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[DanielG165]

I don't have the game so i can only judge by the pics posted by you people, youtube is too compressed.

You can’t really judge the game at all yet then, from a visual or auditory perspective, and I mean that with all due respect. YouTube is probably able to show off 5% or less of what HB2 truly looks like in person. The amount of detail it has gets absolutely obliterated by the obscene amount of compression.

 

[GymWolf]

You can’t really judge the game at all yet then, from a visual or auditory perspective, and I mean that with all due respect. YouTube is probably able to show off 5% or less of what HB2 truly looks like in person. The amount of detail it has gets absolutely obliterated by the obscene amount of compression.

Umm...that's why i'm partially judgying from the pic that a dude posted, the only dude who is actually zooming in and responding to my comparison with robocop because the games have the same engine.


I'm sure the game looks pretty most of the time, i just wanted to know if a game as small as this one could manage to have virtually zero low res\muddy assets (my biggest hope for this gen), so to be clear, it was just a curiosity more than a critic to the game.

Like if ninjatheory can manage that, maybe there was a hope for tlou3, a bigger but not fully open world game made by a better studio to have virtually zero low res assets but it doesn't seems the case here unless the dude was so lucky to spot the only point in the game with less than exceptional textures.

Like i said, i'm sure hb2 looks stunning most of the time, unfortunately i can't bring myself to play such a "game" just for the graphic so i can only count on your pics.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

I got a different take on HB2. Does it look good, yes. But I think people are exaggerating its quality for what it is. First of all its a barren empty world where most of the time it's just you. In fight scenes you still fight 1v1, the game in those situations gets so dark or foggy for "cinematic" purposes but let us be real its just turning off the details in the background and masking it.

Im still playing the game so I cant go back and take screenshots from before but specifically second chapter daytime there is this transition from gameplay to cutscene and its what I have been saying all along, they are using the same Naughty Dog tricks. Yes, you can get into photo mode while a cutscene is ongoing which makes it look like everything is "gameplay" graphics but its not. Her face is not as detailed, as sharp as sweaty during normal gameplay. They just dial it to 11 when you dont have control of Senua. Its impressive that its happening in real time but to compare this to Matrix demo or any other game and how much better it looks, it looks so good because theres absolutely NOTHING else beside you there. No NPC, 1 by 1 enemies, never a horde etc.

Its not open world, very on rails pretty much, every object you grab, its always directly in front of you, every enemy you fight you are automatically turned towards them. What Im trying to say it looks impressive to a point but because its such a tiny piece of architecture they have to work with, a ton of invisible walls and in general the game restricts you from moving elsewhere.

 

[ChiefDada]

Some direct feed HB2 screens from my own Series X for ChiefDada and SlimySnake 's evaluation.

I think, on console at least, this is probably the most impressive thing I have played visually this gen so far.

And a quick video, I don't know a good free host for higher resolution sorry, Streamable butchers it to 720p.

It looks fantastic. We have reached real time CG quality with this game as far as im concerned. And I love the anamorphic letterbox. It looked great in Death Stranding and it looks wonderful here.

 

[GymWolf]

I got a different take on HB2. Does it look good, yes. But I think people are exaggerating its quality for what it is. First of all its a barren empty world where most of the time it's just you. In fight scenes you still fight 1v1, the game in those situations gets so dark or foggy for "cinematic" purposes but let us be real its just turning off the details in the background and masking it.

Im still playing the game so I cant go back and take screenshots from before but specifically second chapter daytime there is this transition from gameplay to cutscene and its what I have been saying all along, they are using the same Naughty Dog tricks. Yes, you can get into photo mode while a cutscene is ongoing which makes it look like everything is "gameplay" graphics but its not. Her face is not as detailed, as sharp as sweaty during normal gameplay. They just dial it to 11 when you dont have control of Senua. Its impressive that its happening in real time but to compare this to Matrix demo or any other game and how much better it looks, it looks so good because theres absolutely NOTHING else beside you there. No NPC, 1 by 1 enemies, never a horde etc.

Its not open world, very on rails pretty much, every object you grab, its always directly in front of you, every enemy you fight you are automatically turned towards them. What Im trying to say it looks impressive to a point but because its such a tiny piece of architecture they have to work with.

My opinion about this one was always that it should look even better than it does for what the game is, a small, stricted, scripted tech demo, but tbf, i had the highest hopes\standards for this gen so i'm hard to please.

And yeah i don't think it looks nearly as good as the chase sequence in matrix (not the actual gameplay part) that can fool many people into thinking that they are watching a movie scene, that is still the gold standard.

