Hellblade wins ‘games for impact’ at The Game Awards for depicting mental illness

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice won the “Games for Impact” award tonight at The Game Awards. The PlayStation 4/PC game is an unflinching portrait of mental illness, as it depicts a terrifying warrior’s journey into the depths of the Norse underworld — and into madness itself.

The game from British game studio Ninja Theory came out on August 8. I reviewed Hellblade in August and gave it a score of 95-out-of-100, the highest I’ve given this year.

Unlock premium content and VIP community perks with GB M A X! Join now to enjoy our free and premium perks. 

Join now →

Sign in to your account.

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.