explicitly identified in-game, as it would have been totally unknown given the game's medieval setting, it is consistent with an intended real-world condition rather than just a mish-mash of inconsistent symptoms.

* AndThatLittleGirlWasMe: Druth tells Senua the story of Findan, a man captured by the Norsemen who took a chance to escape, dying in fire. This was Druth's story. He left his old name and identity behind after passing through the fire, considering that person to have [[ThatManIsDead died]].

* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Senua learned to become at least passably good at swordfighting simply by watching Dillion from afar before he started actually training her.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: So, so averted. Senua begins the game slightly disheveled and it only goes downhill.

* BrokenBird: Senua has suffered her entire life and she has lost her one ray of hope, Dillion. She's beset by constant self-doubt, believing herself cursed and the cause of suffering to those around her.
* BurnTheWitch: [[spoiler:The unfortunate fate that befell Senua's mother, who shared her daughter's mental illness and was burned at the stake by Senua's horrifically abusive, zealous father who believed it to be a curse from the gods.]]

* [[CrusadingWidower Crusading Widow]]: Senua, of the "bring them back" variety.

* EvilSoundsDeep: [[BassoProfundo The Shadow]] has a very deep voice and is quite evil.
* EleventhHourSuperpower: Once Senua [[spoiler:realizes just how badly her father abused her and her mother]] and gains strength from it, enemies fall far more quickly. The soundtrack switching to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeNF2aB_FGU Just Like Sleep]] helps underline her new resolve.

* FlayedAlive: The unfortunate fate of [[spoiler:Senua's love Dillion. He was sacrificed by Norse raiders in the style known as a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_eagle Blood Eagle]], his limbs and the flesh of his back tied to posts.]]

* FullBoarAction: The Beast is a boar-dragon abomination.

* HateSink: Zynbel is a religious fanatic who believed that his wife, Galena, and daughter, [[PlayerCharacter Senua]], were cursed when they were actually suffering from Psychosis. To appease his gods, Zynbel would [[ManOnFire burn his own wife alive]] when Senua was only five and would proceed to [[AbusiveParent abuse]] Senua all her life until she eventually leaves him. It was also heavily implied that he led the Northmen to attack his own village on the condition that they would spare him. While his fate remained unknown his influence on Senua proved to be so severe that it manifested into the Darkness that plagues Senua throughout her adventures.

* HearingVoices: Senua hears them constantly, coming from a variety of locations and with a variety of ages and genders.

* TheLostLenore: Dillion for Senua, big time. His death in the Viking raid of their village motivates her to journey to Hel and recover his soul from Hela.
* MadwomanInTheAttic: Senua's abusive father locked her in a basement for years due to her mental illness.

* TheMentallyDisturbed: A significant portion of the game consists of vengefully [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructing]] the stereotypes; Senua is a warrior but she's not unconsciously dangerous, her illness isn't something she can overcome with willpower alone, it's not a fun quirk or a disease, and it's the attitudes of those surrounding her that harm or help her.

* MrExposition: Druth, an escaped slave of the Vikings who raided Senua's villages. He taught the mythology of the Norse gods to her, which she experiences in flashbacks and through the game's scattered lorestones.

* PowerBornOfMadness: Senua's voices warn her whenever an enemy creeps up behind her, and she can enter BulletTime by focusing. While the latter one is almost certainly not "real", Dillion believed Senua's sight could make her a more powerful warrior.

* PrecisionFStrike: Senua curses only once. She screams, [[spoiler:"Fuck the gods!" at her druid father Zynbel when he is using religion as justification to burn her mother at the stake.]]

* SelfHarm: When Senua is first touched by TheCorruption infecting her arm, she tries to scratch it off in a way that would likely make her arm bleed. Later, when her first sword is broken, she uses a piece of it to cauterize the side of her face.

* ShellShockedVeteran: Senua was already traumatized before she experienced a kind of therapy by watching Dillion train with his sword and imitating him. She was skilled enough that he encouraged her to undergo warrior trials, and she succeeded. Returning from a self-imposed exile to find Dillion and the rest of the village massacred, pushed her over an edge she was teetering on her entire life.

