Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice isn’t just about defying the Norse gods — it’s also about solving puzzles between battles with mythological forces. There are multiple types of puzzles, but the main problem you’ll encounter are locked doors with secret rune symbols.
To open these doors, Senua will need to track down the rune somewhere in the environment. You’ll also have to solve endless mazes, use illusions to remove (or add!) new paths to the environment, or restore parts of the environment that have been shattered.
Don’t miss Gameranx’s Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice first impressions and see what we thought about the opening hours of this dour indie action-adventure.
More Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice guides on Gameranx:
- Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice – How to Beat Every Boss | Combat Guide
- Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice – Lorestone Locations Guide | All Collectibles
- Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice – How To Unlock The Extended Ending
How To Solve Every Puzzle | Solutions Guide
[Work-in-Progress: Check back soon for more puzzle solutions!]
Chapter 1
- The Rune Gate: The very first rune door in the first chapter. Turn around and look for an “M” shape projected onto the rocks in the same path — on the left wall, after turning around. The light pouring into the passage leaves an “M” shadow.
Chapter 2
[The Illusion Trial is located on the left path at the fork. If you take the right path, you’ll enter the Fire Trial.]
- The Illusion Arch: When Senua reaches a stone door blocking her path, go up the hill opposite the door and push down the bridge. Look through the Illusion Arch and walk through it — the door disappears.
- The Valravn Symbol Door: The larger Valravn door, later in the chapter, looks impenetrable. Look through the large Illusion Arch (a gate marked with raven skulls) to look at the castle wall to the left of the valravn door.
- The wall will disappear — go up top to find several glowing pieces. Align the glowing hanging symbols to form the Valravn symbol on the locked door.
- The Second Valravn Symbol Door: Backtrack down the path and find an Illusion Arch — look through and a section of the ruin wall will disappear.
- Go through it, continue left and down the steps, and make the next wall barrier disappear so Senua can continue to move left of the symbol door.
- Use the third illusion arch to slip under the small castle ruin, climb the ladder and step through the fourth illusion arch.
- Now, go back down the ladder, unlock the door and slip under another low beam. Use the curved stairs to align the glowing symbols.
- The Third Valravn Symbol Door: After a short cutscene, turn 180 degrees from the symbol at the top of the stairs and move left in the forest.
- Climb up to the balance beam and cross it and drop down to the dirt path. Now, move down this path and face the locked gate — there are many symbols, but three will align with the gate as you move left (facing the door).
- The Last Valravn Symbol Door: This is the last door and leads to the boss of this chapter. Climb the ladder to the right of the door (facing the door) and walk through the illusion gate at the top.
- After stepping through, cross over to the opposite illusion arch — use the tree and curved stairs to reach it. Through the second arch, cross the balance beam and push down the bridge.
- Backtrack to the second illusion arch to make the balance beam disappear. Walk through, drop down and cross the new bridge you just pushed down. Now slowly walk to the nest in the center of the branches to align the glowing symbols with the door.
Chapter 3
[The Illusion Trial is located on the left path at the fork. If you take the right path, you’ll enter the Fire Trial.]
- The First Rune Door: The rune door is part of a wooden gate early in the Fire Trial. It requires two runes to open.
- Rune #1: Opposite the door, look for “Y” shaped posts. The right-most “Y” shape post has a regular “l” post in front of it. Align these two shapes to create the rune symbol.
- Rune #2: Go up and right to a small hill. Align the pair of posts to form an “H” — look for a post with the crooked branch sticking out and align it with another post.
- The Second Rune Door: This door requires two runes to unlock.
- Rune #1: For the first symbol, look at the two fallen trees that form an “X” — align that “X” shape with two trees to complete the first rune, just opposite the actual rune door.
- Rune #2: Enter the house and go upstairs, then cross over into the second attic room. Walk over to the dead end balcony and look down at the clearing below. There’s a red, burning line that looks like an “R” here.
- The Last Rune Door: The last rune door for this chapter has three runes you’ll need to find around the large longhouse.
- Rune #1: Climb the watchtower on the path behind the large structure and cross the bridge to the edge. Face the right long-house rooftop and look for a wooden beam sticking out — align that with the post to create a kind of “P” symbol.
- Rune #2: Enter the right longhouse and exit through the back door. Circle around the charred bodies into a dead end path — look up at the exterior wall of the longhouse to see missing wooden boards that make a “t” cross shape.
- Rune #3: Enter the left longhouse and face the missing wall. There are two posts you can align that clearly look like a “P” — very easy to spot when entering from the back.
Chapter 4
- Getting to the Second Floor: To make the stairs reappear in the main hall, go down onto the large wrecked boat to the right of the rune door. Run to the far end and look into the hall to make the stairs reappear.
- The Rune Door: The rune door is located down the left passage after completing the battle in the main hall of the fort.
- Rune #1: Return to the main hall and stand near the newly repaired stairs, slightly behind them. Look up at the hanging planks — there are two you can align to create an “X”.
- Rune #2: Go up to the second floor. After passing a hanging cage in the corner, look right at the hanging planks, the same ones used for Rune #1, and find the “S” shape.