I can easily imagine all the best third parties, sony and M studios achieving even better graphic if they tried to make the exact same game.
I think ninjatheory get more praise because they are a small team at the end of the day (and also because the gane looks great of course).

 

[SlimySnake]

I believe that there are more contenders and more so if the bet is on games of this scale, or at least now we know that the possibilities are facts because there is already something that can be touched.
I remember only 80 people have made the game and that's usually 1/4 or less the size of a normal Studio AAA.

I already said it in another thread, the visual level, detail and effects of HB2 has made me massively raise my hopes for what UE5 can offer in this same generation and even these same consoles. What's more, now I can believe the level of fidelity of Marvel 1943..



PS. One thing is clear, if the idea is to aim for photorealism and realistic modeling, UE5 is a perfect tool. I hope that more Studios bet on this type of artistic presentation.

It also could be the AAA effect. This is the first UE5 game we have seen from an AAA studio, not a euro trash studio from poland, ukraine or Transylvania. NT has been pushing the bar in cinematic games since heavenly sword.

There is also a possibility that the very closed off nature of this game allowed the 80 odd artists and developers to just hone in on pushing the fidelity in those few areas. The game relies heavily on post processing effects. Be it fog, rain, smoke, chromatic abberation and film grain. Without it, the game probably doesnt look that great. Also if the world is huge can they really add that much ground level detail with all kinds of different rocks and pebbles? i honestly have not seen ground level detail like this in a video game outside of UE4 and UE5 demos. Can other studios making bigger games add this much detail in their games?

I think the litmus test for UE5 is going to be Crystal Dynamic's Tomb Raider game. Its probably getting revealed soon at the MS event. It's also UE5. It's also by a technical powerhouse studio known for pushing the bar. but it will likely be open world and wont feature as many fog/rain/smoke effects. That and Witcher 3 from cd project but it doesnt look like we are getting a trailer for it any time soon.

I think like the order we should treat this as a one off because the amount of work went into the cinematography of this game will likely not be matched for the rest of the gen. or if it is, it will likely be 1-2 games like 1943 which might be just as linear and short. this is basically a movie and i mean that as a compliment as the visuals border on CG at times.

This big fight scene at the end of chapter 2 looked and animated like a cg movie. But they do push the visual effects hard in this. the entire background is covered in smoke and fog and while it looks marvelous, i dont think many games would ever go for anything like this. maybe the callisto devs towards the end of the gen.



p.s watching this upload made me realize just how exceptional the fighting animations are. the animations are super smooth with no janky transitions and everything feels hand animated. I love TLOU2's motion matching but due to its dynamic stitched together nature, it is not as precise as these motion captured animations we are seeing here. literally dozens of different animations in one fight sequence.

 

[GymWolf]

Does it have more unique combat animations than tlou2?



I still think tlou2 looks more brutal and real\dynamic and less like a perfectly choreographed dance but the combat system is pretty close.

 

[SlimySnake]

Here is another key to why the game looks good as it does.

Here is the pixel count.

Xbox Series S: Dynamic 1920x803p | 30fps (common 1472x615p)

Xbox Series X: Dynamic 2560x1070p | 30fps (common 2304x936p)

The XSX common resolution comes out at 2.1 million pixels or 1/4th of native 4k we saw in so many early cross gen and next gen games. 2.1 million pixels are basically 1080p. the black bars help reduce the reconstruction load, but for a game being reconstructed from 2.1 million pixels to 4k, it looks phenomenal. my 3080 is running this at 4k dlss quality and 30-40 fps and im happy.

Imagine if Ratchet, Demon Souls, Horizon FW, Forza Horizon 5, GOW Ragnorak, GT7, and to a lesser extent Spiderman 2 (can drop below native 4k at times) had 4x more GPU power to play around it. Imagine being a dev and given 4x better GPU and saying fuck you, i want 60 fps at 1440p instead. Just quit. Just quit and go work at riot games making mobas everyday.

 

[DanielG165]

my 3080 is running this at 4k dlss quality and 30-40 fps and im happy.

Yeah, even though I’m running HB2 at 1440 DLSS Balanced, it looks absolutely phenomenal with no apparent loss in detail nor clarity. Zero pop-in either despite so much being constantly streamed in at once.

The fact that the Series X is pushing as high as it is with this game is soundly impressive, as is the Series S apparently holding its own.

 

[mrqs]

Here is another key to why the game looks good as it does.

Here is the pixel count.

