Hellblade 2 looks amazing - will run at 30fps

Previews went live for Hellblade 2 today and seeing as it's Unreal Engine 5 powered particular praise is going out to its strong visual direction.

I also liked hearing about the improved combat gameplay that Ninja Theory has worked on and can't wait to try the game out myself.

It seems as though 60fps will be a PC exclusive feature but knowing UE 5 this of course requires both DLSS (or some other form of upscaling) and frame generation, as well as a very expensive graphics card.

Anyone feeling this? You gonna play this through Game pass or buying a copy? Or are you wait and see?

OMG, OMG, OMG!!

Thank you GamePass!! lol :P

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/one-of-the-coolest-parts-of-hellblade-2-is-the-rocks/1100-6522382/

One Of The Coolest Parts Of Hellblade 2 Is The Rocks

The magical rune puzzles and deadly combat are incredible, but Hellblade II's rocks might be even cooler.

By Jordan Ramée on April 4, 2024 at 12:01AM PDT

It shouldn't come as a surprise to me anymore that this generation of consoles are powerful machines and studios can just more easily disguise their witchcraft to create cool visual effects, but I'm still routinely dumbfounded. The latest example is Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, in which Ninja Theory has managed this incredible visual trickery with rocks.

As you're walking through Hellblade II's Iceland, you may notice some outcroppings that suspiciously look like faces. These are examples of protagonist Senua's psychosis tricking her mind into recognizing a pattern that's not actually there. If you choose to focus on these optical illusions, they'll shift and reveal secret tunnels for Senua to maneuver through. When I played Hellblade II on Xbox Series X, the transformation was seamless, mimicking (albeit on a grander scale) what it's like for your eyes to play tricks on you in real life. It's incredible.

"A lot of it came from speaking with [Bernard Wolfe Professor of Health Neuroscience] Paul Fletcher and the people with lived experience [of psychosis]," Ninja Theory VFX director Mark Slater Tunstill told me. "That's kind of a privilege for us; for those people to be open enough to talk about their experiences and what they've gone through, what they are going through. And listening to that, there's a lot you can take from it, but you get some sort of key themes and then you go, 'Actually, if that was happening to Senua, how would she perceive the world?'"

Fletcher has been a key collaborator on both Hellblade games, utilizing his expertise to aid Ninja Theory in its depiction of psychosis. In Hellblade II, that extends to gameplay features tied to the environment, such as optical illusions. Visual tricks like this aren't unheard of in video games, but Hellblade II certainly seems to push the envelope in that regard and achieve a level of seamless transformation that ups the immersion of the experience. It certainly helps that Ninja Theory traveled to Iceland to map out the environment and pull reality into the game. The game looks real because a great deal of it is--a strategy the studio used to bring character to Hellblade II's world. Iceland does have rocks that look like faces, feeding the legends of trolls who turned to stone after being caught out in daylight.

"The whole reason why we went out to Iceland was to capture it, to be as faithful as possible so people don't question it," Ninja Theory environment art director Dan Atwell told me. "So you've got that kind of sedimentary layer of environmental storytelling on it, that's really important to us. And it is the same for the other [details], even down to the voice recordings and the character costumes and all that kind of stuff. It's all very much, we've got the same ethos and mentality when it comes to that kind of stuff."

"I think the other advantage we have is Senua's character itself," Tunstill added. "So the whole game is obviously told through her eyes. So the way she perceives that environment isn't necessarily the exact ground truth. Depending on her emotional state at that point, she's obviously imprinting other things onto it, and a lot of the visual effects side of things come from that. So it's taking the real grounded, real world stuff and breaking that open because that's how Senua would be at that point in the story."

You'll be able to explore Iceland as Senua soon enough. Senua's Saga: Hellblade II is scheduled to launch for Xbox Series X|S and PC on May 21, releasing on Xbox Game Pass on the same day.

@SecretPolice: I think this game is gonna offer something truly special.

The first game already surprised me with its use of live action intersected with gameplay.

Along with the binaural sound and UE 5 powered graphics I'm ready to become immersed!

Admittedly this isn't normally my type of game but yes, I think it just very well may keep my attention to completion. Can't hardly wait to give it a whirl. ;)

Game pass is gonna be lit this year and Senua 2 is kicking things off!

This game can't get here soon enough!

