It’s got the 3rd person view and open-linear design of Dead Space, puzzles that involve walking through arches like in Portal, and combat from Dark Souls where you pay attention to attack moves to know when to lunge.
You know there’s a problem when the game is at its best when you aren’t fighting anything. The combat is very stiff and it only happens in scripted open areas because if it happened literally anywhere else it would be a chore to fight in a cramped space. Because no matter what, you’re forced into a soft lock-on on a single enemy at all times even when there are multiple surrounding you.
There’s also no progression system whatsoever. Sure, not all games need a progression system (World at War campaign), but the combat in this game is so barebones that it would have greatly benefitted from having a skill tree for your sword, your focus, your health, and your agility. Like in Dead Space. I hope they fix this in Hellblade 2, which I will most likely never play.
But the game isn’t ENTIRELY a walking simulator. You don’t just press the stick forward. You actually have to solve puzzles that span the entire closed off section of the map. But it still gets pretty dull when all you’re doing is walking and finding a way to get closer to your objective.
This is why I always say to be cautious of story games. If a game says it’s a “linear narrative-focused game with an amazing story”, and it says nothing about gameplay or what genre it is, that’s a red flag meaning it’s boring. And unfortunately, Hellblade just isn’t that fun to play. You’d think having a game called Hellblade and fighting in hell with a blade would be awesome. But it isn’t.
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