Digital Foundry Analyses 'Next-Level Visuals' Found In Hellblade 2 On Xbox

Well deserved recognition!
A great Game of the Year contender!

So it's a good Unreal 5 tech demo / cinematic art movie pretending to be game.

It will certainly win awards for art/sound etc

Folks should just enjoy or try any game that fancies them. Not caring what critic bodies especially like DF have to say no matter the game. As it’s very easy to critic peoples work after the fact.

Best looking game out now!

@BBB
Yep, not even bothered to down load on me series x with Game Pass.

I know the Game-Play aspect is divisive - but that can get in the way of the Story. Its not a 'Hack N Slash' Action game, its a narrative driven interactive Story.

Combat and Puzzles feed into Senuas Psychosis. It's not about the 'Combat' as game-play, its about the Voices that the Combat triggers. Same with the Puzzles. That back and forth between the negative/positive voices the Combat/Puzzles trigger is more important than the 'complexity/challenge' to the player.

If the Combat or Puzzles get in the way, they can interrupt and even prevent players from reaching the end of the Story. I bet some gave up on HB1 because the Combat/Puzzles frustrated.

I also wonder if the 'lower' scores were by reviewers not playing on 'Headphones' either so they were not focussed on the 'right' aspect, the Audio inside their 'head' or at least so much closer, claustrophobic almost.

As a game, it probably does disappoint - but I would say it's a MASSIVE upgrade over the first. Ask what MS's money has 'helped' NT do, well its a massive leap up in Graphical presentation, in Animations, in performances and bringing the expression, emotion etc to the game. Audio too is more impressive and as its very similar in structure to the 1st, its easy to compare and see the difference MS 'support/money' has enabled NT to make such an 'Experience' that puts players in Senuas head to experience Psychosis...

Give me an amazing AAA action game about 25 hours long full of gameplay with the graphics about 70% of Hell Blade 2, then we can talk amazing games for my series x from Microsoft.

@Chrisajax not salty at all.

I do think in general game devs and gamers need to have a serious conversation about what a game is.

To me this ain't it chief but if you find some fun or enjoyment with Hellblade 2 then more power to you

Very pretty game to be sure, but I'm really struggling to get through it. Probably about half way I'd guess and nothing has really happened yet other than the odd one-to-one battle.
The odd thing for me is I love walking simulators but I'd argue this is nowhere near the level of Everyones gone to the rapture, What Remains Of Edith Finch or even The Stanley Parable. I'm just struggling to understand what the hell is going on other than I need to walk somewhere and the story seems pretty none existent.
On a more positive note, with the game feeling more like a tech demo it is extremely exciting that this will now set a new graphical benchmark that maybe other future walking simulators might try and match - or possible other more 'on rail' games might try. Games like Silent Hill and resident evil for example (although not if they are going open world!)

I really enjoyed the experience of playing through Hellblade 2. I had to play through on easy, in the end, because I was struggling so much with the parry timing. However, never in a game have I stopped and taken photos of the vistas. The game is absolutely stunning, nothing else comes close in my opinion, and I have played though many good looking games (including Death Stranding, which itself is one of the best looking games out there). Visually, and artistically, Hellblade 2 stands in a league of its own.

I played through Hellblade last week, and out of the two, I think it does have the stronger gameplay, but Hellblade 2 is still something that should be empierced to see just what is possible. It took me 11 hours to complete, and that included finding all the collectibles, so it isn't a particularly long game...

@StonyKL "Probably about half way I'd guess and nothing has really happened yet other than the odd one-to-one battle."

Within the first hour, Senua has had a few one-on-one battles, solved a simple puzzle, been laughed at, insulted, cut, almost drowned, freaked out by ghostly voices, fought a "boss battle", watched people get slaughtered, and had a mental breakdown or two.

Are we playing the same game?

I’m absolutely loving it and it’s far more than a “tech demo” to me. I honestly think the gameplay is improved from the original. The puzzles are more varied and the combat feels like it has weight. It’s also an emotional ride. The graphics and audio just make you feel like you’re there.

It’s a shame some who haven’t even played the game are writing it off. And I will respectfully disagree with those who feel it’s just a tech demo or that you’re just watching a movie. I don’t find the gameplay to be “dull” at all. It’s an experience and one I’m excited to be having.

@StonyKL ugh I wish we had more experiences like Everybody's Gone to the Rapture and What Remains of Edith Finch.
***** love those games.
Hellblade 2 with all respects is quite inferior.

@GamingFan4Lyf I guess its a different perspective. The puzzles don't really make sense to me and feel out of place to how the game plays. And all the other bits you mention that have happened are cut scenes, although not sure what the boss battle you refer to is. Maybe I haven't got there yet, although I've played about 3 hours so far. I sometimes am able to run but sometimes its really slow walking, frustratingly as well. There is an open corridor path to head down but I can't understand why sometimes I can run and sometimes not. Maybe its a bug and its not running when it should be so I'm still technically less than an hour in?