- Rune #3: Climb the ladder up at the end of the second floor path, then look at the hanging planks a third time. The last “X” and additional planks is easy to see from up here.
Chapter 5
N/A
Chapter 6
[The Maze Trial is located in the shard behind the blue glowing tree and to the left. When looking at the blue portion of the corpse-tree, turn 180 degrees and enter the shard to your left.]
- The Endless Maze: After Senua collects the torch, she’ll enter a long and endless maze. To complete the maze, follow these directions.
- Left -> Right -> Left -> Right -> Left -> Right -> Right -> Right -> Forward -> Right -> Red Path
Chapter 7
[When facing the glowing-blue area of the corpse-tree, turn 180 and then look right. Enter this shard for the Tower Trial — you’ll drop down from the small ledge onto the beach when approaching from the tree.]
- The First Rune Door: At the start of this chapter, there’s a mask on a small island between the two docks. Use it to enter the past / present — go to the past to read the rune door. This is the main entrance to the tower.
- Rune #1: After finding the door itself, push down the bridge on the second dock and revert to the present. Go through the now-open side-gate and use the mask to return to the past. Go inside the tower, up the stairs, and look toward the interior rune door — to the right, there’s a beam of light projecting the symbol you need.
- The Last Rune Door: After repairing the stairs (very easy) in the present, first floor of the tower — go upstairs to the second floor to find the last rune door in this chapter.
- Rune #1: Directly behind the rune door, look at the beams of light in the past — they form a “up” pointer.
- Rune #2: Go upstairs to the third floor, push down the bridge, and use the mask to access the past. Unlock both barred doors in the past, then return to the present. Step onto the balcony in the present and look toward the unfinished, ruined bridge — there’s an “M”-like symbol you can create with the ropes and posts.
- Rune #3: For the “S” symbol, push down the second bridge and enter the past. Go to the balcony connecting the mask to the bridge you just pushed down and go right — there’s a wooden wall with missing boards that forms an “S” shape.
Chapter 8
[The following puzzles are located in the swamp trial. The shard takes Senua into an area with sinking mud, and the return of illusion arches.]
- Restoring the Bridge: To repair the main bridge over the first swamp area, you’ll need to use three illusion arches — you’ll find them in order as you progress through the sinking swamp.
- Use the first arch to remove a wall forward. The second arch deletes the spiked barrier to the watchtower. Go through the third arch (near the lorestone) to create an accessible door in the wall.
- Re-use the second arch to make the stairs up to the watchtower reappear, then go through the door. Climb to the top of the watchtower and look right while on the walkway to restore the bridge over the swamp.
- The Rune Door: The locked door inside the large house across the bridge requires three runes to open.
- This is different than other rune doors. Instead, you appear in a maze-like environment as an unstoppable enemy chases Senua. Run to each corner of the maze and scan the bright symbols marked on the wall — there’s one in each corner. Return to the rune door after collecting all three.
Chapter 9
N/A
Chapter 10
[The chapter becomes available after completing all four shard trials.]
- The First Rune Door: There are several rune doors in this chapter, and the first requires three runes to open.
- Rune #1: Turning around from the rune door, enter the path to the left and take the spiral stairs up to a dark room. Inside the room, look right at the large shield-like symbol. Use your torch and Senua can project a “P” shadow onto the shield.
- Rune #2: Continue deeper past the Rune #1 room, through the barred door, until you reach stairs leading down into a room where an enemy spawns. Defeat the enemy and light all the fires in the room. When the room is lit up, go up the stairs and look down at the floor. The blood is shaped like your symbol.
- Rune #3: Take the stairs down into the extremely dark cavern where Senua must dive underwater and put out her torch. After getting through the area, get a torch and return. Go through the wooden fence to reach an area of the cave you couldn’t reach without a torch and light the brazier to the right. It will reveal the last symbol.
- The Second Rune Door: After walking across the balance beam that douses your torch, you’ll encounter another rune door. This one only requires one room.
- Rune #1: Go up the stairs to the right of the rune door. At the top, light the brazier, then exit the room — re-enter the cave by the balance beam and look up at the area you just lit-up. The light from the fire reveals a symbol through the missing wooden boards.
- The Last Rune Door: In the torture-chamber like room with the waterfall, there’s one last rune door.
- Rune #1: Opposite the locked door, slip into the cavern and crawl until you reach a brazier Senua can light up. Then return to the locked door and walk through the waterfall, putting your torch out. Escape Fenrir when it reappears, re-light your torch, and light the last brazier. The symbol will now clearly appear on the wall to the right of the rune door.
Chapter 11
- Restoring the Bridge: The huge bridge Senua sees after her encounter with Fenrir must be repaired in multiple stages.
- Go up the spiral staircase (left of the bridge, across the balance beam) and look down at the main bridge from the balcony to restore the first part.
- Backtrack to the bridge and climb the stairs over the main passage leading to the bridge. There’s a balcony up here — look down at the bridge through the broken iron bars. Go down and stand on the second section of restored bridge, then look right to restore the entrance to the final area we need to reach.
- Go through the entrance we just restored, defeat the enemies and look down at the bridge from the small balcony to complete the bridge.