Xbox Series S: Dynamic 1920x803p | 30fps (common 1472x615p)

Xbox Series X: Dynamic 2560x1070p | 30fps (common 2304x936p)

The XSX common resolution comes out at 2.1 million pixels or 1/4th of native 4k we saw in so many early cross gen and next gen games. 2.1 million pixels are basically 1080p. the black bars help reduce the reconstruction load, but for a game being reconstructed from 2.1 million pixels to 4k, it looks phenomenal. my 3080 is running this at 4k dlss quality and 30-40 fps and im happy.

Imagine if Ratchet, Demon Souls, Horizon FW, Forza Horizon 5, GOW Ragnorak, GT7, and to a lesser extent Spiderman 2 (can drop below native 4k at times) had 4x more GPU power to play around it. Imagine being a dev and given 4x better GPU and saying fuck you, i want 60 fps at 1440p instead. Just quit. Just quit and go work at riot games making mobas everyday.

Agreed. And honestly, I don't give a fuck about the black bars. Imo almost every game could do that and I wouldn't care at all. Also it could be a great place for a reboot in UI and leave more info there! No one is going to do that, but here's my 2 cents on the matter.

 

[Kataploom]

Yeah, even though I’m running HB2 at 1440 DLSS Balanced, it looks absolutely phenomenal with no apparent loss in detail nor clarity. Zero pop-in either despite so much being constantly streamed in at once.

The fact that the Series X is pushing as high as it is with this game is soundly impressive, as is the Series S apparently holding its own.

I'm having the opposite experience but using XeSS, I think characters models (specially faces) get too pixelated and blurry, everything else seems kinda fine, I don't know what else to do. Playing at 1440p XeSS Quality btw. I tried FSR but same situation, less pixelated but with a little more shimmer all around the screen.

 

[SlimySnake]

I'm having the opposite experience but using XeSS, I think characters models (specially faces) get too pixelated and blurry, everything else seems kinda fine, I don't know what else to do. Playing at 1440p XeSS Quality btw. I tried FSR but same situation, less pixelated but with a little more shimmer all around the screen.

try 1080p native and let your tv/monitor upscale it. it will be slightly softer but wont add any pixelation or ghosting or shimmering that is caused by reconstruction solutions. im surprised this game didnt ship with TSR or TAAU upscaling native to the UE5 engine. I prefer that over pretty much everything even DLSS which is prone to ghosting in some games.

 

[Kataploom]

try 1080p native and let your tv/monitor upscale it. it will be slightly softer but wont add any pixelation or ghosting or shimmering that is caused by reconstruction solutions. im surprised this game didnt ship with TSR or TAAU upscaling native to the UE5 engine. I prefer that over pretty much everything even DLSS which is prone to ghosting in some games.

Can you even play 1080p native tho? All I see (on an AMD card) is TSR, XeSS and FSR. Do you mean TSR?

 

[SlimySnake]

Can you even play 1080p native tho? All I see (on an AMD card) is TSR, XeSS and FSR. Do you mean TSR?

once you select TSR you should be able to select resolution scale. 100% is native.

Id suggest you try TSR at 67% at your 1440p resolution which would be equivalent to dlss/fsr quality. if that doesnt work then try 1080p but set the resolution scale to 100%. see if thats better.

 

[Kataploom]

once you select TSR you should be able to select resolution scale. 100% is native.

Id suggest you try TSR at 67% at your 1440p resolution which would be equivalent to dlss/fsr quality. if that doesnt work then try 1080p but set the resolution scale to 100%. see if thats better.

Tried TSR 100% at 1080p and looks worse... Definitely devs made everything they could to prevent people from having good IQ... I think I'll just play it in 1440p XeSS as I've been doing, it's a very short game anyway

 

[JCreasy]

Does it have more unique combat animations than tlou2?



I still think tlou2 looks more brutal and real\dynamic and less like a perfectly choreographed dance but the combat system is pretty close.

Wow. I forgot how good the Naughty Dog animations were.

It's going to be a real treat to see their first real next-gen project.

 

[Msamy]

Hellblade 2 looks amazing but i really didn't know why ninja theory go with black bars and unneeded effects while their game can look like this video with 1kb .ini file

 

[SlimySnake]

Hellblade 2 looks amazing butI really didn't know why ninja theory go with black bars and unneeded effects while their game can look like this video with 1kb .ini file

you are not getting that filmic almost cg look without those effects. it looks very gamey in that video.

i can promise you marvel 1943 wont look as nice without the same post processing effects.

PC gamers love to turn off all the shit that makes these games look amazing. like people really hate motion blur for some reason. imagine killzone 2 without motion blur. in fact, i think kz2 was the first game i can remember that reallly went ham on post processing effects. even ND and Ninja Theory didnt adapt them until later. KZ2 had that distinct look and that insane 184 ms input lag because of all those post processing effects.

