Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

The main inspiration of Senua's character was the Iceni queen Boudica, while her name came from Senuna, a Celtic goddess long lost to historians but re-discovered in 2002, whose name was at first read incorrectly as Senua.[16] Based on what is believed of the way Celtic warriors looked, Senua was given war paints, and braided hair clumped with lime.[16] Doing research to find the right angle for the character, the team realized that despite the Roman Empire being able to conquer nearly all of Europe, they were unable to conquer a group of Celts, known as the Picts, in the northern reaches of Great Britain. Towards the end of the 8th century, the first Vikings arrived in the lands of the Picts, more specifically the islands of Orkney, and replaced them as the main population of the land. Based on the belief that the Norsemen were known for sacrificing the leaders of the tribes they had conquered to their gods, the game's director and lead writer Tameem Antoniades decided to use this as the basis for Senua's quest and trauma, and to have her find everyone in her village killed by the Norsemen and her lover sacrificed to Norse gods via the blood eagle, a ritualized method of execution whose authenticity is actually debated among historians.[16][17][18][19]

According to Antoniades, the team, researching Celtic culture and the Celts' views on mental disorder, found out that they used the term "gelt" for a person who had been driven mad by a curse, grief, or the trauma of a battle, and that the gelt would take to a life in the woods in search of penance, punishment and purgatory; the team decided to make Senua a gelt, who had left her home in exile for those reasons. The character of Druth was based on both a real Irish Celt named Findan who was enslaved by the Norsemen in the 8th century, but eventually escaped and became a monk, and the Celtic tale of "a mad sinner who flees battle into exile and takes on a beastly nature, growing feathers on his body". The character was given a backstory similar to Findan's, a cloak featuring feathers, and was named after another word used by the Celts to describe the mental disorder, "druth", meaning "fool" or "one who utters the words of gods".[16]

Antoniades and his team initially conceptualized Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice as "a compelling, adult, fantasy game".[6] The game was always supposed to be hinted as taking place in Senua's mind, but with her mental illness originally less central to the story. However, the team came to see it as an opportunity to raise awareness on psychosis; regarding the team's interest with the condition, Antoniades stated "It is easy to see the pain and suffering caused by physical diseases or physical trauma, it is not so easy to see the mental suffering or trauma or severe mental illness. But what if we could find a way to see it? Games are capable of drawing you in for hours on end, playing the role of a character who's different from you, experiencing their perspective, and actively involving you in a world that functions with a different set of rules. [...] There are many things that happen in the world of Hellblade that make perfect sense within the context of Senua's mind. [...] To complete Senua's quest, you have to internalize and accept the logic and meaning behind these things to progress"; he notably felt that using the tendency of certain psychotics to see patterns others would not see or notice as a game mechanic to solve puzzles would provide a unique angle impossible in media other than video games.[16][20]

Antoniades admitted that during his research, he "didn't have to look very far to discover my own ignorance of the subject".[16] To portray psychosis properly, Ninja Theory "consulted world-leading neuroscientists and non-profit organizations like Wellcome Trust to properly capture the experience of psychosis and its devastating effects on the human mind".[21] Antoniades "learnt that people can experience hallucinations and delusional beliefs without it being a problem – the illness comes when those experiences cause suffering. Often the recovery is not about curing yourself of hallucinations, but finding ways to live with them. That was a revelation to me".[6]

Experts who worked closely with the team include Professor Paul Fletcher from the University of Cambridge, and writer and psychologist Professor Charles Fernyhough from the University of Durham, an expert on voice hearing.[6][16] Ninja Theory received funding for the game from the Wellcome Trust, who also helped them creatively in their depiction of mental illness, notably by helping them to get in contact with people actually experiencing it.[6] They worked with a "recovery college", an establishment which acts as both a health facility, and a college for its patients. Antoniades was marked by the story of "a girl who has to live with an angry voice screaming at her, slamming on her doors and walls 24 hours a day. That's someone who would often see corpses hanging in the room, so real that they would sometimes try to rescue them"; this inspired several events featured in the game as well.[16]

When working with experts, the team realized that "quite often, the illness comes not from the symptoms, but from the stigma, isolation, and mistreatment that comes about from the rest of society". This led the team to make Senua's father and the way he abused and isolated her during her youth the real nature of the Darkness which haunts her.[16] To create the voices heard by Senua, the team "worked closely with a group of voice-hearers to try and get these sounding as realistic as possible"; Senua's visual hallucinations, including her flashbacks, or the way several elements of a level appear brighter than they should be, were also based on descriptions from people with delusions.[6] In June 2017, the team presented the near-finished game to several of the people with mental illness they had collaborated with, as a way to see if the final result had "reflected their views or if it had misrepresented them".

