Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice screenshot 1Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice screenshot 2
ActionAdventureIndieAtmosphericPsychologicalFemale ProtagonistStory RichMythology

43 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 67

Peak in the last 7 days: 87

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Steam store

Game description

From the makers of Heavenly Sword, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, and DmC: Devil May Cry, comes a warrior’s brutal journey into myth and madness. Set in the Viking age, a broken Celtic warrior embarks on a haunting vision quest into Viking Hell to fight for the soul of her dead lover.

Basic info

DeveloperNinja Theory
PublisherNinja Theory, Xbox Game Studios
PlatformsWindows
Steam DeckVerified
Release dateAug 7, 2017
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows 7, 8, 10
ProcessorIntel i5 3570K / AMD FX-8350
Memory8 GB
GraphicsGTX 770 with 2GB VRAM / Radeon R9 280X 3GB
Storage30 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 453 reviews from the past 1 year

80.0/ 100
Bottom 50%

Steam rating: Very Positive (90%)

Metacritic: 83 /100

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 22, 2026)

A warrior struggling with psychosis walks into a Norse hell in this narrative action game, which scores 80.0.

👍 Strengths

127 reviews praise its world and atmosphere, which feels oppressive and immersive, with audio design that shines through headphones. Story & World appears in 86% of analyzed reviews and ranks 175th of 1096. 106 praise the story, a moving tale that explores mental illness with care, and a few say it made them cry. 71 admire the visuals, with detailed facial animation and lighting that still holds up. Visuals & Sound ranks 189th of 1249.

👎 Where it falls short

65 reviews say the gameplay becomes repetitive, cycling through the same corridor, puzzle and fight loop against a small set of enemies. Content Volume ranks 1240th of 1351. 46 find the controls and combat heavy and clunky, and some say a tight camera hides enemies. 25 call the puzzles confusing or unclear, with some reaching for a guide to figure out where to go next. Gameplay ranks 1088th of 1396.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“gripping story about Senua's quest and backstory” · 106 reviews
“some of the best audio design ever experienced” · 66 reviews
“gameplay repetitive, fights and puzzles copy-pasted, becomes monotonous” · 65 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 52% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

Onboarding -2.51 · How easy it is to learn — tutorials and the first hours
Negative “unclear where to go and what to do without continuous play” · 25 reviews

Progression 2% · Difficulty 18% · Freedom 8% · Strategy 9% · Controls & feel 30%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 86% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

Story +3.46 · Plot, quests, writing, and the ending
Positive “gripping story about Senua's quest and backstory” · 106 reviews
Negative “confusing story with unclear ending and poor narrative” · 7 reviews

Characters 28% · World 62%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 42% of reviews · Bottom 10% of the games we've analyzed

Variety -2.79 · Fresh content and situations versus repetition
Negative “gameplay repetitive, fights and puzzles copy-pasted, becomes monotonous” · 65 reviews

Volume 25% · Replayability 6%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 69% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

Audio +4.01 · Music, sound effects, and voice acting
Positive “some of the best audio design ever experienced” · 66 reviews
Negative “voices sometimes maddening and distracting” · 6 reviews

Visuals 49%

Playing with others, the community and servers

Not enough data — only 0% of reviews mention this.

Community — · Who you play with — how many, and how friendly

Playing together 0% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 4% of reviews · Top 40% of the games we've analyzed

Balance -0.05 · Whether classes, weapons, and builds are evenly matched
Negative “combat extremely simple with single skill, few combos, monotonous enemies and sparse bosses” · 3 reviews

Anti-cheat 0% · Pricing 2% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 13% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Performance -0.13 · Frame rate, optimization, and loading times
Negative “FPS drops to under 20 even on lowest settings with RTX 5090” · 18 reviews
Positive “runs very smoothly, solid game” · 1 review

Stability 5% · Developer support 1%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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🎲 Fans of this game often get the title Storied Dragonslayer. Which one is yours?