At the end of the day, i want to play what the devs intended. im glad they stuck to their vision and didnt add the option to remove it. or add a 60 fps mode. imagine if the devs had added a 60 fps mode on the xsx. the game would be running at 540p and it would look like shit and yet everyone would play it at that framerate wondering why the game doesnt look as good as the trailers.

 

[Luipadre]

you are not getting that filmic almost cg look without those effects. it looks very gamey in that video.

i can promise you marvel 1943 wont look as nice without the same post processing effects.

PC gamers love to turn off all the shit that makes these games look amazing. like people really hate motion blur for some reason. imagine killzone 2 without motion blur. in fact, i think kz2 was the first game i can remember that reallly went ham on post processing effects. even ND and Ninja Theory didnt adapt them until later. KZ2 had that distinct look and that insane 184 ms input lag because of all those post processing effects.

At the end of the day, i want to play what the devs intended. im glad they stuck to their vision and didnt add the option to remove it. or add a 60 fps mode. imagine if the devs had added a 60 fps mode on the xsx. the game would be running at 540p and it would look like shit and yet everyone would play it at that framerate wondering why the game doesnt look as good as the trailers.

Agree. Game looks better with black bars too, beause the fov is much wider and looks much better imo

 

[SlimySnake]

Agree. Game looks better with black bars too, beause the fov is much wider and looks much better imo

i play on an oled in a dark room at night so yeah the black bars might as well not exist for me.

And yes, the FOV adjustment has to be made when you introduce black bars. played death stranding PS5 that way and the extra FOV really enhanced the visuals instead of making me feel like i was losing screen space. it was ingenious choice to give you a native 4k image without drops from 60 fps while offering a far wider view of the world. hellblade 2 is much lower than that but its still a good compromise even on pc. without it, im probably having to go down to 4k dlss performance and i really dont like how soft it looks.

 

[DanielG165]

I’ll just stick to having the black bars and other effects, personally. Taking those things away in turn removes crucial aspects of the game’s presentation. They aren’t there to “hide” anything, they’re present because Ninja Theory wanted a “filmic” look to HB2, and they succeeded with such. Throw my hat in for maintaining the original artistic vision.

 

[GymWolf]

Hellblade 2 looks amazing but i really didn't know why ninja theory go with black bars and unneeded effects while their game can look like this video with 1kb .ini file

Finally i can see the fucking graphic, yeah it looks gorgeous.

 

[Balducci30]

Hellblade 2 looks amazing but i really didn't know why ninja theory go with black bars and unneeded effects while their game can look like this video with 1kb .ini file

This doesn’t look as good tho. It looks more like a game vs a movie

 

[Audiophile]

It'll probably look best with the grain and chromatic abbe set somewhere in the middle. Devs overdo it out of the gate, then everyone goes full bore in the other direction and turn it all off. Chromatic aberration really brings an image together but you only need a bit of it.

 

[Fbh]

Hellblade 2 looks amazing but i really didn't know why ninja theory go with black bars and unneeded effects while their game can look like this video with 1kb .ini file

I'm not usually a fan of excessive post processing.
But IMO this game looses a lot of visual appeal when you remove all of that stuff. It goes from being one of the best looking games ever to just looking like another random AAA game with nice rocks.

 

[Msamy]

you are not getting that filmic almost cg look without those effects. it looks very gamey in that video.

i can promise you marvel 1943 wont look as nice without the same post processing effects.

PC gamers love to turn off all the shit that makes these games look amazing. like people really hate motion blur for some reason. imagine killzone 2 without motion blur. in fact, i think kz2 was the first game i can remember that reallly went ham on post processing effects. even ND and Ninja Theory didnt adapt them until later. KZ2 had that distinct look and that insane 184 ms input lag because of all those post processing effects.

At the end of the day, i want to play what the devs intended. im glad they stuck to their vision and didnt add the option to remove it. or add a 60 fps mode. imagine if the devs had added a 60 fps mode on the xsx. the game would be running at 540p and it would look like shit and yet everyone would play it at that framerate wondering why the game doesnt look as good as the trailers.

I am with you but i really didn't like black bars since the order ,and i hope marvel 1943 won't have them in the future also i know grain and chromatic effects give more realistic look to the game but i like the game to be more colorful, marvel 1943 may use some effects but it still looks more colorful to me than Hellblade 2 , that been said Hellblade 2 is currently one of best looking released games (alongside or slightly top than avatar and alan wake 2 ) for me and as some people's here says it makes me belive that marvel 1943 will look like its trailer by the time of its release and many future UE5 games will have that cgi graphics

 

[Alex11]

Jesus Christ, can this game look insane.

