Much has been made of the Unreal Engine 5 tech powering Ninja Theory's Hellblade 2, but that focus so far has largely been placed on the Xbox Series X and PC versions of the game. However, in a new video from the folks over at Digital Foundry, lower-end devices like the Xbox Series S and Steam Deck have been put through their paces.
And, generally speaking, Xbox Series S seems to hold up really well in regards to Hellblade 2. Sure, there are some cutbacks — namely the overall resolution and some different reflection techniques — but this still very much looks like the full Hellblade 2 experience on Microsoft's cheaper console.
Here's how DF sums up those Series S cutbacks:
"You can expect a softer and less coherent image on Series S. Expect to find more little pockets of aliasing and artifacting, like on the specular-rich rocks here. Detail overall in the image is quite blurred, to the point where the game almost looks a bit out of focus on a 4K set. Neither console is ideal [when it comes to image clarity] but the Series S is obviously less clear."
The slightly 'blurry' look seems to apply to both Xbox Series X and S then, with it simply being a bit more pronounced on Series S. That's mostly down to the overall resolution on that system, which DF reckons is coming in at around '1536x643' compared to Series X's '2304x964' - these are slightly unusual figures due to the game's letterboxed presentation.
Performance is solid across the board, too. The target is 30FPS on both consoles - and neither Xbox Series X nor S dip much below that target. What's clear then is that Hellblade 2 is a game that was designed for both current-gen Xbox consoles, and the Series S version has been appropriately handled by developer Ninja Theory. Bravo!