Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice was one of the vital video games of the final era, and it was a driving power in pushing the AA business at a time when AAA video games totally dominated the medium. Between a powerful industrial reception and Ninja Idea’s acquisition by Microsoft, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 was arrange as a grand sequel to the unique that might take what labored with Senua’s Sacrifice and double down on it in new and attention-grabbing methods.
And we’re completely happy to report that Senua’s Saga is all that we hoped for and far more with a gripping story and robust artistic route. One of many sport’s defining options must be the visuals, and this graphics evaluation will dive deep into that very facet and evaluate the Xbox Collection X model with the PC model and the way each stack up towards each other.
Hellblade 2 Engine And Enhancements Over Hellblade 1
The unique Hellblade was constructed on Epic’s Unreal Engine 4, and the workforce made nice use of its strong post-processing pipeline and different options to create a visually placing world brimming with element and character. For Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, Ninja Idea has bumped the bottom from UE4 to UE5 and that soar is nothing in need of extraordinary.
The workforce makes nice use of Unreal Engine 5’s suite of cutting-edge rendering strategies like MetaHuman, Nanite, and Lumen amongst different options that places it among the many best-looking video games available on the market at this level. Having a a lot larger finances to work with exhibits within the manufacturing values, starting from the standard of photogrammetry to the movement seize and far more.
Check Bench Configuration and Graphics Choices On PC
For our checks on PC, we selected to run the sport on a system comprising an AMD Ryzen 5950x, an Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti GPU, and 32 GB of RAM. We additionally put in the sport on an NVME SSD PCI e 4.0 to allow higher comparability between each platforms and to check out loading occasions and associated optimization.
Looking on the graphics menu, we get to see a swath of various choices and sliders to select from – permitting you to get the right stability between constancy and efficiency. You’ll be able to both select to go along with a pre-defined preset, or you would go for a customized preset – permitting you to freely map out shadow high quality, reflections, and international illumination amongst different issues.
Useful labels on the aspect supply priceless insights on every graphic possibility, and there’s additionally a useful resource tracker on the aspect that exhibits CPU and GPU response occasions alongside video reminiscence consumption so you can also make better-informed graphics selections and see the ramifications in a transparent method.
For our take a look at functions, we cranked the decision all the best way as much as 4K and maxed out the settings with the excessive preset. We additionally set Nvidia DLSS because the customized upscaling implementation and turned on Tremendous Decision to reduce artifacts from anti-aliasing. At these settings, Hellblade 2 was taking round 6 GB of 12 GB obtainable reminiscence on our RTX 3080Ti which is fairly properly optimized when it comes to reminiscence consumption.
PC Efficiency
With the present take a look at bench specs and aforementioned graphics settings, we began testing out Hellblade 2 throughout all kinds of situations. The sport carried out fairly properly with body charges ranging within the ballpark of 40 to 50 fps which could be decrease than our V-Sync goal however the body occasions had been constant resulting in a fairly easy expertise throughout the board. Useful resource-intensive sequences like fight did lead to minor hiccups leading to a dropped body or two, however wanting on the large image – Hellblade 2 ran fairly easily throughout our checks and brownie factors for not encountering any immersion-breaking bugs or glitches.
Xbox Collection X Efficiency
On the Xbox Collection X, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 options solely a single graphics mode that runs at a decision of 4K with a goal body price of 30fps. There’s no efficiency mode to talk of, and the reasoning behind that is cited for sustaining a cinematic really feel within the gameplay always. Whereas it is a subjective subject that might warrant a prolonged dialogue by itself, we’re completely happy to report that Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 performs equally nice on the Xbox Collection X. The sport has little to no points sticking to its body goal, and whereas there are a couple of tough edges and dropped frames right here and there – it’s a largely easy expertise that hardly ever falters. Ninja Idea may need missed out on the chance to craft a 40fps efficiency mode for 120Hz shows, however that’s one other dialogue that’s greatest left for another time.
