Senua's Sacrifice

[Athennesi]

This is an upcoming game from Ninja Theory, self published AA ( as they define it).

Seems like an interesting title, centered around psychological trauma of female protagonist, set in Norse( Celtic) mythology background.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPq-7Ai3r_Q

 

[happyninja42]

Seeing as I've never found "screwed up in the head" to be an attractive quality in a woman, I'm totally fine with the design change. Of course, since she's clearly talking to the voices in her head, that first image might be the "dark side" of her mind, thus looking more alien and disturbing, visually representing her fractured mind's negative aspects.

 

[DrownedAmmet]

I preferred the old face. She was attractive in an otherworldly screwed up in the head kind of way.

-image-

She looks average and boring now.

-image-

One of the main attractions of this game is now kind of ruined for me.

Uhh, am I the only one who doesn't see any difference there? Except for the one picture being an unfinished render...

On topic the game does look interesting, I hope it's better than Heavenly Sword (Which I didn't think was that bad. It wasn't good mind you, but it wasn't terrible)

 

[Zhukov]

I've been keeping an eye on this and honestly it looks a bit crap.

I love some of the ideas behind it and the devs seem earnest in their wish to make something interesting and different, but every time I see the results they just look... bad.

Perhaps they will surprise me. I hope so. They seem to be trying so damn hard.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

...you know, I was thinking to myself, "self, that doesn't look like a character they'd make", only to realize a solid minute later that I'd confused Ninja Theory with Team Ninja. Again. Don't ask my why, I just get them confused for no gawddmned reason.

Still, looks interesting. I'll have to keep my eye on it.

 

[happyninja42]

...you know, I was thinking to myself, "self, that doesn't look like a character they'd make", only to realize a solid minute later that I'd confused Ninja Theory with Team Ninja. Again. Don't ask my why, I just get them confused for no gawddmned reason.

Still, looks interesting. I'll have to keep my eye on it.

I think the reason is they are 2 gaming companies with Ninja in their title, and it's an easy mistake to make.

 

[pookie101]

havent got a ps4 but the new character looks better in my opinion

*edit* apparently its comming to pc as well. looks interesting but yeah hits a bit close to home for me so i might skip it.. definitely prefer the updated character though

 

[Nickolai77]

This wouldn't have been a game I'd normally consider playing until I watched the OP's video. Now I'm a lot more interested now that I know the protagonist is a Celtic woman living in a world inspired from Celtic/Norse culture and mythology.

One of the main attractions of this game is now kind of ruined for me.

I don't think you were the intended audience if that was your main interest in this game. I think they've designed the character to look like a normal, average woman to help make the game more immersive and feel like you're playing as a real person. This also has the effect of making the character feel more vulnerable, I think, which is probably what the game makers want you to feel.

 

[Athennesi]

I don't mind that she looks less imposing, physically, but new version kind of looks too..."innocent"/young I guess? To make her more sympathetic, probably. Her face does not indicate her mental struggles.
From what I've seen great performance by her her actress though. And this coming from someone with no prior experience ( she's actually their video editor).

 

[cleric of the order]

Now I'm a lot more interested now that I know the protagonist is a Celtic woman living in a world inspired from Celtic/Norse culture and mythology.

I dig it too but i see more germanic-viking then celt in here.
Not enough toe fired arrows.

I think they've designed the character to look like a normal, average woman to help make the game more immersive and feel like you're playing as a real person.

I'm not sure if that works or how that works.
Not thematically because as the trailer suggests, this is one massive psychotic break, appearing normal doesn't really aid that thing. Anyway from the onset we are playing a mentally deranged individual not an average individual. Normies need not apply

Though i will say it makes the times where I'd accidentally get caught on an object and run in place or cringe dialogue make sense.
It would pull me out for a second and then I'd remember, wait I'm a loon

 

[happyninja42]

Yeah, the story is that she's been in a lot of battles, which lead to her psychosis. It's also why she has uneven musculature.

She's not supposed to be normal.

I'm not sure what's uneven about that image you showed. It just looks like someone who has one shoulder lower than the other because they are holding something low. If that's her musculature, she looks fairly normal to me.

I mean, when you say "uneven musculature" I think the guy from Lady in the Water, and I just don't get that vibe from the video footage I've seen of the character. She looks perfectly normal for the context of the setting.