Senua's voice acting and motion capturing were performed by German freelance photographer and video editor Melina Juergens, who had not done either of those things prior to Hellblade.[22] She was used by the team as a stand-in for Senua for several months while they perfected their motion capture techniques, and they eventually came to the conclusion that she could play the character in the finalized game to save the cost of hiring a professional actress. Game director and lead writer Tameem Antoniades stated that he knew her well enough to know that he did not have to teach her how to act, but to "relive her own internal pain".[16] All cutscenes feature Juergens' vocal performance as she recorded it during the filming of her physical performance with a motion capture suit and markers, rather than before or afterward during a voice acting session.[5][23] In addition to the camera placed in front of Juergens' face to capture her expressions for her animated counterpart, Antoniades used a portable camera to film the scenes as they appear in the final game. As they only had one camera, the team opted to make all the cutscenes be presented as one single long take, the objective being to make the viewer feel like "an observer, like a presence watching Senua throughout".[23]

Operating on a much smaller budget with Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice than their previous games, Ninja Theory went out of their usual ways to film the cutscenes of the game. Instead of going to bigger studios and having a team of approximately 20 people film several actors together, as they did in the past, they filmed only Juergens in a small space, with only three other people needed on set: Antoniades directing and filming, one person to look after the audio, and one person to look after the motion capture process. To save more money, the team used equipment described by Antoniades as "fairly cheap", including material bought at a low price at IKEA and on Amazon.[23] As a further cost-saving measure, they used their own boardroom for the motion capture scenes, rather than using external motion capture studio spaces.[24]

The helmet capturing Juergens' expressions and voice was provided to the team by Technoprops. The team opted to feature only two cameras on the helmet, as they felt that having four would be too uncomfortable for Juergens and impact her performance. The audio recording device was the most expensive part of the setup, and was placed around Juergens' forehead to avoid recording breathing sounds. Because all of Juergens' audio was recorded live, the team could not give her indications or reminders directly, or play music she would synchronize her performance with. For this reason, pre-recorded audio notes by Antoniades and excerpts from the soundtrack would be played at the same time on headphones both he and Juergens would wear, so they could act accordingly and in synchronization with each other.[23]

To feature the voices in Senua's head in a way that would be realistic regarding actual people suffering auditory hallucinations, the team, based on descriptions by Professor Charles Fernyhough, an expert on the subject, recorded several actors using binaural recording that also records the 3D position of sound, so the voices would sound as close or distant as the actors were to the microphone, replicating the way human ears perceive sounds. The team then invited voice hearers to listen to the result in order to give them feedback for future recordings.[16] The original score for the game was composed by David García and Andy LaPlegua; the song "Just Like Sleep" by Passarella Death Squad is played during the final battle, and the song "Illusion" by VNV Nation plays during the ending credits.

Hellblade was released for PlayStation 4, and Windows via digital channels on August 8, 2017.[25][26] Following the period of timed console exclusivity for the PlayStation 4,[27] a version for the Xbox One, with enhanced graphical support on the Xbox One X, was released on April 11, 2018.[28] On July 31, 2018, an update added full virtual reality support via the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift headsets.[29] On February 13, 2019, the game was announced for Nintendo Switch later in Spring of the same year.[30][31]

While the game was playable through backwards compatibility on the Xbox Series X and Series S, an enhanced version with improved visuals and ray tracing support was released through a free optimization patch on August 9, 2021.[32][33]

The game's depiction of psychosis was applauded, and often described as the game's greatest quality. Several media outlets and reviewers analyzed the game's depiction of psychosis in more detail: it was noted that all parts of the game, including the fights and puzzles, were made to further the depiction of Senua's psychosis and revolved around her condition.[5][6][40] Paul Fletcher, a neuroscientist and psychosis expert at the University of Cambridge who worked on the game, said that "It's been exciting to see Senua received so positively by those who have lived with experiences of psychosis."[6]

Michael Briers of PlayStationLifeStyle, stated that "by working closely with neuroscientists and those unfortunate few who have been diagnosed as psychotic, Hellblade carefully avoids those cheap, half-assed tropes that render a character insane and, therefore, woefully one-dimensional. Not only does it act as a disservice to those who suffer from mental illness, this practice of painting in broad strokes only minimizes the room for nuance, but Senua's Sacrifice boldly cuts through the white noise".[21] Leif Johnson of PC Gamer praised the gripping depiction of a character suffering from psychosis, stating "Ninja Theory uses haunted eyes to full effect in long, moody closeups peppering the narrative. [Senua] peers not only into the darkness but seemingly past the camera, past the screen. Looking back, I found depths of despair and anger there that were sometimes hard to meet head-on [...] Some people would crumble under such pain. But still, Senua fights. It's a little inspiring."[42]

Alice Bell of VideoGamer.com noted that although Senua's psychosis is a cause of tragedy in her life, the game also depicted her condition as something that can bring her contentment, stating that her hallucinations are sometimes "actually lovely too, reflecting that psychosis can manifest as color and beauty." Regarding the story as a whole, she stated "you [the player] learn about the trauma Senua has faced, made greater by her struggles with her own mental health and others' lack of understanding of it. Great care has been taken, with input every step of the way from psychologists and people who have experienced psychosis, to give as faithful a representation of it as possible. The hardest battles are fought in the mind, says Dillion, although Senua has physical battles as well."[2]

