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Worthy sacrifice

Video games are a fantastic, narrative medium and allow us to experience stories that can be more immersive than any movie or even book. Now it would be fair to ask whether we want to experience psychotic disorders and whether this is even possible beyond our own world of thoughts. The team at Ninja Theory set out to do just that, presenting us with a glimpse into the deepest and most vulnerable parts of the human mind with the Hellblade games.

In addition to the direction of the story, the choice of protagonist was also somewhat unconventional. Senua, who we were able to play as for the first time in Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice in 2017, is a fictional Celtic warrior who is struggling with hallucinations and delusions at the end of the 8th century and must try to come to terms with the death of her lover after a raid by the Northmen.

We accompany her and experience a story that is rarely told in this form. Senua, however, is not a fighting machine like Aloy from the Horizon-series, for example, but a vulnerable young woman whose sword is of little use against the demons in her head. I don't want to say any more at this point, it's a journey that you should experience for yourself if you want to.

In addition to the great storytelling and the outstanding graphics for an indie game, the sound design was also a key selling point of the game. The developers made sure to deepen the immersion acoustically as well, which is why voices are constantly coming at us in 360° from the headphones during our journey. They whisper to us, sow doubts or reinforce Senua's worries and fears. Can we trust them? Do they want to help us or drag us into the abyss?

This auditory experience is reinforced by a soundtrack that lies somewhere between dark ambient and Nordic folk. For long stretches, the music by American David García Díaz and Norwegian Andy LaPlegua (actually Ole Anders Olsen) can be imagined as a blueprint for the usual Norse sagas such as in the TV series Vikings or Assassin’s Creed Valhalla:

Powerful drums, male choirs as a leitmotif, strings and that thuggishness associated with the post-Early Christian anarchic era of looters and pillagers fit like hatchets to a monk's skull, but the 13 tracks of the OST distort the essence of the game a little. During our experiences with Senua, the music stays mainly in the background and only occasionally peaks - and it is these peaks that have made it onto the album. As a fan of something action-packed, I'm happy about that, but the album is not representative of the game experience.

Some users on the net see it differently. For example, Jan Szafraniec from the website gamemusic.net. According to him, the score is 'an entire clockwork of sounds, noises, themes — all precisely composed. […] If you need a proof that you can do great things with a small set of tools, Hellblade is your best bet.

User SamuraiMujuru has a similar opinion on the GOG product page:

A brilliant fusion of dark nordic folk and oppressive grinding industrial is the perfect backdrop for this emotional meat grinder of a game and it manages to hold up as excellent ambient listening on its own.

SamuraiMujuru

Samurai Mujuru is referring to the track “Hela”, which breaks out of Hellblade's familiar, supposedly contemporary soundscape and combines female vocals, techno beats and piano for a stereotypical credits feel. Two other tracks that break out of the mold are “Druth” and “Shadow”, both of which feature different male narrators - a no-go for me in a soundtrack, but well, it's part of the game and probably belongs to the OST too.

Meanwhile, 'Belongs to the Game' is an excellent and unplanned transition to a point of criticism about the soundtrack that has jumped out at me in various comments. Apparently, two particularly outstanding tracks didn't make it onto the album: “Just Like Sleep” by Passarella Death Squad (“Hela” is supposedly a remix) and “Nation” by VNV Illusion. The fact that tracks are missing is unfortunately in the nature of an OST. If you want everything, you have to look for a gamerip, which, however, harbors the danger of a lot of uncurated garbage.

Meanwhile, the two tracks aren't trash and they probably didn't make it onto the album due to licensing rights. While “Just Like Sleep” is a little too spherical for me, I think “Nation” is really good. A bit melodramatic, a bit sentimental, but somehow also fitting for the end of a journey to oneself, after fighting one's own demons and the search for one's own will to survive.

But my favorite in the actual OST, however, is “Surtr”. About this, Szafraniec writes very appropriately:

"Surtr" is an amazing piece that menaced the hell out of me, deafening me with its drums, anvils and of course Andy LaPlegua’s voicework, and ultimately made me feel belittled. Just like "River of Knives" or "Sea of Corpses", this piece creates the atmosphere of fighting numerous foes towering over you, threatening you with fluked 'permadeath' as more and more waves slowly charge at you.

Jan Szafraniec on "Surtr"

In the end, do you need the game to enjoy the soundtrack? Surprisingly not, considering how formative the soundscape is for the gaming experience. However, while listening to the individual pieces, I remembered moments of the story that I had forgotten. Because even if it is comparatively short, Senua’s Sacrifice tells an interesting and affecting story that is worthwhile. The soundtrack is a nice goodie.

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Nr.	Title	Interpret(en)	Ratings
1	Helheim	David García Díaz; Andy LaPlegua	4
2	Surtr	David García Díaz; Andy LaPlegua	5
4	Valravn	David García Díaz	3
5	Druth	David García Díaz	2
6	Shadow	David García Díaz	4
7	River of Knives	David García Díaz; Andy LaPlegua	4
8	Ray of Hope	David García Díaz; Andy LaPlegua	3
9	Dillion	David García Díaz; Andy LaPlegua	4
10	Trials of Odin	David García Díaz	2
11	Gramr	David García Díaz	3
12	Sea of Corpses	David García Díaz; Andy LaPlegua	4
13	Hela	David García Díaz; Passarella Death Squad	4