 

[happyninja42]

I get what you are saying, I'm just not seeing it based on the images provided. Those look perfectly normal, I don't see anything that would seem asymmetrical in the body type. I dunno, I guess I've just seen enough real people nekked that I understand that the human body isn't normally 100% symmetrical on a good day, so minor variations don't even blip on my radar. If the images showed one side of her body with clear muscle definition, and the other side being smooth, and far less defined, then I would see what they were going for. But those models so far? They look relatively symmetrical, within normal human variation patterns.

 

[Nickolai77]

I'm not sure if that works or how that works.
Not thematically because as the trailer suggests, this is one massive psychotic break, appearing normal doesn't really aid that thing. Anyway from the onset we are playing a mentally deranged individual not an average individual. Normies need not apply

They're going for realism- playing as a character with a perfect face and body may break the immersion because very few people actually look physically flawless- they want the character to be believable and appear more vulnerable- being beautiful (i.e-physically without flaws) can detract from all that. I'd also add that being physically beautiful doesn't make the character's mental illness any more real or believable either. That all said, I didn't have any problems with the original character design either- but I'm fine with the current character model.

I think you're right about the predominance of Viking mythology though. Makes sense really since gamers are more likely to understand references to Thor, Odin, Asgard and the Valkyries than they are about The Dagda, Morrigan or Annwn. Where did you hear about the Celts shooting 'toe fired arrows'?

 

[cleric of the order]

Where did you hear about the Celts shooting 'toe fired arrows'?

That was a mistype, i meant to say toe fired spears, the Gae Bolg.
We see it in the ulster cycle (the T?in B? [it's actually really good, bit repetitive like most ancient works but it has a rawness to it])

They're going for realism- playing as a character with a perfect face and body may break the immersion because very few people actually look physically flawless- they want the character to be believable and appear more vulnerable- being beautiful (i.e-physically without flaws) can detract from all that. I'd also add that being physically beautiful doesn't make the character's mental illness any more real or believable either. That all said, I didn't have any problems with the original character design either- but I'm fine with the current character model.

I think you misunderstand me, i was arguing a physically strange person would serve it better because it's a story about psychosis.
Now strange could be unusually beautiful or strangely ugly or just with a half constructed strangeness.
It doesn't matter which so long as the anatomy isn't noticeably odd because we have accepted the premise that this person is a loon so they could honestly do whatever they wanted.
I don't know where or how realism factors into it.
We can suspend our disbelief at what happened up to this point her having a pretty face shouldn't puncture that anymore then her being able to fight off 3 hulking flame-brair headed men all by herself in a weakened mental vulnerable state, shit i doubt the majority of characters in any game could do that in melee. Or the fact she was able to take a hit and keep going, in the trailer she would have been concussed and she wouldn't live much longer after that swing the hellbeast got on her head.
Take it from a guy who once decided to track backpack weight in dnd as well as weight affects for that backback weight.
realism ain't fun, people don't like it also people don't like historical facts either (feudalism sucks man, dnd is stupid because of it)

 

[Maximum Bert]

Heard about this game ages ago and tbh havent really kept up with development I will just have a look when it comes out and see if it appeals to me. Shame they changed the character model though really liked the old one looked much more striking.

Wasnt the whole thing about this game that they were doing smaller games as in not AAA but bigger than indie so that they did not have to sell so many copies to stay afloat and could possibly survive a flop or two? also I seem to remember this game was supposed to have come out ages ago but they kept adding stuff.

They seem to be have changed tack though and are throwing much more weight behind this title. Hopefully its good and if it is that it works out for them. They had some great characters in Heavenly Sword general flying fox in particular always stole the show when he showed up on screen so I dont have that many worries in story and characterisation (only played Heavenly Sword and Enslaved though) but I hope they really tighten up the gameplay and controls especially if it is heavy on action.

 

[white_wolf]

I'm looking forward to this game its got a lot of varied things I'm interested in. I do however like her old look better her new face makes her look to innocent but I'm trying to look at it as it makes her more human like not everyone looks their age or their face don't fit their actual jobs for instance I hated the fact in DAI I made a baby faced Qunari but it grew on me that this baby faced 7 ft tall woman was a ruthless bastard it was a contradiction that was very interesting in the end so for Hellblade its like an experienced fighter who looks younger then she is has multiple other issues it would/could make it more interesting. Her old look worked for how one could picture an insane person but her new look could or was done on purpose help dispel the stereotype as well. I did like the video her actress released showing her personal preparation for the role looks like she's trying to take this role as seriously as she can.