The Intent Behind The Symbols (Off-Topic)

by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Saturday, April 20, 2019, 12:47 (2042 days ago) @ cheapLEY

Yeah, that’s the area. It’s not that it’s difficult or tricky or even all that bothersome. It’s honestly just boring. It’s not engaging gameplay. I literally just lost interest in progressing because of how dull it is.

To you. Which is fine, but you have to remember that the gameplay in this section was designed to closely mimic the kind of weird pattern finding that sometimes goes on in the minds of the mentally ill. I found this section frustrating the first time through because it took me a really long time to find the shapes. But I seem to recall that some of the people with mental illnesses that Ninja Theory invited to play the game in production related heavily to this part.

Does that make it good gameplay? I suppose not. But between Druth's narrations and the highly researched intent of this section, I appreciate it for what it is doing. I'm sure that the frustration that I felt was part of the intent, even. In an offhand way, your not enjoying searching for shapes in ordinary, boring locations is also part of that intent.

Plus, the story that Druth tells is somewhat important to Senua's story. Without going into the entire plot of the game, but a bit...:

Senua's village was attacked, and her boyfriend/lover/the one who helped her fight her mental illness was murdered in a particularly violent way by the viking attackers. Senua gives in to what she thinks is the darkness inside her and chases the attackers down. Along the way she encounters Druth, a slave who had managed to escape his captivity but was badly burned and slowly dying. Druth was critical in helping Senua begin to cope with her grief and mental illness by providing her with an objective to rescue the soul of her boyfriend, if nothing else.

I guess I'm a little sad that you might not see the game the same way I do, and I'm not agreeing with your dislike... but I'm also not saying you were wrong. The game is very deliberate about what it sets out to do, and I can see how many people might not find that groove where they get onboard with all of its intentional frustrations.