Mollie L Patterson of Electronic Gaming Monthly declared that "while I can't speak to that side of things from personal experience, I can tell you that I was legitimately affected by [Senua's] condition at times. Playing a good portion of the game with headphones on, quiet moments were often broken by the never-ending chatter of those other selves conflicting in their thoughts, with some wanting to help their host in her quest, and others constantly telling Senua (and you) that she was wrong in her choices, that she was destined to failure, or that it was all hopeless. It's hard to explain how powerful those words can be, even as a player detached from Senua's condition, and it was one of many elements that helped form a bond between us."[39]

Shoemaker stated "Hellblade's single most powerful trick is a near-constant stream of voices in Senua's head, recorded with a spatial audio technique so they feel like they're all around you, nagging at you, undermining your decisions and your confidence. These voices are frequently in conflict with what you're doing and even with each other; one side can be encouraging you while the other mock you mercilessly. The effect is striking. Over time Senua's pain becomes palpable, incontestable, especially as the stress worsens the longer these voices harangue you, the more vicious and deranged they become. It's important to remember that you as the player, though, have the luxury of turning them off whenever you want. Hellblade's robust bag of psychological tricks and the sheer fact of Senua's distressing reality result in the game's uncommon ability to capture the feelings of worthlessness, lack of control, of being misunderstood and shunned, the strange mix of hope and despair that can accompany a debilitating mental illness."[5]

Not all media outlets were satisfied with the game's depiction of the condition. In an article he published to criticize the game, Mic gaming editor Jason Faulkner, who had experience working with the mentally ill, praised Senua's character, but was highly critical of the game, stating that it should have focused on helping people to truly understand psychosis, and have the condition be "focal and explicit", instead of representing it metaphorically: "If you go into the game without any background information, you might assume that Senua is living with delusions and Norse mythology-inspired hallucinations — or you might think that she's being haunted by demons and ghosts. [...] The portrayal of Senua's mental illness would be better served by showing both sides of her story: what's in her head and what's actually happening." He also stated that the game "stifles the opportunity to inject commentary about the broader picture of mental health care", notably by not depicting caregivers or other people dedicated to helping those with mental illness in real life.[58] Edge deplored that Senua's psychosis was depicted as "something of an asset: a helpful superpower that can give you the strength to soldier on through the darkness, so long as you can put up with the odd breakdown here and there."[46]

Early in the game, after Senua's hand starts to rot because she got "tainted", the Darkness tells her that every time she "dies" (every death turns out to be a vision of a possible future), the rot will spread further up, until it reaches her head and consumes her soul; the game implies that, if this happens, it will result in a permadeath, as the player's save would be deleted, and all game progress until then would be erased. However, several media outlets later found out that the rot stops spreading after a certain number of deaths, and cannot progress further before a certain point in the game, ultimately making it impossible for it to reach Senua's head.[59][43]

Antoniades said that the permadeath mechanic was a bluff: while the rot will spread on Senua's body over repeated deaths, it will never fully reach her head; the wording they chose to describe this was meant to convey part of the fear associated with mental illness and psychosis directly to the player. Antoniades said "We were looking for ideas of how you introduce fear, and one of those ideas was the permadeath mechanic. It's the only time we're very explicit about what will happen to you in the game." He considered that they believed that players and critics have mistaken their wording on the permadeath mechanic when the game was released, which created a "blowout", but he defended their use of the wording as "it's your interpretation as a player that taints the meaning behind it. That's something we wanted to do on purpose, because with mental illness it's your frame of mind that interprets the world, and that can cause you distress."[60]

Reid McCarter of PC Gamer strongly defended Ninja Theory's move, calling it "great game design and a modern expression of unreliable narration". He stated "As the story progresses, the nature of the corruption becomes clearer as the player comes to understand a correlation between Senua's backstory and psychology and the way they perceive the game's dangers. It is a beautifully executed bit of narrative design, game systems and story working in tandem."[61] PCGamesN called it a "clever decision", as it "focuses on Senua's own fear of her enemies and degrading mental state".[59] Eurogamer called it "a cool trick that makes the player feel a sense of dread as they're playing the game. Dread, anxiety and death are all themes Hellblade revolves around. It certainly fits".[43]

While only released in digital form,[25][26] Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice was a commercial success. It was the best selling game on the PlayStation Store in Europe for the month of its release.[62][63] According to director Tameem Antoniades the game sold "better than expected" and broke even in approximately three months, ahead of the six to nine months the developers expected.[9][64] PC Gamer stated about Hellblade's success that "the news can only be positive. Perhaps if other developers see an experimental game like Hellblade finding commercial success then they'll be more likely to take risks on their own titles—and that, ultimately, will lead to more interesting games".[9] To celebrate World Mental Health Day on October 10, 2017, Ninja Theory donated all profit made from the sales of Hellblade on that day to Rethink Mental Illness.[65] By June 2018, the game had sold over a million copies across all three platforms.[66]

In addition to the awards received by the game, the team of Hellblade, including Antoniades and Juergens, won the award for Best Real-Time Graphics & Interactivity at SIGGRAPH in 2016, for a showcase demonstration of a technique they called "Realtime Cinematography", during which they performed and filmed live a scene from Hellblade, which was "shot, captured and edited to final quality in minutes, a process that would normally take weeks or months".[15]