Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice from developer Ninja Theory features a permanent death system that deletes save files if the player dies too often.

　　The action-adventure has been made available today for both PC and PlayStation 4, and as covered by Eurogamer, the unique death-system has already started a discussion on social media.

　　Please note that the information below contains spoilers.

　　The game explores mental health and psychosis, and as such, the permanent death system adds to Senua’s fear of death and the dark.

　　Each time the player dies, the higher the tendrils on Senua’s arms will grow. These tendrils are the result of an unwinnable battle at the beginning of the game, and once these extensions reach Senua’s head, players will be forced to play the game from the beginning - no camp fire or quick save will prevent you from having to start all over. A most definate game-over indeed.

　　As noted by Eurogamer, the game’s combat is quite smooth and forgiving, and not too many players should suffer from the game’s permadeath system. As said, the system does add to the game’s key theme of psychosis, but it can get frustrating as well.

　　Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is available now for PC and PS4 (and PS4 Pro). If you’re interested in the game’s PS4 Pro enhancements, check out our post from yesterday.

　　The game was announced for PS4 during Sony's E3 2014 conference, while the PC version of the game was confirmed some months later. Back in June of 2015, Ninja Theory revealed that the game's main themes are mental health and psychosis.