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[Imtjnotu]

Sony is getting lapped this generation, unbelievable. They simply have nothing to show.

However Hellblade 2 bodes well for Wolverine, if thats the target they have in mind for fidelity.

wolverine isnt coming close to this.

one is supposedly open the other is a walking sim

 

[SlimySnake]

wolverine isnt coming close to this.

one is supposedly open the other is a walking sim

we have seen several leaked chapters. its not open world.

and yes, its not coming anywhere close to this because insomniac are targeting 60 fps on base consoles. complete morons. watch their 30 fps mode target native 4k 30 fps just like ratchet and spiderman 2.

 

[Imtjnotu]

we have seen several leaked chapters. its not open world.

and yes, its not coming anywhere close to this because insomniac are targeting 60 fps on base consoles. complete morons. watch their 30 fps mode target native 4k 30 fps just like ratchet and spiderman 2.

theres chapters in spiderman that arent open either. its too early to call but base on most of insomniac games, its not a closed game.

Hellblade 2 does look amazing in motion outside of the bullshots being posted here from cutscenes, but there isnt much going on in the world.

 

[Balducci30]

After watching some leaked gameplay from valve next game deadlock looks
graphicly on bar with fortnite (unreal engine 5 vesrsion) and it clearly uses rtgi , that makes really wonder why there's no playstation first party studio using rtgi until now (even Ds2 which may using it isn't from first party studio) it's really sad that most of big studio's even some indie developers build games with better graphics tech than all of sony first party games .

Sonys gotta step it up it’s crazy they went from just absolutely demolishing everyone graphically after the ps4 era to this. Obviously they still do great looking games, but crossgen, 60fps, remasters - I wanna see what ssm/naughty dog can ACTUALLY do with this console. They gotta have something cooking

 

[ResetEraVetVIP]

Discussing this level of detail, fidelity, and light is pointless....

That’s CGI like detail..amazing

 

[Negotiator101]

Game is a glorified tech demo that is completely on the rails and cheats by using letterboxing. happy?

You don't know what on rails means do you?

 

[sankt-Antonio]

Yeah, Hellblade 2 is immense. There are plenty of moments with Senua that literally make me stop and believe I’m legitimately controlling a real person. The set piece for the first “real” boss (if you know you know), was the most visually mind blowing showcase I’ve seen all generation long. The game just doesn’t stop lol, it doesn’t stop looking like was supposed to come out for the next Xbox.

Oh, and only the last photo is from a cutscene, by the way. Absolute insanity, this game.

EDIT: Also, people who attempt to downplay this game’s visuals, without having even played it (they’ve just seen footage or photos here, or on YouTub), have no horse in this race, respectively. You can’t say that you, “expected more”, when the game has never run across your eyes in realtime. I don’t know why it’s so challenging for some to simply celebrate something that is, as it objectively stands, the best looking product in its medium, but opinions are opinions. It’s just an odd hill to stand on.

I think some expected the last screenshot (after all the hype and released media) to be representative of the actual game play. Given that it’s all a narrow path etc.

Imo there is a massive GFX quality difference between your shoots and the last one you posted. Like another gen apart. And that’s okay.

 

[Godfavor]

I think some expected the last screenshot (after all the hype and released media) to be representative of the actual game play. Given that it’s all a narrow path etc.

Imo there is a massive GFX quality difference between your shoots and the last one you posted. Like another gen apart. And that’s okay.

It’s the same scene with the same lighting, the upfront shots were with the lighting directly on the face so less shadows, less gradient contrast compared to the last photo

 

[Darsxx82]

I think some expected the last screenshot (after all the hype and released media) to be representative of the actual game play. Given that it’s all a narrow path etc.

Imo there is a massive GFX quality difference between your shoots and the last one you posted. Like another gen apart. And that’s okay.

Not at all, the media hype about the graphics section is more than accurate. The problem is more with who is giving their opinion while acknowledging that they only do so based on what they see in threads and photos. Some here even think that many captures are from cinematics and are simply gameplay with different framing via photo mode.
Which says everything about the graphic quality of the game.

