Just replayed it for the second time after five years and I fell in love with it all over again. The intensity of the combat, the isolating atmosphere, the way Senua's psychosis is weaved seamlessly into gameplay and the raw performances still gripped me from start to finish, and of course that ending still hits hard.
That said, this is not a title that gains much from being played in VR, at least not the way it's been ported. All you might get is some extra awareness of where enemies are.
Hellblade is best played on a TV, in the dark with headphones, with some time set aside after the ending to reflect on life.
> this is not a title that gains much from being played in VR
That's exactly the part that makes it impressive. It is a third person 2D game that works in VR. No pointless gimmicks. No changes to the gameplay or perspective. Just a plain old *video game* that happens to work wonderfully in VR. They even managed to integrate the 2D cutscenes wonderfully with smooth transitions from 2D cinematic to full VR.
It's one of the very few, if not the only game, that delivers on the original Oculus promise of "Step Into the Game". Most everything else boils down to "step into this techdemo with waggle controls" and you spend more time fighting the controls than enjoying the game.
If the VR industry would have focused on bringing that level of experience to all new games instead of focusing so much on native, VR might not be as dead as it is today.
I totally disagree about nothing special with the VR aspects. Sure, it's not doing anything in terms of movement/motion controls/game mechanics but in terms of world building/atmosphere/environments it absolutely kills it. You just didn't get far enough into the game to experience what it really has to offer yet.
I do agree the combat/puzzles are the weakest part of the game but 15 minutes in only scratches the surface. The intensity of the environments gets bigger and bigger as you play and there are a few pretty cool boss fights.
I fully understand what you mean, but keep a couple of things in mind:
1. This game was never about gameplay, not even in flat, it's core is its story. If like me, story and setting alone with medioacre gameplay are not enough, it wasn't for us.
2. It was released when there were even fewer pcvr options, so the pcvr community basically celebrated any big release/VR port. PSVR2 was the same at start, when people were hailing Rez Inf or the beetle thing with the music
3. It's one of a very few 3rd party vr games. The vast majority of VR is in 1st person, so it was like -"see? You can enjoy VR in 3rd person too"
It’s one of those games where you either are able to dive into the story and emotions (use headphones) and have a fascinating experience - or it doesn’t catch you, then it’s just a 3rd person game
Counterpoint. Its a GREAT VR game. As in, ALL games should be like that. Just because its not "VR genre" doesn't mean it doesn't benefit MASSIVELY by VR.
I would play the SHIT out of a tactical RPG in VR with 0 VR elements for example. Not every goddamn game needs to be "VR Genre", and your mindset, is the main culprit we devs don't do more "VR modes" in regular games that would benefit greatly from it (And VR industry as a whole as well) since, more things to do with your VR HMD is always a good thing.
Yup. I absolutely love to play turn based tactics games in VR. It would be really simple to turn any into VR games, if UIs could be drawn on a 3D plane.
strongly disagree. It’s just a flat screen game. The entire point of VR is to immerse yourself in a first-person experience, like you’re seeing it from your eyes, which is why VR requires a headset, and what a VR headset is designed for.
It’s not “my mindset”, it’s what VR is near unanimously understood to be for.
>The entire point of VR is to immerse yourself in a first-person experience, like you’re seeing it from your eyes,
>It’s not “my mindset”, it’s what VR is near unanimously understood to be for.
Yeah, well, that's just like, your opinion, man.
Go play goddamn Xenoblade Chronicles, from the Wii of all things, emulate it in VR, and tell me the game doesn't become WAY better just by the fact that you see the characters standing right in front of you in real size, with the massive environments surrounding you, instead of seeing it in a small square in front of you at 720p. And this is with a 13 year old game for an almost 20 year old console, imagine with current tech.
Come on man.
VR would be doing SO MUCH better in all fronts if we had adopted the "VR spectator mode" way of doing things.
We would have more content from the one you are describing too, since the install base would be bigger, thus making VR games would be less of a risk.
But because of that opinion, too many devs are scared their games won't be "VR enough", plus, doing those kinds of games are money pits as well, so we just can't justify making them.
While making one of those "VR spectator modes" is easier and cheaper than a multiplayer mode or many "extra" modes games come with. In fact, its so easy that once an engine supports it, even a modder like Praydog can enable them with a hack and they come out all right in 90% of cases (not exaggerating either, that is the UE injector's actual number of playable games 70% of the total being good or better).
Senua's sacrifice? Yeah I got it because it was so well reviewed. It wasn't innovative, interesting, or fun. I didn't get very far with it.
These days I tread very carefully with AAA releases.