 

[adamsapple]

Cross posting from another thread, but it's impressive to see real time character renderings matching and exceeding CG rendered characters from games not too long ago.

Comparing HB2 character model vs CG / pre-rendered Farah model from Modern Warfare 2019

UE5 Metahuman is no joke. Can't wait for that Cap x Black Panther game.

 

[SlimySnake]

Cross posting from another thread, but it's impressive to see real time character renderings matching and exceeding CG rendered characters from games not too long ago.

Comparing HB2 character model vs CG / pre-rendered Farah model from Modern Warfare 2019

UE5 Metahuman is no joke. Can't wait for that Cap x Black Panther game.

I feel like calling this game CG is almost a disservice to the game because those cutscene character faces look straight up photorealistic in comparison to those CoD CG character models made by Blur. Just a couple of days ago i was watching their Midway cutscene for Vanguard, and I was jealous because i thought we would never get those visuals in a game, but i just watched this cutscene below and i did a double take because at one point i thought i was watching a tv show. TLOU2 and callisto have been topped, this is simply on another level.

P.S these gifs are blown out because of my hdr capture. but if i turn off hdr when cutting the gif it looks too dull and loses color. Thats another thing that doesnt come across in gifs, screenshots and youtube videos. the fucking color is gone because screenshots and gifs cant capture hdr and youtube removes all detail even if it retains the hdr color spectrum. i will post a comparison gif in the post above so you guys can see just how much you lose when giffing these games.

 

[Balducci30]

I feel like calling this game CG is almost a disservice to the game because those cutscene character faces look straight up photorealistic in comparison to those CoD CG character models made by Blur. Just a couple of days ago i was watching their Midway cutscene for Vanguard, and I was jealous because i thought we would never get those visuals in a game, but i just watched this cutscene below and i did a double take because at one point i thought i was watching a tv show. TLOU2 and callisto have been topped, this is simply on another level.

I watched a walkthrough - there are some cutscenes that look so photoreal that I’m convinced they just did some type of trick layering an effect over the real actors - particularly the last cutscenes of the game with Senua. I just don’t see how that would be possible in realtime

 

[SlimySnake]

The asset quality in this game is movie like. I know Epic was boasting about using movie quality assets in the PS5 demo, but this is the first time ive seen that in a game. Everything doesnt just look detailed, it looks like it couldve been in a disney live action adaptation of the lion king or in a mandolorian tv show.

the rocks are of course extremely detailed, but its the huts and houses that impress the most. its hard to notice them because the game is mostly set in dark grey lighting conditions but when the sun hits these man made objects, you really get to see that these things arent just super detailed like they are in UE4 games like star wars and callisto, they look like they are lifted right out of a movie.

P.S these gifs are blown out because of my hdr capture. but if i turn off hdr when cutting the gif it looks too dull and loses color. Thats another thing that doesnt come across in gifs, screenshots and youtube videos. the fucking color is gone because screenshots and gifs cant capture hdr and youtube removes all detail even if it retains the hdr color spectrum. i will post a comparison gif in the post above so you guys can see just how much you lose when giffing these games.

 

[adamsapple]

In the first game they used FMV for key characters, safe to say the tech now is good enough that digital characters rendered in real-time can achieve a similar quality of effect.

Imagine Sam Lake with a big budget, this kind of technology and running buck wild on Alan Wake 3.

 

[SlimySnake]

I watched a walkthrough - there are some cutscenes that look so photoreal that I’m convinced they just did some type of trick layering an effect over the real actors - particularly the last cutscenes of the game with Senua. I just don’t see how that would be possible in realtime

they just might be doing that in some cutscenes because at times they look way too photorealistic but then im pretty sure every cutscene in the game is a one shot take like god of war so not sure how they would do that for realtime cutscenes.

Like when Senua comes out of water. Or when she's walking under some tree branches and the camera pans over her. or whenever the lights go out and all you see is her face. she looks like a real actor. its possible they really push the detail on her face when they dont have to worry about the background too much. that dude who went viral after the last trailer for looking like a real person looked just as good in the final game in that particular close up shot, but other times he doesnt look as good within that same cutscene.

P.S I love how they do chapter transitions by using a sweeping camera trick. the game never cuts but it flys from one level to the next with no loading screens and no cuts, no pop-in, nothing. its basically what mark cerny was promising but its ninja theory who delivers. go figure. i suppose insomniac did that with the fly by sequence but thats an open world and insomniac was just doing a fancy fly by from harlem to midtown. these guys are loading linear levels without cutting. or if they are cutting i cant spot it. wtf is even going on in this game lol

 

[adamsapple]

they just might be doing that in some cutscenes because at times they look way too photorealistic but then im pretty sure every cutscene in the game is a one shot take like god of war so not sure how they would do that for realtime cutscenes.

