World design in Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a
game set inside the mind of a Celtic warrior and depicts her struggle with
psychosis. As the theme hints, the game is rather dark and filled with Viking
style ruins and buildings and depicts many forested areas in keeping with
Celtic and Viking tradition. Because we are inside the mind of Senua (the main
character) there is a wonderfully crafted and unique setting that shifts and
changes as Senua traverses her environment. Elements from her reality and her
mind clash as the player progresses giving unique and interesting ways to solve
puzzles.
The world leans toward a linear
approach in its exploration, with the player being able to progress in one
direction most of the time. Levels can be confusing at times as there is no
minimap or map in general for the player to gain reference, simply the players
own sense of direction. This is a great break away from the overreliance on
such methods in modern games and I feel that if Ninja Theory had implemented
something like this, it would have taken away from the story and feel of the
game. While able to get lost at some points, levels remain quite small and the
player soon finds a place they have been to before, though because of the
psychosis the player is battling, some environments have a blur like effect
where it becomes difficult to navigate.
Image 1 Retrieved from: https://cdn.staticneo.com/ew/thumb/1/1c/-000396-.jpg/320px--000396-.jpg
Hellblade utilises lighting to
strong effect, using a wide array of processes such as bloom, blur, post
processing volumes and skylight effects to achieve a dark and gritty
environment that sets the player on edge.
Image 2 Retrieved from: http://cdn3-www.playstationlifestyle.net/assets/uploads/gallery/hellblade-senuas-sacrifice-review/hellblade-senuas-sacrifice-review-43.png
However, despite this darkness,
making the player experience this constantly would become highly stressful so
Ninja Theory implements breaks in this horror like atmosphere with scenes of
life, light and hope, encouraging the player to keep on going, much like how
the character in game feels.
Image 3 Retrieved from: https://trollscreed.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/hellblade_-senuas-sacrificee284a2_20170808121009.jpg?w=760
The architecture in Hellblade:
Senua’s Sacrifice in on point. The architecture the player encounters within is
true and realistic when compared with real Viking architecture of the time. The
curved reliefs protruding from the corners and fronts of buildings is very
reminiscent of Viking architecture as well as the use of basic geometric shapes
such as triangles and squares.
Image 4 Retrieved from: http://sm.ign.com/t/ign_es/screenshot/default/hellblade-senuas-sacrificetm-20170807204233_29zx.640.jpg
What I can take from studying
this game is that I should be true to the architectural style I have chosen,
yet use it in a unique and interesting way, mainly in how the level is
designed. I think that while implementing interesting ways to traverse the
environment, (such as piecing together a bridge from a ruined state with the
power of the mind), is a great way to immerse the player, the sheer amount of
time it would take to implement something similar to Hellblade would be
unfeasible for my project. What I can
do is make the environment I have laid out in such a way as to encourage
exploration, which can be done through level layout, the use of lighting and
other things like particle effects.
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