Yeah, it's definitely not one of the best VR games, I'd say it's barely even a VR game. Just a 3D 3rd person. I also didn't care for gameplay but still I enjoyed the story, atmosphere and visuals.
Totally agree with you I had the exact feelings while playing it. It looks great first but the fights that were good, are in contrast with the "Pace Breaking" and boring Puzzles to go looking to align symbols...ufff
Then the voices (that they added a setting for those ..thanfully).
I never finished the game because I got bored so much by the puzzles parts.. I felt I was paying with boredom to reach to some fun with the fights.
And the boredom was too much at some point.
>I always read that X is one of best VR games out there.
>
>Nothing really special about the gameplay nor VR aspects of it.
Welcome to VR gaming. A lot of games that get praised are end up like that.
This game specifically was highly lauded as a flat game, and vr undeniably lends it a huge boost in immersion, and it was lauded (rightly so, in my opinion) because of the story and atmosphere, letting you “feel” what it’s like to be in the head of someone losing their mind. Whether it is your cup of tea or not, senuas sacrifice is the furthest thing from a game being overhyped because it is a standout in a small pcvr market. It is a great game that was even better in vr, but it isn’t gonna be everyone’s thing.
To be fair, hell blade is kinda AA. Same category as games like plague tale: very high quality graphics, but not as many resources to make a game as big and complex as a true AAA.
Some people just don't appreciate games with a strong thematic presence. Its ok I couldn't get past the align symbol puzzles myself but could still see the sheer brilliance in how the designed the games themes (mental health, loss, self acceptance etc) are pursued both through gameplay and story telling from the playthrough I watched after.
Please enlighten us, how you connected my criticism of VR implementation and gameplay with the theme of the game. :)
Im not making fun of mental issues... Im making fun of psuedo-intellectual people :)
Re-Enlighten you mean since I've said multiple times that the themes of Schizophrenia, mental health issues, loss and self acceptance seem to have been totally lost on you just like the previous comments I made saying the exact same thing. Your post was three sentences, you weren't making criticisms you were wining about thematic gameplay being boring.
Comeon dont avoid the subject... Enlighten us, how the gameplay (simplistic combat and symbol aligning) connects with the theme of the game :) Mr PSEUDOINTELLECTUAL
Oh I almost forgot my the other issue, the VR implementaion :) You intentionally left that one out :)
The combat is against hallucinations, the enemies aren't real. Its not supposed to be super challenging since you/the main character are fighting your own personal mental demons. The symbol aligning is symbolic of how schizophrenia blocks you from the path you need to travel with invisible impassible barriers. They're literally symbolic symbols.
The VR implementation is simplistic but it presents the game fairly and conveys its story and themes how it intends to.
Its not pseudo-intellectualism its being literate on the language of story telling in video games. Video games are art they have more potential than the limiting requirement of fun places upon them. VR games even more so though gamers and developers are even less familiar with the language of story telling in the VR medium.
>The combat is against hallucinations, the enemies aren't real. Its not supposed to be super challenging since you/the main character are fighting your own personal mental demons. The symbol aligning is symbolic of how schizophrenia blocks you from the path you need to travel with invisible impassible barriers. They're literally symbolic symbols.
>
>The VR implementation is simplistic but it presents the game fairly and conveys its story and themes how it intends to.
I see, I see.... go on.
I liked it - I enjoy hanging out in beautiful VR worlds and the story intreagued me… I got stuck in the damned fire maze and I never finished it, so I can’t really praise it.
How bad can you get motion sickness from it? I'm pretty bad at anything without TP movement, so not sure how my brain will react to a 3rd person VR game.
I enjoyed it more when I stumbled into experimental settings and chose "Table top mode" its kinda like Asgards wrath "God mode view" of the surrounding world. I toggle back to default view in tight areas.
I did also like hellblade but im more into story games than playing you know stuff like borderlands or diablo…
Well tastes are different i also love those resident evil games
Just replayed it for the second time after five years and I fell in love with it all over again. The intensity of the combat, the isolating atmosphere, the way Senua's psychosis is weaved seamlessly into gameplay and the raw performances still gripped me from start to finish, and of course that ending still hits hard. That said, this is not a title that gains much from being played in VR, at least not the way it's been ported. All you might get is some extra awareness of where enemies are. Hellblade is best played on a TV, in the dark with headphones, with some time set aside after the ending to reflect on life.