Like when Senua comes out of water. Or when she's walking under some tree branches and the camera pans over her. or whenever the lights go out and all you see is her face. she looks like a real actor. its possible they really push the detail on her face when they dont have to worry about the background too much. that dude who went viral after the last trailer for looking like a real person looked just as good in the final game in that particular close up shot, but other times he doesnt look as good within that same cutscene.

P.S I love how they do chapter transitions by using a sweeping camera trick. the game never cuts but it flys from one level to the next with no loading screens and no cuts, no pop-in, nothing. its basically what mark cerny was promising but its ninja theory who delivers. go figure. i suppose insomniac did that with the fly by sequence but thats an open world and insomniac was just doing a fancy fly by from harlem to midtown. these guys are loading linear levels without cutting. or if they are cutting i cant spot it. wtf is even going on in this game lol

Now you know what took them so long to make the game lol

 

[SlimySnake]

Now you know what took them so long to make the game lol

the level of craftsmanship in this game is simply extraordinary. in every facet of the game's presentation.

 

[DanielG165]

The asset quality in this game is movie like. I know Epic was boasting about using movie quality assets in the PS5 demo, but this is the first time ive seen that in a game. Everything doesnt just look detailed, it looks like it couldve been in a disney live action adaptation of the lion king or in a mandolorian tv show.

the rocks are of course extremely detailed, but its the huts and houses that impress the most. its hard to notice them because the game is mostly set in dark grey lighting conditions but when the sun hits these man made objects, you really get to see that these things arent just super detailed like they are in UE4 games like star wars and callisto, they look like they are lifted right out of a movie.

P.S these gifs are blown out because of my hdr capture. but if i turn off hdr when cutting the gif it looks too dull and loses color. Thats another thing that doesnt come across in gifs, screenshots and youtube videos. the fucking color is gone because screenshots and gifs cant capture hdr and youtube removes all detail even if it retains the hdr color spectrum. i will post a comparison gif in the post above so you guys can see just how much you lose when giffing these games.

I just got past this village scene (or stopped after the conversation between Senua and our new friend), and good lord, words cannot describe how utterly life like that entire moment was. I legitimately wasn’t watching a scene from a game happening, that was damn near as close to an offline CGI cutscene as we’ve ever gotten. The entire village and concurrent valley in the far distance looked as though they were lifted straight out of a movie, as well as the long sweeping transition after our three main characters met up for the first time.

This game is absolutely nuts lol. The level of craftsmanship, the level of artistic mastery on display here is genuinely, fundamentally next level. No other non-Flight Simulator game looks like HB2. None. And, it’s practically bug free to boot, and ZERO pop-in. An Xbox game being the first UE5 title that looks a generation ahead to have zero asset streaming/pop-in is insane.

Adam’s right, we can see why it took Ninja Theory so long to finish this lol. This is a game that finally matches and even succeeds that Epic Games tech demo from a few years ago, as well as the Matrix demo.

 

[SlimySnake]

Looks like MS might have up to 3 unreal engine 5 games at the show. State of Decay 3, Gears 6, and Perfect Dark.

I've heard via trusted sources that State of Decay 3 does look far more impressive than its predecessor, with more attention to visual presentation being a core pillar. In addition, State of Decay 3 will also lean more heavily into narrative elements to immerse you in the game's world. State of Decay 3 will try to work individual community members backstories more viscerally into gameplay, to make their trials more impactful and immersive.

The Coalition has also been working hard to help some of Microsoft's other studios squeeze more juice out of the Unreal Engine, and we've seen some of the fruits of that in games like Hellblade 2 more recently. But now, it might be time for The Coalition to step out of the shadows, with rumors abound that a Gears of War 6 reveal may be on the docket.

The Initiative's entire structure was upended too during the development of Perfect Dark, moving from a flat structure to something of a more traditional format. Contraband, formerly (and exclusively) revealed by us as Project Typhoon has also had some difficult development since its reveal, owing to the pandemic in part, but also due to departing key directorial staff. At least in the case of one of these, I've heard that Perfect Dark is shaping up nicely now.

I wonder how close they come to Hellblade 2.

 

[Balducci30]

they just might be doing that in some cutscenes because at times they look way too photorealistic but then im pretty sure every cutscene in the game is a one shot take like god of war so not sure how they would do that for realtime cutscenes.

