Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice | Learning About Psychosis Through Games
This is the third article in a series discussing how the game’s medium is being utilized to discuss and teach on health issues. If you are interested in reading about how the indie hit Hyper Light Drifter discusses heart disease, please click here. If you’d like to hear about how Celeste can help players understand depression, click here.
Source: Ninja Theory
Hellblade: Seuna’s Sacrifice is a 2017 video game released on Xbox One, Playstation 4, and PC. Developed by acclaimed studio Ninja Theory, Hellblade released to critical praise by various outlets. However there was something about it that just didn’t intrigue me about giving the game a shot when it first came out. I suppose I was just in a different space at that point in my life. Now, after having gone through Hyper Light Drifter and generating an interest in how the gaming medium can teach players about health issues, I decided to finally give this game its fair shake.
In Hellblade you play as a young woman, Senua, who is from Ireland in the 8th century. She suffers from a mental disorder known as psychosis, and you spend the game guiding the character through her destroyed and dilapidated world in an attempt to save the soul of her deceased lover. A big component of the game is Senua's mental illness; it’s so crucial to the game that pretty much all of the game’s mechanics and design were created around it.
Originally, the developers weren't going to make her psychosis such a major piece to the game. However, the more Ninja Theory spent developing Hellblade, the more they wanted to utilize their game to teach players about what it means to live with psychosis. Even the opening credits roll shows their emphasis on their message with the medical researchers they consulted receiving first billing.
There's also something incredible about a piece of work that utilizes the whole medium it's a part of. Hellblade does this to great effect when trying to deliver its story and message. Sounds coming from various directions (thanks due to the binaural microphone used during development) are made to help the player understand what’s going on in Senua’s head. Voices inside her head will appear in different ears at different distances and volume. When playing this game using a pair of headphones, I couldn’t help but feel more immersed into the experience-almost as if I was Senua when I did.
Visual manipulation to the setting of the game is constantly being shuffled and changed to match what Senua’s experience through her eyes. Sometimes the world will darken or literally go up in flames as the voices attack her. Enemies in the game take visual representation of the darkness manifesting inside her body. But the game not only utilizes auditory cues and imagery to help the player empathize with Senua's plight; it also contains a gameplay mechanic to drive this goal.
Hellblade warns you early on that the game features "permadeath", symbolized by the darkness growing on Senua's arm. The more often she dies, the closer you'll get to having your progress wiped if it occurs too often.
I place that term in quotes because the "permadeath" is actually a ruse. While this initially sparked small controversy when players discovered this, the developers created this lie to make the player understand a little bit better on what it's like to deal with this disorder. The idea of feeling like you're dying over and over, with each death giving you this feeling that you're closing in on the gates of hell for good. This example of "permadeath" helps to give the player a sense of fear constantly and is what I feel makes the gaming medium so exciting compared to other art forms.
For instance, if Hellblade were instead written as a book, you’d only be told about Senua’s journey. If it had been made as a film, you’d be able to sympathize with Senua’s plight and understand what’s going on inside her a little better. However with it being a game, you have to ability to use an external device (e.g. a controller) to really get a feel for what it’s like to be Senua. It allows you to empathize with her, and subsequently others who are like her. This elevates the gaming platform in a way similar to how Celeste did so when speaking on depression.
I say this, but the game would not have been able to properly convey any of its intended messages without the actress that played Senua: Melina Juergens. Melina provides an utterly captivating performance as our titular character. The motion capture work used to capture Melina’s expressions bring a degree of believability that has felt previously unobtainable. The graphics are stylized in a such a way that it prevents you from feeling that sense of hitting the uncanny valley and not crossing past it. The capture work is also melded into the rest of Senua’s body in an extremely seamless way.
A game can teach a player empathy in a way no other art form can, and I think that is extremely valuable for people to learn. People with mental illness or health complications don’t want to be spoken down to; they just want to spoken with like a normal person. Now we’re finally getting to the point where people can easily gain access to that insight for various types of disorders and issues through the medium of video games.
Hellblade: Seuna’s Sacrifice really sets an example of just how versatile games as a platform are. Of course as I've mentioned previously games have done this before in the case of Hyper Light Drifter, and it's a trend I hope continues to propel. Celeste, a game on depression, came out several months after this and elevates the platforming genre in a way I never thought previously possible.
I greatly appreciate this new precedent being set. Let's take time to discuss health issues, both mental and physical. Let's take the time and care to teach and to learn about what others are going through. Let's continue to let these voices be heard and support them in their endeavors because it helps the medium grow a whole lot more diverse and colorful. You see, these games should be what set the tone for the next decade in games. We really are just barely scratching the surface on what’s possible for the medium. Just think about how a game could be used to help others understand disorders like Alzheimer’s and health issues like cancer. We’re on the precipice of something truly remarkable, and I can’t wait to see what other developers can create with all the tools at their disposal.