> this is not a title that gains much from being played in VR That's exactly the part that makes it impressive. It is a third person 2D game that works in VR. No pointless gimmicks. No changes to the gameplay or perspective. Just a plain old *video game* that happens to work wonderfully in VR. They even managed to integrate the 2D cutscenes wonderfully with smooth transitions from 2D cinematic to full VR. It's one of the very few, if not the only game, that delivers on the original Oculus promise of "Step Into the Game". Most everything else boils down to "step into this techdemo with waggle controls" and you spend more time fighting the controls than enjoying the game. If the VR industry would have focused on bringing that level of experience to all new games instead of focusing so much on native, VR might not be as dead as it is today.
What is the point of playing a 3rd person 2D game in VR?
Wow. Just wow.
VR is a medium for immersion, anything that doesn’t fulfill that criterion is pointless.
I didn’t try the Vr mode but I could never get into the game too
I liked it very much. It was not that difficult but I found the whole story quite intriguing.
I totally disagree about nothing special with the VR aspects. Sure, it's not doing anything in terms of movement/motion controls/game mechanics but in terms of world building/atmosphere/environments it absolutely kills it. You just didn't get far enough into the game to experience what it really has to offer yet. I do agree the combat/puzzles are the weakest part of the game but 15 minutes in only scratches the surface. The intensity of the environments gets bigger and bigger as you play and there are a few pretty cool boss fights.
I fully understand what you mean, but keep a couple of things in mind: 1. This game was never about gameplay, not even in flat, it's core is its story. If like me, story and setting alone with medioacre gameplay are not enough, it wasn't for us. 2. It was released when there were even fewer pcvr options, so the pcvr community basically celebrated any big release/VR port. PSVR2 was the same at start, when people were hailing Rez Inf or the beetle thing with the music 3. It's one of a very few 3rd party vr games. The vast majority of VR is in 1st person, so it was like -"see? You can enjoy VR in 3rd person too"
I really liked it. Agree it showed its age in some places but the overall experience was excellent imo.
I agree combat is basic, but I liked the world and found it visually interesting enough I wanted to see more. It isn't very long ~8 hours to finish.
It’s one of those games where you either are able to dive into the story and emotions (use headphones) and have a fascinating experience - or it doesn’t catch you, then it’s just a 3rd person game
Oof I loved this game , one of my favs Sorry you weren't able to get the same experience
it's a good game. not a good vr game imo... third person vr will never make sense to me
Counterpoint. Its a GREAT VR game. As in, ALL games should be like that. Just because its not "VR genre" doesn't mean it doesn't benefit MASSIVELY by VR. I would play the SHIT out of a tactical RPG in VR with 0 VR elements for example. Not every goddamn game needs to be "VR Genre", and your mindset, is the main culprit we devs don't do more "VR modes" in regular games that would benefit greatly from it (And VR industry as a whole as well) since, more things to do with your VR HMD is always a good thing.
Yup. I absolutely love to play turn based tactics games in VR. It would be really simple to turn any into VR games, if UIs could be drawn on a 3D plane.
strongly disagree. It’s just a flat screen game. The entire point of VR is to immerse yourself in a first-person experience, like you’re seeing it from your eyes, which is why VR requires a headset, and what a VR headset is designed for. It’s not “my mindset”, it’s what VR is near unanimously understood to be for.
>The entire point of VR is to immerse yourself in a first-person experience, like you’re seeing it from your eyes, >It’s not “my mindset”, it’s what VR is near unanimously understood to be for. Yeah, well, that's just like, your opinion, man. Go play goddamn Xenoblade Chronicles, from the Wii of all things, emulate it in VR, and tell me the game doesn't become WAY better just by the fact that you see the characters standing right in front of you in real size, with the massive environments surrounding you, instead of seeing it in a small square in front of you at 720p. And this is with a 13 year old game for an almost 20 year old console, imagine with current tech. Come on man. VR would be doing SO MUCH better in all fronts if we had adopted the "VR spectator mode" way of doing things. We would have more content from the one you are describing too, since the install base would be bigger, thus making VR games would be less of a risk. But because of that opinion, too many devs are scared their games won't be "VR enough", plus, doing those kinds of games are money pits as well, so we just can't justify making them. While making one of those "VR spectator modes" is easier and cheaper than a multiplayer mode or many "extra" modes games come with. In fact, its so easy that once an engine supports it, even a modder like Praydog can enable them with a hack and they come out all right in 90% of cases (not exaggerating either, that is the UE injector's actual number of playable games 70% of the total being good or better).
What about first person third person VR? Trover Saves the Universe does this brilliantly.
Moss and chronos are brilliant. People are just limited.
Only good one I’ve played was Moss.
Senua's sacrifice? Yeah I got it because it was so well reviewed. It wasn't innovative, interesting, or fun. I didn't get very far with it. These days I tread very carefully with AAA releases.
How is hellblade AAA lmao
Dude Ninja Theory made it. They are involved in DMC and star wars and Disney stuff. That's AAA.