I don't think anyone who has played it live has felt any disappointment with it or the fidelity of the gameplay. In fact (and DF also agrees) I think that the game is most spectacular during gameplay, even if some cinematic scene raises that visual fidelity one more point at specific points.

Regarding the captures of the cave companion, as I said, anyone who has played it and is honest with themselves, I don't think they can give it a single but.

 

[Insane Metal]

I really dislike the chromatic aberration but the detail in those H2 screenshots is amazing indeed, specially ground details.

 

[Magik85]

This game....

 

[DanielG165]

The problem is more with who is giving their opinion while acknowledging that they only do so based on what they see in threads and photos. Some here even think that many captures are from cinematics and are simply gameplay with different framing via photo mode.

Absolutely. This is the most prime example of, “you need to see this in person”, I’ve ever been a part of for this generation. If one hasn’t done so yet, then their opinions are incomplete. Most of the shots and videos of Hellblade 2 that have been posted here, and across Gaf, have been gameplay, not cinematics, but GAMEPLAY. But, even then, the parity between gameplay moments and actual cinematics is so close that it’s a minuscule difference. That’s the unbelievable part.

The game looks like CGI when you’re actually playing it, controlling Senua, panning the camera etc. I think that’s where people who haven’t played it yet get confused, or can’t fully fathom what we’re talking about. You have to see this game yourself in motion.

 

[Msamy]

Sonys gotta step it up it’s crazy they went from just absolutely demolishing everyone graphically after the ps4 era to this. Obviously they still do great looking games, but crossgen, 60fps, remasters - I wanna see what ssm/naughty dog can ACTUALLY do with this console. They gotta have something cooking

The didn't even have games to show this year , they make most of first parties studio's focus in gass ,remasters and cross gen title's and then cancelled most of those titles, they do nothing this generation in the other hand Microsoft first party built true next gen titles (hellblade 2, upcoming gears 6, fable , perfect dark Microsoft soft flight simulator , upcoming doom 4 and etc) , simply playstation management this generation are shit.

 

[Pharaoh 117]

they arnet even doing a showcase this year, just another shit state of play. get fucked herman. he took over what was effectively the best gaming publisher both in terms of graphics and goty awards and completely fucked up their output in 5 years.

and of course he was promoted for it. typical corporate politics. fail upwards. just like ms execs.

They will probably do the Showcase in August/September to announce the PS5 Pro and (hopefully) some first party titles. But your other points stands. Sony was my favorite publisher by far last gen and now they are falling behind. And with the success of Helldivers 2 I expect they will triple down on GAAS so things may get worse still.

 

[Audiophile]

Not gonna lie, I'm not quite as taken with Hellblade 2 as everyone else. I find it looks a bit rocky in places..

 

[Lethal01]

Doesn’t seem that far off from that sans the hair

A case where something you see as a slight improvement like getting hair like that could take at least an extra PS5 worth of power.

Hopefully, in 4 years I get a game that lets me ecstatically admit I'm wrong, but I feel like it will be a repeat of TLOU2 where everyone says it looks like real life while I'm waiting for next gen.

LDR Hair, skin, cloth, physics. Shaders, lighting, and geometry in general are all much better.

It's always funny coming back to this every time ResetEraVetVIP and ChiefDada try to convince me we have officially reached photorealism or whatever. Called this shit 4 years ago

Again, stop trying to share your blindness with me, I prefer having working eyes

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

Not gonna lie, I'm not quite as taken with Hellblade 2 as everyone else. I find it looks a bit rocky in places..

Plus this geometry looks good from far, zoom in closer to the rocks and walls and you will see how blurry the textures are actually. Chromatic aberration hides a lot of this stuff and the game plays with focus a lot but actually its not as impressive as people are making it out to be.

 

[Senua]

Not gonna lie, I'm not quite as taken with Hellblade 2 as everyone else. I find it looks a bit rocky in places..

Ba dum tss

 

[CGNoire]

Love, Death and Robots - Offline CG render (2019)

-

Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 - Real-time in UE5 (2024)

Not even close. Hair alone decimates it.