Indeed!! I saw a news story on April's GP offerings, and it looked great. Went to find the story again thinking I may make a thread about it but now can't find it. Oh well. :P

There's even Manor Lords, which is one of the most wishlisted games on Steam. I'm not sure it's coming to Xbox but I might be wrong.

• We've been playing and so far we're thrilled.
• I was able to visit the development studio in Cambridge and try out around 45 minutes of gameplay myself. And I can say: The second part goes one step further in terms of mood and graphics, but also brings with it necessary changes.
• Hellblade 2 looks stunning. The game world is bursting with details, the water looks damn realistic, fog and steam envelope the environment in an atmospheric wave.
• the smooth 30 fps didn't bother me during the playback session, at least.

• Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 played - an atmosphere monster that surpasses its predecessor after just a few minutes of play​

• Like the first part, Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 also clearly focuses on its story and mood. At least from what I've seen so far, it seems to have been extremely successful. The intense atmosphere alone drew me in immediately and kept my attention glued to the screen the entire time. Hellblade 2 could be one of the most atmospheric games of the year and I'm already looking forward to it.

Manor Lords is only coming to Xbox and Microsoft Windows PC.

they already announced xbox games are going to steam now.

sounds like the enemy crab thing on ps3 lol.

finally a xbox game is coming and one I want to play.

@kvallyx: Just reading that gamespot article that Secretpolice linked already has me very excited.

They took their sweet time with this game and it will seemingly pay off:

- Iceland is a country they actually went to and seemingly beautifully recreated

- The whole game being structured around taking your mind for a walk, tricking you and playing games with your mind and eyes intrigues me.

It's a tricky balance, but making a fun game out of terrifying things (war-psychosis-theft-crime) is something that speaks to a lot of people/gamers. It's something so far removed from who we are, but give it to us in small doses and it can be mind opening.

I didn't like the first game so it would be interesting to see what if this changes with the sequel.

Correct. Who said anything differently?

New Xbox Game Pass Games for April 2024

@SecretPolice: Would you mind taking a look at my list of games that will be able to be played through Gamepass and see if I missed anything (like Conker 3, Banjo Kazooie 3 or Kameo 2?)

Maybe there's a few you missed as well ;)

The first was a hard sell, it was built upon lots of walking sections and so-so combat sections. I also feel there's a comparison to Quantum Break to be made here: because by the time the next combat section or arena comes around you'll already have played for a good while or watched many cutscenes.

But I like an indie game that does a few things well, instead of doing a lot of things badly.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/senuas-saga-hellblade-2s-combat-looks-beautiful-and-feels-badass/1100-6522383/

Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2's Combat Looks Beautiful And Feels Badass

With Hellblade II, Ninja Theory seems to be building on the first game in all the right ways, doubling down on atmospheric locales and tense duels.

Truly, May cannot come soon enough. I can't remember the last time a game preview left me so excited to dive into the full experience. Senua's Saga: Hellblade II is set to launch for Xbox Series X|S and PC on May 21 and will be available day one on Xbox Game Pass.

Hellblade 2 is actually what Crysis was falsely accused of.

It has no gameplay so game journos will be able to enjoy the emotion, very exciting.

Combat doesn't look enjoyable at all.

I don't feel video games have to be defined necessarily by if they have gameplay or not.

Suicide Squad has loads of it, doesn't mean it's any good.

Admittedly I haven't watched much of it, just clips here and there, but the fact that all of the animations in combat are mocapped and all the sounds are recorded and not created has me genuinly excited to try it out myself.

@R4gn4r0k: I hope it does well. But, the first one played like a Sony movie game, which I detest.

So, while I am rooting for it for the developer's sake, I am not planning on playing it.

No. And after watching the video, definitely no. You walk forward slowly on thin walkways often, you wait for cinematics to be over, and when there's gameplay, it's also very cinematic. You press a button sometimes and wait for a slow animation.

Might be good to demo your new rig on, maybe.

A bunch of convoluted shit shallow gameplay busy work to trick dummies into thinking it's depth/almost no gameplay where sitting on your ass watching dickheads show off their facial mocap crap "SO REAL!" garbo using le_emotion to excuse it all

It's all crap.

@SecretPolice: I am looking forward to Harold Halibut. It looks interesting.

I will definitely give it a shot. Also, this game is no longer indie.😬 It might be indie in spirit like Grounded and Hi Fi Rush.