* ThisMeansWarpaint: Senua uses blue warpaint (also called woad) in the present - most flashbacks are indicated by her being barefaced.
* ThousandYardStare: Senua's default look is an impassive glazed stare, her mouth slightly agape.

* UnreliableNarrator: We see and hear the world from Senua's perspective. Given the fact that she suffers from a serious disorder aggravated by trauma, how much and what actually happens is up to the player's interpretation.

* PlayingThePlayer: The game indicates that there are a set amount of deaths the player can have before [[FinalDeath their save game is wiped and they are forced to start over]]. [[spoiler:[[https://www.pcgamesn.com/hellblade-senuas-sacrifice/hellblade-permadeath-fake Player experimentation]] indicates that this is not true, but rather intended to impart some of Senua's fear onto the player.]]

* PlayingThePlayer: The game indicates that there are a set amount of deaths the player can have before [[FinalDeath their save game is wiped and they are forced to start over]]. [[spoiler:[[https://www.pcgamesn.com/hellblade-senuas-sacrifice/hellblade-permadeath-bluff Player experimentation]] indicates that this is not true, but rather intended to impart some of Senua's fear onto the player.]]

A sequel, ''[[SenuasSagaHellbladeII Senua's Saga: Hellblade II]]'' was announced during the VGA Awards on December 12, 2019. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvKQ7eTGXns Watch it here]].

A sequel, ''Senua's Saga: Hellblade II'' was announced during the VGA Awards on December 12, 2019. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvKQ7eTGXns Watch it here]].

* AmbiguousDisorder: Averted. The symptoms of Senua's "darkness" strongly indicate that it's paranoid schizophrenia, and as mentioned under ShownTheirWork, there was considerable effort taken to ensure that the protrayal was accurate. While it's never explicitly identified in-game, as it would have been totally unknown given the game's medieval setting, it is consistent with an intended real-world condition rather than just a mish-mash of inconsistent symptoms.

Initially digital-only, a physical version was released for the [=PS4=] and Xbox One versions on December 4, 2018.

It was released on August 8, 2017 for the UsefulNotes/{{Playstation 4}} and PC. An UsefulNotes/XboxOne release was later set for April 11, 2018 and a UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch release for spring 2019.

* IDontWantToDie: [[spoiler:When Senua is approaching Hela's location, her voices question what will happen to them if she should die and begin to beg her not to keep going, because of this reason. She apologizes, but says that if they don't want to die, [[DeathSeeker they can leave her alone]].]]

* AmbiguousDisorder: The symptoms of Senua's "darkness" strongly indicate that it's paranoid schizophrenia. However, it's never explicitly identified, as it would have been totally unknown given the game's medieval setting.

* GameBreakingBug: Jim Sterling's initial 1/10 score was because of one. It's triggered by not lighting your torch in an area that kills you in the dark (and the game autosaving after you've long passed the light source you needed), and triggering it renders the game unwinnable.

** Galena isn't necessarily fictionally used as a name in the 8th century in this setting. Galena is a type of lead ore, widely in use as a source of lead for thousands of years before the game is set, and was named 'Galena' by Pliny the Elder in the 1st century.

* VillainHasAPoint: In the final showdown with Hela, [[spoiler: Senua comes to realise that Zynbel referring to her mental state as a "darkness" was an ignorant, fearful lie. Zynbel/Hela ([[MindScrew it's hard to tell]]) counters by pointing out that if there is no supernatural darkness and no Hel, then Senua's quest to restore Dillion's soul is impossible. Senua [[TalkToTheFist ignores him and fights on]], but it's only when she's defeated and lets go of Dillion's memory that she is able to find peace.]]

It was released on August 8, 2017 for the UsefulNotes/{{Playstation 4}} and PC. An UsefulNotes/XboxOne release was later set for April 11, 2018.

* SequelHook: [[spoiler:After dropping Dillion's skull into an abyss, Senua beckons the player into following her, as there is "another story to tell". The narrator agrees.]]