and low price, were also praised; the quality of its production value and graphics was singled out as superior to what independent games usually offer. Reception of the combat and puzzles were more mixed, with several reviewers complaining about combat being too repetitive and simplistic, the lack of variety in the enemies, and about the puzzles being redundant. Brandin Tyrrel of IGN praised the story, sound, directing, art direction, voice acting, music, and innovative presentation, and stating "it unfolds like a beautiful, dark, tense visual novel, placing the excellently raw, human performance of its main character front and center on her journey into the land of the Northmen. Her story is one of confusion, sadness, fear, and loss, and it's punctuated by moments of beauty, and strength that has left a lasting impression on me." He added "As impressive as [Hellblades] story is, Ninja Theory's smart design reinforces the sensory nature of the harrowing tale through subtle and intuitive mechanics [...] Its incredibly smart use of audio and visual distortion and trickery to convey the frightening effects of psychosis, hallucinations, and delusion, are married with the gameplay elements for an experience that rarely ever grapples over whether it's a game or a story". Brad Shoemaker of Giant Bomb stated as a narrative effort, its success was "almost unparalleled in the medium". He applauded the story, sound, characters, graphics, Juergens' performance and "piercing intensity". He appreciated the less artistic elements, but felt that the gameplay for battles was "usually satisfying but can also feel like a chore in confined spaces". However, he described the boss fights as "all unique and exceptionally memorable". Alice Bell of VideoGamer.com gave the game a 9 out of 10, praising its "incredibly compelling story", "fast, stylish combat", and "beautiful and horrible audio and visual design". In a positive review, Leif Johnson of PC Gamer praised Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice for its themes, presentation and story, but complained that the "inspiration doesn't carry over to the actual fights. [...] I frankly found it kind of dull in the one-on-one duels at the start, and it didn't help that the enemies sometimes seem to skip a few animations when reacting to attacks. Nor does it help that there's precious little variation in the foes themselves, who almost always show up as tall, shirtless warriors with deer-skull helmets or as beefy berserker shamans. By the end of the first hour,