Editorial | Hellblade: Representing Psychosis in video games.

By Sam Coles:

To my surprise at the Game Awards 2019 Microsoft alongside their new Xbox announced a new Hellblade title, now honestly I was surprised because I wasn’t expecting a sequel as Ninja Theory have a habit of doing one off games and moving on. However it has me excited where they could take Senua’s saga, I want to talk for a few paragraphs about the impact the first game had with its message about mental health or psychosis specifically. Now this article is going to have less of my sarcasm and quips, as I’m going into more personal and dark subjects this is serious and not something to joke about.

At the time of writing this I have a new outlook and knowledge about psychosis and mental health, this is due to my current partner suffered with psychosis. At first I scared like a deer in the headlights I didn’t know what to do, I thought to myself do I run or take it head on? Obviously I stuck with her and she gave me a better understand of her endeavours, where now when I play Hellblade I have more of an emotional bond with the game as I understand Senua’s plight.

What ultimately stuck with me throughout the game are the constant whispers of the voices in her head, I once played this game with surround sound headphones like the game suggested and I lasted for about five minutes. It’s this attention to detail that really got to me, as her voices where either helping or poking fun at her because she didn’t know where she was going. She often can’t take the mixed emotions that she gets from the voices, however it is one sequence that stands out and that is when the voices leave her alone. It’s this sequence is where Senua panics and she doesn’t know what to do, she has been alone for most of her life ever since she fled her village and all the company she has had are the voices and words from illusions from deceased friends and relatives. 

The psychosis plays into the gameplay, now one could possibly deem it as distasteful to do that. However it plays into the puzzle solving, exploration and combat where you have the voices guide and tell you when danger is afoot. Her psychosis factors into combat the voices will tell her when enemies are behind her or if she falls they will taunt her and tell her “Get up” or “You can’t give up now”.

Past love ones such as her former partner whose soul she is trying to save talks to her throughout, there are frequent past exchanges from him that leave her sitting in the darkness alone with no one to turn to. It’s these moments that make players sympathise with Senua, as you slowly unfold what has happen in her life. Her family refused to believe what is happening with her mind as they put it “The Darkness”, they don’t let her get help and everything spirals completely out of control where she has to flee. It’s these past exchanges from her family, which showed they refused to take her illness seriously which is unfortunately still common place in today’s society.  

It’s not only the gameplay the performance from Melina Juergens is very convincing, she captures the illness with the intense close ups on Senua’s face. Her eyes constantly dart side to side and up and down, as she is trying to comprehend what is real and what is something that is purely a figment of her mind. The moments where she gives up as she traverses the hellish landscapes, she doesn’t sob with tears but says nothing and stares out into the distance where maybe she can find salvation.

Hellblade is an experience that has changed for me, ever since I have found a loved one who used to go through the endeavour that is psychosis it has really opened my eyes about it and mental health in general. It’s a game that one should experience to understand what people who suffer with it go through, it is a dark and disturbing game, but it is another example of video games as art.