Its not a terrible game and getting to see what UE2 is technically capable of is worthy of me getting through it - but I guess I'm disappointed its not much better and had hopes it would end up king of the walking simulators. Probably my fault for having expectations too high. Not saying you loving it is wrong - I'm just jealous I can't feel the same with it.

@awp69 completely agree with you on the audio. Its pretty damn impressive when wearing headphones and as disappointed as I am with it so far (as I mentioned above) I do love what they've done with the audio and more than anything feels like a showcase of how other games could use the technology.

@StonyKL Did you play the original? The puzzles are a tad quirky, but it's kind of part of her psychosis more than anything (or maybe just spilling over from her journey to a mystical land in the first game?).

I put "boss battle" in quotes simply because it's a longer battle than the others, a little more cinematic, and it ends the first "chapter" - I am trying to be as vague as possible here to avoid spoilers. Not exactly a "boss battle" in the traditional sense, but definitely more than fighting some of the smaller skirmishes to get there.

"I'm just jealous I can't feel the same with it."

But hey, at least you are actually giving it a solid go!

I respect someone's perspective who is actually trying and it's not "clicking" - that's more than people calling it trash and a waste of time based on a YouTube video or written review!

So then tell us what the game runs at resolution wise. You say amazing gfx at what resolution and how to achieve this and you supposedly tested it well where are the results in txt. I play on 4096/2160 panel but I set my Xbox sx to 1080p output where I expected this game to achieve 1080/60 but this was dashed when they announce for cinematic reasons locked to 30 bs when they allow oc to choose frame rate etc. So then results in txt how did you run it

@Dontasciime If you watch the video, it will tell you the resolution:

It renders in the 1296 - 1440p range, but with black bars comes to 962-1070p.

@GamingFan4Lyf thanks. I expected to read about it in story as I can't watch video

I must have become jaded by video game graphics. Crysis, was probably the last time, my mind was blown, by the graphics. While the graphics in Hellblade 2 is great, it still doesn't give me that jawdropping feeling, that I used to get by amazing graphics.

You know what Shadow of the Beast, on the Amiga, and Hellblade 2 has in common?
Great graphics, amazing sound, and mediocre gameplay.

As others have noticed, you can tell that there have been double/triple agents writing off the Xbox game as usual, but also there are more consistent comments. I beat the first game and wrote about it on "Now Playing on Series S|X". Now I'm playing the second game, but haven't written about it yet. What I can say right now is that they are more different than I expected, so I really recommend everybody to play the first game. It was an incredible surprise for me.

@StonyKL Not all bosses are Bowser-size. 🤣 Regarding the story, the background is well explained in the extra feature of the first game, while the second game starts explaining the first game. The second game, well, you have to play it to know what the story is about, but at that point players know about Senua's curse (mental illness, when mental illnesses were not known) and what has happened before in her life. The beginning of Hellblade II also reveals clearly why she's travelling there and what her intentions and new motivations are. The things that "don't make sense" are exactly what she is seeing and hearing because of the supposed curse, that also explains why she blames herself for certain things.

Art piece games have been around a long time. All with varying degrees of gameplay focus, art focus, narrative focus.

Many people champion until dawn, telltale games, Detroit become human as fantastic games. As they are in their own rights. Hellblade 2 is still a game. A game in a very narrow genre. A game that is one of the best in that genre.

I somehow doubt when until dawn remake comes out this year people will be arguing nearly as much. Granted it has choice as it leans into it's take on horror as opposed to hellblade with it's 'along for the ride' narrative design.

Sadly as studies are showing, narrative games, strategy games are seeing a down tick in player preferences year in year with occasional exceptions. Media is training our monkey brains to demand stimulation.

I always champion gameplay over graphics but it is genre specific and always has been. Halo was at its best delivering solid character driven campaigns that played well, as was gears. Both retain the meaty gameplay but have lost the story. And people say so with each release. So saying gameplay is solely important is somewhat of a fallacy

@BAMozzy (I bet some gave up on HB1 because the Combat/Puzzles frustrated.
I also wonder if the 'lower' scores were by reviewers not playing on 'Headphones' either) .
Exactly this. Was enjoying HB1 until the puzzles, got way too frustrating. And idk, I get there needs to be game mechanics but the puzzles took me right out of the immersion.
And yeah, also didn't use headphones so that didn't help. Watched a few vids of HB2 gameplay and tbh although it does look great, it does look very much like a continuation of the same.
May try it at some point as it's on GP.

@Steel76 nah man. Shadow of the Beast was an awesome game back in the day.