 

[CGNoire]

Actually, people don't HATE motion blur in video games. They actually seem to hate simulated motion blur produced by the game itself and not the motion blur that naturally comes from lots of frames being smushed together

u can tell because there was this tweet talking about the recent Zelda Majora's mask PC port, this guy managed to run it at 360fps. The high framerate produced a natural looking motion blur that many people found super pleasing and beautiful to look at



That being said it's super impractical and currently impossible to render demanding games at 360fps with any GPU in the current state of the art, even with a 4090

Yep. Real Motion Blur is caused by "Too Much Information" not "Too Little" aka Smearing.

 

[GymWolf]

That comparison is a bit bullshit, the blonde chick pic seems very low res\low quality.

 

[Audiophile]

Ba dum tss

 

[adamsapple]

I really dislike the chromatic aberration but the detail in those H2 screenshots is amazing indeed, specially ground details.

I think this is one of those cases for stripping away all of the post process makes it look more 'ordinary', like a traditional game release these days does.

The very specific visual style is what sets it apart. The incredible detail also helps of course.

 

[Senua]

I think this is one of those cases for stripping away all of the post process makes it look more 'ordinary', like a traditional game release these days does.

The very specific visual style is what sets it apart. The incredible detail also helps of course.

The post process effects really do fuck up IQ. I turned it all off and the game looked so fucking crisp and incredible, but it also lost a little something for sure. I wish the effects could be minimised and not just turned on or off.

I decided to play without the CA and film grain in the end because the IQ hit was just too great. Game looks so clean with DLSS

 

[Lethal01]

That comparison is a bit bullshit, the blonde chick pic seems very low res\low quality.

And yet its clearly superior to hellblade rendering even when you look at it in 8k HDR. No need to try to zoom in on the pores

Best version I can get

Here are some others

Anyway, Hellblade is fantastic for what it is, a short controlled experience running on a Series S. Into the Aquila Rift is also a fantastic CGI Short.

There is a large gap between Hellbladte and that CGI and another large gap between that CGI and Photorealism. I am happy every time the gap gets smaller but it's still very clear.

 

[Balducci30]

LDR Hair, skin, cloth, physics. Shaders, lighting, and geometry in general are all much better.

It's always funny coming back to this every time ResetEraVetVIP and ChiefDada try to convince me we have officially reached photorealism or whatever. Called this shit 4 years ago

Again, stop trying to share your blindness with me, I prefer having working eyes

It’s not photoreal but neither is most cgi. It looks better than a lot of CGI from a decade ago at least - I’ve posted examples like that Halo 2 anniversary blur cutscenes. You can see it’s better in a lot of ways. I’m sure it’s “cheating” on a technical level but the results look better in several areas. To act like it’s far removed from that is strange to me

 

[ChiefDada]

And yet its clearly superior to hellblade rendering even when you look at it in 8k HDR. No need to try to zoom in on the pores

Lol, no it's not you silly sausage. It will only get more impossible for you to explain your 2021 posts as the generation goes on. You can always just say you were wrong and appreciate the graphical leaps with the rest of us.

 

[ResetEraVetVIP]

Not even close. Hair alone decimates it.

Are you serious? The Hellblade shot literally looks near photorealistic. The creators of Beyond the Aquila Rift were aiming for photo realism and that Hellblade shot looks more realistic. Hellblade just has video game quality hair…

 

[Lethal01]

It’s not photoreal but neither is most cgi. It looks better than a lot of CGI from a decade ago at least - I’ve posted examples like that Halo 2 anniversary blur cutscenes. You can see it’s better in a lot of ways. I’m sure it’s “cheating” on a technical level but the results look better in several areas.

The CGI shot is clearly better in just about every aspect, I didn't say it was photorealistic in fact I mentioned it wasn't

Lol, no it's not you silly sausage. It will only get more impossible for you to explain your 2021 posts as the generation goes on. You can always just say you were wrong and appreciate the graphical leaps with the rest of us.

I can't wait for the day I am proven wrong, I would celebrate faster than anyone if it happened and I appreciate every little improvement wrong because I look at them objectively rather than need to lie to myself and expect games to beat recent CGI, Hellblade is far from beating that CGI shot so it's still far away. Here is hoping GTA or Marvel manages to do something mindblowing.