A game with simple gameplay has as many reasons to exist as a game with very deep gameplay has.

Looking back at the 80s, it's all games with simple gameplay, very easy to learn and very formulaic/repetitive.

I hate this whole notion that modern is always better than the past.

It goes both ways thus balance is good.😊

The only thing that deep gameplay has caused is video game addictions, people no longer going outside and those two things personified: video game influencers.

Taking this into account I'd say simple gameplay/simple video games and the 80s were better, lmao

@Pedro:

Never heard of it so looked it up and yup, looks interesting and quite unique.

Will give it a whirl. ;)

@SecretPolice: Yeah saw that as coming soon as well, reminds me of Aardman productions.

@R4gn4r0k:

And it's one of those Day One for GP!! ;o

Thank you Uncle Phil. lolol :P

Not really what was saying. MDK is one of my fav games of all time, it's very simple in nature., run and gun. Powerups etc.. 2 hours long.

It's also not boring because it's not more focused on emulating movies or using pretentious bullshit, or "mah tech demo" to justify it being boring. It makes a concentrated effort to be fun in every aspect.

Hellblade is one of the only games on Steam have ever refunded in 15 odd years of using it. Trash.

Hahah, I will agree though that some simple games go on for way longer than they should.

But then some people play online games for thousands of hours and it's just the same thing ad infinitum. So I'm not willing to throw this game under the bus without having played it myself.

@R4gn4r0k: Said "So I'm not willing to throw this game under the bus without having played it myself."

Quite the novel idea you got there. ;o

What, are you new to SW or what? lol :P

@kvallyx: First true next gen game, lmao. It consist of tiny areas and plays itself.

How is that not next gen?😏

True. :P

Sadly, Hellblade 2 is digital only (the same situation with Alan Wake 2) and the fact most console gamers don't like digital-only option is a turnoff for most gamers.

I did enjoy the first game but not hype for the sequel to be honest. But the UE5 for Hellblade 2 does have me intrigued. If the reviews turn out to be legit, I'll buy it.

Again, that's not what I'm saying. It's not my argument, the reason highlighted the length of MDK was to show how limited it is in scope, though it doesn't outstay it's welcome due to it, unlike modern games where the entire point is to waste your time.

I have played it. It sucked. I spent the majority of the time holding the "W" key with a mocap face lady whisphering crap and making ooga-booga faces. Unless they radically change the formula, everything here suggests the exact same shit. It's what they are selling.

OOOOOooohhhh Le PhyColloGiCAlL

It sucked. If this is the shit we praise as next gen, the evolution of gaming i'm out.

Well then you hate Hellblade II for its existence, not for having simplistic gameplay.

I thought I wouldn't like Quantic Dream games, they get accused of well.... exactly the kind of stuff you are saying. But I played through Detroit Become Human and I really like the characters and theme there. So much so in fact that I've played through Beyond Souls because I liked it, and now I'm trying Heavy Rain.

I'm interested in playing Hellblade 2 for trying something new, not the same thing the industry has been doing.

If you feel that's a downgrade you are free to have your own opinion, of course.

Graphics is the only thing that it'll have, and that's only because you'll be walking in a straight line the whole playthrough. Forget about large environment, this game might as well be on rails.

How far in the game are you? Asking for a friend.

You make a good point. I know several people that still haven't played AW2 because it's digital only, or because it's on Epic.

Meanwhile me and my brother we jumped at the opportunity to play AW2 because it's a sequel we were both anticipating every since finishing AW1.

But yeah it's a particular conundrum: I like having my console games digitally, have moved on on PC and it seems clear which direction console gaming is heading. Millions of gamers seemingly have no issue buying an all digital Series S or PS5, buy the same game every year €70 (FIFA/MADDEN/COD) and make use of it and discard it, they hold no value to the copy.

Senua's Saga: Hellblade II previews:

• Unreal Engine 5 visual benchmark, possibly one of the best-looking games ever

•fully mo-capped fighting system

• combat is one on one only, slow-paced, and very brutal

• swinging your sword always feels heavy and impactful • "a true next-gen experience" • 30 FPS on Xbox Series X|S

• features industry-leading binaural audio

• overall a narrative, linear action experience with very high production values, focus on story and cinematic craft, impactful combat, and puzzles

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II launches on Xbox, PC, and Day One with Game Pass on May 21, 2024.