Like when Senua comes out of water. Or when she's walking under some tree branches and the camera pans over her. or whenever the lights go out and all you see is her face. she looks like a real actor. its possible they really push the detail on her face when they dont have to worry about the background too much. that dude who went viral after the last trailer for looking like a real person looked just as good in the final game in that particular close up shot, but other times he doesnt look as good within that same cutscene.

P.S I love how they do chapter transitions by using a sweeping camera trick. the game never cuts but it flys from one level to the next with no loading screens and no cuts, no pop-in, nothing. its basically what mark cerny was promising but its ninja theory who delivers. go figure. i suppose insomniac did that with the fly by sequence but thats an open world and insomniac was just doing a fancy fly by from harlem to midtown. these guys are loading linear levels without cutting. or if they are cutting i cant spot it. wtf is even going on in this game lol

Yeah I’m really curious how they made this thing. I’m glad there’s at least one game this gen that’s focused solely on pushing the graphics as far as possible, even if it’s at the expense of everything else - it’s good to have that type of benchmark of what’s possible

 

[SlimySnake]

I just got past this village scene (or stopped after the conversation between Senua and our new friend), and good lord, words cannot describe how utterly life like that entire moment was. I legitimately wasn’t watching a scene from a game happening, that was damn near as close to an offline CGI cutscene as we’ve ever gotten. The entire village and concurrent valley in the far distance looked as though they were lifted straight out of a movie, as well as the long sweeping transition after our three main characters met up for the first time.

This game is absolutely nuts lol. The level of craftsmanship, the level of artistic mastery on display here is genuinely, fundamentally next level. No other non-Flight Simulator game looks like HB2. None. And, it’s practically bug free to boot, and ZERO pop-in. An Xbox game being the first UE5 title that looks a generation ahead to have zero asset streaming/pop-in is insane.

Adam’s right, we can see why it took Ninja Theory so long to finish this lol. This is a game that finally matches and even succeeds that Epic Games tech demo from a few years ago, as well as the Matrix demo.

the area immediately after that is even more nuts. i wont post the gif i took from that area because i dont want to spoil it for you, but its a very basic area with not much going on in terms of environment density or fancy weather effects, and yet just coming out of a random cave just creates this insane cg almost movie quality look that tricked my brain into believing it was real. even if it was only for a second. this same area was in a trailer, probably because someone thought it looked amazing like i did, but it never stood out to me until i actually played it and walked through that rather basic nondescript area myself.

I really need to see the DF video on this game. Is this lumen lighting? are they using nanite for sure? whats the secret to this photoreal/cg look? it cant just be filters and post processing effects because there are lots of different lighting conditions and every area somehow retains that cg look where you kind of start wondering if you are playing an FMV like you did during that matrix chase sequence.

 

[Madserb2023]

Hellblade 2 is without the best looking game I have ever seen. I just finished the Last of Us Part 1 before playing it and as impressive as that was, this looks like a generation ahead. I have my issues with the game, but it should be seen. What's really impressive is how almost everything is a geometric object. When looking down in Forbidden West, Last of Us etc the floor is fundamentaly just a texture, but every rock, pebble and dirt is an object in this game. It's crazy.

 

[nemiroff]

Hellblade 2 looks amazing but i really didn't know why ninja theory go with black bars and unneeded effects while their game can look like this video with 1kb .ini file

Nah.. The black bars will stay in my end, even the CA and the grain. Makes the game look better Imo because the effects are used in a proper way. But at the same time, don't see a problem in having the option.

Just have to say it again, this game man.. I almost feel bad for those who frequently visit this thread because an interest in graphics but don't get to experience this game first hand on a good UHD HDR panel without video compression.

 

[GymWolf]

Hellblade 2 is without the best looking game I have ever seen. I just finished the Last of Us Part 1 before playing it and as impressive as that was, this looks like a generation ahead. I have my issues with the game, but it should be seen. What's really impressive is how almost everything is a geometric object. When looking down in Forbidden West, Last of Us etc the floor is fundamentaly just a texture, but every rock, pebble and dirt is an object in this game. It's crazy.

Tlou1 remake was a cheap piece of work that was made to accompany the serial, not a real nextgen effort, ND should be shamed to have their names on that piece of shit.

The real confrontation is gonna be against nd first nextgen game but if making a 5 hours experience is the requisite to have this type of graphic i don't think they are gonna get close, especially if tlou3 is even bigger than tlou3, maybe they are gonna beat hb2 character rendering and digital acting (quite sure about this, even the shit remake is not that far character wise already) but not when it comes to the locations details.

Btw, some great pics from the purple asylum, if you people were more gender fluid you could be as skilled as them

 

[Madserb2023]

Tlou1 remake was a cheap piece of work that was made to accompany the serial, not a real nextgen effort, ND should be shamed to have their names on that piece of shit.