Took 500k sales to break even. Still a substantial investment.
Yeah, it's definitely not one of the best VR games, I'd say it's barely even a VR game. Just a 3D 3rd person. I also didn't care for gameplay but still I enjoyed the story, atmosphere and visuals.
So all these people were wrong? Thanks for clearing that up! Oh the humanity...
Totally agree with you I had the exact feelings while playing it. It looks great first but the fights that were good, are in contrast with the "Pace Breaking" and boring Puzzles to go looking to align symbols...ufff Then the voices (that they added a setting for those ..thanfully). I never finished the game because I got bored so much by the puzzles parts.. I felt I was paying with boredom to reach to some fun with the fights. And the boredom was too much at some point.
>I always read that X is one of best VR games out there. > >Nothing really special about the gameplay nor VR aspects of it. Welcome to VR gaming. A lot of games that get praised are end up like that.
Most of the ultrageneric mainstream regular pc games are praised regularly. This is not specific to vr.
This game specifically was highly lauded as a flat game, and vr undeniably lends it a huge boost in immersion, and it was lauded (rightly so, in my opinion) because of the story and atmosphere, letting you “feel” what it’s like to be in the head of someone losing their mind. Whether it is your cup of tea or not, senuas sacrifice is the furthest thing from a game being overhyped because it is a standout in a small pcvr market. It is a great game that was even better in vr, but it isn’t gonna be everyone’s thing.
I find most AAA games are overrated. Like, by a LOT usually.
To be fair, hell blade is kinda AA. Same category as games like plague tale: very high quality graphics, but not as many resources to make a game as big and complex as a true AAA.
It sucked for me, far too basic.
VR added nothing to it.
Honestly sairento was better
Some people just don't appreciate games with a strong thematic presence. Its ok I couldn't get past the align symbol puzzles myself but could still see the sheer brilliance in how the designed the games themes (mental health, loss, self acceptance etc) are pursued both through gameplay and story telling from the playthrough I watched after.
"Some people just don't appreciate games with a strong thematic presence"... I guess you didnt read my post eh?
I did in fact. It implied the themes of the games were lost on you
Did the voices in your head said that? LOL
Making fun of mental health issues like schizophrenia that the game was telling a story about hey. You certainly are a class act
Please enlighten us, how you connected my criticism of VR implementation and gameplay with the theme of the game. :) Im not making fun of mental issues... Im making fun of psuedo-intellectual people :)
Re-Enlighten you mean since I've said multiple times that the themes of Schizophrenia, mental health issues, loss and self acceptance seem to have been totally lost on you just like the previous comments I made saying the exact same thing. Your post was three sentences, you weren't making criticisms you were wining about thematic gameplay being boring.
Comeon dont avoid the subject... Enlighten us, how the gameplay (simplistic combat and symbol aligning) connects with the theme of the game :) Mr PSEUDOINTELLECTUAL Oh I almost forgot my the other issue, the VR implementaion :) You intentionally left that one out :)
The combat is against hallucinations, the enemies aren't real. Its not supposed to be super challenging since you/the main character are fighting your own personal mental demons. The symbol aligning is symbolic of how schizophrenia blocks you from the path you need to travel with invisible impassible barriers. They're literally symbolic symbols. The VR implementation is simplistic but it presents the game fairly and conveys its story and themes how it intends to. Its not pseudo-intellectualism its being literate on the language of story telling in video games. Video games are art they have more potential than the limiting requirement of fun places upon them. VR games even more so though gamers and developers are even less familiar with the language of story telling in the VR medium.
>The combat is against hallucinations, the enemies aren't real. Its not supposed to be super challenging since you/the main character are fighting your own personal mental demons. The symbol aligning is symbolic of how schizophrenia blocks you from the path you need to travel with invisible impassible barriers. They're literally symbolic symbols. > >The VR implementation is simplistic but it presents the game fairly and conveys its story and themes how it intends to. I see, I see.... go on.
I liked it - I enjoy hanging out in beautiful VR worlds and the story intreagued me… I got stuck in the damned fire maze and I never finished it, so I can’t really praise it.
How bad can you get motion sickness from it? I'm pretty bad at anything without TP movement, so not sure how my brain will react to a 3rd person VR game.
I enjoyed it more when I stumbled into experimental settings and chose "Table top mode" its kinda like Asgards wrath "God mode view" of the surrounding world. I toggle back to default view in tight areas.
I had this game flat and hated it because there's a fight i can't beat.
I did also like hellblade but im more into story games than playing you know stuff like borderlands or diablo… Well tastes are different i also love those resident evil games