Graphics Overview
There’s not a lot doubt that Hellblade 2 is without doubt one of the most visually beautiful video games available on the market, and that standing may be equally attributed to the uncooked ranges of constancy in addition to the masterful artwork route. Unreal Engine 5’s suite of results really shines with Ninja Idea’s rendering pipeline. Check out the character fashions, which function impressively advanced pores and skin meshes and textures that don’t break even below intense scrutiny.
The material physics can be a fairly spotlight of the presentation, and there are a number of situations of items of fabric meticulously swaying to the tune of the winds. Textures have a excessive stage of geometric complexity, and are almost certainly created utilizing some type of photogrammetry which is why it appears to be like virtually photorealistic at occasions.
As for the lighting and reflections, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 doesn’t appear to be making use of ray tracing in both its international illumination or reflections. There aren’t any graphics choices on PC comparable to ray tracing and there aren’t any seen indicators within the presentation both, and it is a bit unusual contemplating Senua’s Sacrifice truly applied ray tracing with a post-launch patch.
That being mentioned, Senua’s Saga is a linear sport and it may well use a combination of baked lighting knowledge and display area reflections to create some actually convincing views – which may be very a lot the case right here. Not having the accuracy within the puddle reflections could be off-putting for some, however that doesn’t hurt the general presentation by a major margin.
Animations are additionally a powerful ingredient of Hellblade 2, and the workforce has used numerous movement seize knowledge to translate real-life actions into the sport. Senua has an acceptable heft to her actions, which add a layer of physicality to the moment-to-moment gameplay. Animations really shine in fight the place you possibly can virtually really feel the desperation as she swings the sword with all her may. The animations additionally mix in properly with one another, and there aren’t any awkward clipping motions to talk of.
As for the post-processing results, Hellblade 2 makes robust use of volumetric fog in its presentation and the particles work together with the lighting in a very convincing method. Movement blur and depth of subject are additionally utilized in a beneficiant style, and these strategies don’t produce many artifacts alongside the sides which assist in reaching that photorealistic look.
Xbox Collection X vs PC
Now speaking in regards to the variations between the 2 variations, Ninja Idea has carried out a great job of taking the console model as the bottom and the PC model because the extra premium expertise of the 2. Each variations share the identical rendering pipeline, however the PC model permits gamers to go a bit forward of what’s doable on the console.
Essentially the most seen distinction between the 2 is when it comes to picture high quality. On PC, Hellblade 2 appears to be like noticeably sharper due to Nvidia’s Tremendous Decision and DLSS upscaling. Xbox Collection X could be utilizing some kind of an inferior high quality MSAA or TAA-based resolution for anti-aliasing which is why it appears to be like softer compared.
Animations additionally really feel quite a bit smoother on the PC, due to the next framerate than the Xbox Collection X – and fight works quite a bit higher in consequence. Draw distances and reflections are virtually equivalent throughout each platforms, and we couldn’t make out a lot variations between different elements.
Lastly, there are the load occasions. On Xbox Collection X, loading from a previous save took round 10 seconds whereas on the PC it takes marginally much less time at round 6 to eight seconds in our testing. Given Hellblade 2’s linear nature, there aren’t any quick journey choices – so we don’t have any metrics for that. Both method, it’s vital to reiterate that we’ve put in the sport on a PCI e 4.0 SSD, so your outcomes may range in case you are taking part in off of an inferior SSD or HDD.
Conclusion
Hellblade 2 is a visually placing sport that makes use of its immaculate presentation to invoke robust feelings inside the participant. It makes glorious use of Unreal Engine 5, and regardless of the sport not that includes applied sciences like ray tracing – Hellblade 2 manages to create an especially pleasing visible picture that comfortably ranks it amongst the best-looking video games available on the market.
Along with the sumptuous visuals, Hellblade 2 additionally impresses with its efficiency throughout each platforms. Ninja Idea has ensured good optimizations for video reminiscence consumption, and the slew of graphical sliders make this an amazing port for tinkerers comparable to myself who wish to mess around with choices.