The real confrontation is gonna be against nd first nextgen game but if making a 5 hours experience is the requisite to have this type of graphic i don't think they are gonna get close, especially if tlou3 is even bigger than tlou3, maybe they are gonna beat hb2 character rendering and digital acting (quite sure about this, even the shit remake is not that far character wise already) but not when it comes to the locations details.

Btw, some great pics from the purple asylum, if you people were more gender fluid you could be as skilled as them

I don't expect Naughty Dog's next game to look as good but nor shouldn't anyone. The scope will be so much bigger and the fact you will likely have dozens of enemies on screen potentially in an Uncharted 5 etc would limit this kind of detail but I would rather Naughty Dog have more open areas like you see in Lost legacy at the expense of raw visual detail. If the Last of Us 3 ends up being a PS6 game then that could surpass Hellblade 2 and run at 60 fps on a larger Scale. I think Death Stranding 2 could come close as the world's will likely be more barren. Sony could always release the Order 1887 but judging by the reception to this game, graphics are definitely a secondary consideration for most people Something which Nintendo understands.

 

[mrMUR_96]

Cross posting from another thread, but it's impressive to see real time character renderings matching and exceeding CG rendered characters from games not too long ago.

Comparing HB2 character model vs CG / pre-rendered Farah model from Modern Warfare 2019

UE5 Metahuman is no joke. Can't wait for that Cap x Black Panther game.

Holy sh*t! That top shot is realtime in HB2? That's beyond impressive, that's what I would be expecting from PS6 generation. Damn, best graphics I've seen in a game by far, and from a small team of 80ish.

 

[GymWolf]

I don't expect Naughty Dog's next game to look as good but nor shouldn't anyone. The scope will be so much bigger and the fact you will likely have dozens of enemies on screen potentially in an Uncharted 5 etc would limit this kind of detail but I would rather Naughty Dog have more open areas like you see in Lost legacy at the expense of raw visual detail. If the Last of Us 3 ends up being a PS6 game then that could surpass Hellblade 2 and run at 60 fps on a larger Scale. I think Death Stranding 2 could come close as the world's will likely be more barren. Sony could always release the Order 1887 but judging by the reception to this game, graphics are definitely a secondary consideration for most people Something which Nintendo understands.

I don't think ds2 is gonna get close to this tbh except maybe character render.


It is still an open world game with probably more going on than hb2.

Andi don't thino decima engina has something quite like nanite for that sweet infinite geometry.

 

[Darsxx82]

The asset quality in this game is movie like. I know Epic was boasting about using movie quality assets in the PS5 demo, but this is the first time ive seen that in a game. Everything doesnt just look detailed, it looks like it couldve been in a disney live action adaptation of the lion king or in a mandolorian tv show.

the rocks are of course extremely detailed, but its the huts and houses that impress the most. its hard to notice them because the game is mostly set in dark grey lighting conditions but when the sun hits these man made objects, you really get to see that these things arent just super detailed like they are in UE4 games like star wars and callisto, they look like they are lifted right out of a movie.

P.S these gifs are blown out because of my hdr capture. but if i turn off hdr when cutting the gif it looks too dull and loses color. Thats another thing that doesnt come across in gifs, screenshots and youtube videos. the fucking color is gone because screenshots and gifs cant capture hdr and youtube removes all detail even if it retains the hdr color spectrum. i will post a comparison gif in the post above so you guys can see just how much you lose when giffing these games.

Little is said about Lumen lighting. The assets, geometry, and textures are extraordinarily realistic, but a lot has to do with how the lighting affects the objects and elements of the environment.
Personally, I am amazed by the indoor lighting. How light behaves when entering closed instances or leaving them. How the different light sources faithfully affect the environment.

I think that Hellblade 2 is the best representation of Lumen to date, even above the official technical demos released.

 

[Darsxx82]

Looks like MS might have up to 3 unreal engine 5 games at the show. State of Decay 3, Gears 6, and Perfect Dark.



I wonder how close they come to Hellblade 2.

South Of Midnight and Clockwork Revolution also are UE5 i think.

 

[ABrokenToy]

I turned CA off in the INI file and that's all. Looks much better. They should really give CA options in the game. They literally have it on all edges and that's just not how CA presents itself. It's typically only at the far edges of a lens or against high contrast edges. This game literally has it on everything, much like a Plagues Tale.

 

[RavionUHD]

A couple of Ghost of Tsushima Screenshots on PC in 4K Ultrawide:

 

[adamsapple]

Good lord, this is insane.

Series X here btw.