Alvis Minor

This is a beautiful, well-acted game that very successfully plunges the player into a realistic simulation of psychosis. I absolutely applaud the creators for their achievements in those arenas. But the successful simulation of psychosis, while amazing, is also the game’s biggest flaw. Because you know what isn’t enjoyable at all? Experiencing psychosis! Even when I KNEW the game was trying to make me frustrated or over-stimulated, it still succeeded far too well. Intentional or not, “frustrating” quickly becomes “annoying.” All the whispers, the repetitive puzzles and battles, the huge spaces (in both time and actual ground covered) where nothing happens... Uggg. Senua’s slow jog made me want to throw my controller. This entire game is 6ish hours long, and it felt like a month and a half. It doesn’t help that the game only has a few tricks — rune puzzle, dark or visually scrambled visuals, obnoxious voiceover, see through an illusion... then rinse and repeat. That’s it. Every moment of the game that isn’t a drawn out cutscene is one of these four elements. Plus walking. Slowly. Also — and this will be an unpopular opinion — the setting of the story was super, but the writing itself was unimpressive. Basically, it’s a conglomeration of every undergrad writing workshop story you’ve ever read with an emotionally disturbed character, but very effectively blended with history and mythology. So the context is great, but some of the dialogue is trite to the point of being painful. And there are no real surprises in Senua’s story.