Anyway, don't ping me with this nonsense again, When graphics surpass that short I will let you know, You can just keep trying to convince people that Spiderman 2's gameplay had better graphics than its CGI trailer.

 

[ResetEraVetVIP]

And yet its clearly superior to hellblade rendering even when you look at it in 8k HDR. No need to try to zoom in on the pores

Best version I can get

Here are some others

Anyway, Hellblade is fantastic for what it is, a short controlled experience running on a Series S. Into the Aquila Rift is also a fantastic CGI Short.

There is a large gap between Hellbladte and that CGI and another large gap between CGI and Photorealism. I am happy every time the gap gets smaller but its still very clear.

You’re avoiding the point. You stated that we would need a WHOLE lot more power than the current gen consoles could provide to match those Love Death and Robot screenshots. We have actually surpassed or matched them with Hellblade 2 running real-time on a SERIES S. SERIES S. Beyond the Aquila Rift looks great but it’s obviously CGI, not so with the Hellblade 2 cutscenes…

 

[Lethal01]

You’re avoiding the point. You stated that we would need a WHOLE lot more power than the current gen consoles

I'm doing the opposite of avoiding it, i'm telling you its totally wrong, Hellblade 2 makes it clear we still need far more power to reach those graphics.

We have actually surpassed or matched them with Hellblade 2 running real-time

No, Again, it's very clear that we haven't, the hair alone is a league apart, as is the skin, clothes, and... everything else..
Hellblade may have better costume design and makeup, but we are talking about graphics.

on a SERIES S. SERIES S. Beyond the Aquila Rift looks great but it’s obviously CGI, not so with the Hellblade 2 cutscenes…

There is no point that it isn't clear that Hellblade 2 is a video game, Aquila is far from photorealistic but Hellblade is far less realistic than Aquila.

 

[ResetEraVetVIP]

I'm doing the opposite of avoiding it, i'm telling you its totally wrong, Hellblade 2 makes it clear we still need far more power to reach those graphics.


No, Again, it's very clear that we haven't, the hair alone is a league apart, as is the skin, clothes, and... everything else..
Hellblade may have better costume design and makeup, but we are talking about graphics.


There is no point that it isn't clear that Hellblade 2 is a video game, Aquila is far from photorealistic but Hellblade is far less realistic than Aquila.

This isn’t true or we wouldn’t be comparing them…Yes hair is better in Aqualia rift, materials are better sometimes and worse others, skin is on par, cloth is better in Aquila Rift yes. We have definitely matched it with Hellblade 2 cutscenes. As far as photo realism? Hellblade 2 has more realistic character models…it’s clear as day…

 

[Lethal01]

This isn’t true or we wouldn’t be comparing them…

"IF IT ISN'T TRUE THEN I WOULN"D HACE CHOSE TO COMPARE IT"

This has gotta be the worst argument you could make. You comparing something is not proof that it should be comaped.

vs

Come on guys, we can say the game is great graphically without spewing nonsense.
Liking a character design does not equal being more graphically impressive. it doesn't matter how much you like Senua face paint.

 

[DanielG165]

Lol, so anyway… I think most of us who have seen the game in person can safely say that Hellblade 2 has gotten scarily close to CGI cutscenes using realtime graphics, right?

 

[Lethal01]

Lol, so anyway… I think most of us who have seen the game in person can safely say that Hellblade 2 has gotten scarily close to CGI cutscenes using realtime graphics, right?

It's a huge achievement how much closer it's gotten I'd say it's right up there some of the best moments in Cyberpunk raytraced.

I'd say it's about what was expected since the first unreal demo though.

 

[xxDeadlockxx]

Since the day before the launch of Hellblade 2 I haven't entered the thread, in general I have been quite disconnected from the forums reading opinions, but yesterday I finally finished it.

Now I have quite a few opinions to read here but first I will leave a few screenshots of the much hated Series S:

Without a doubt for me it has finally been THE game. The controversy apart from the lack of power of the current generation, has shown what these consoles are capable of when a good job is done with them. And also finally a game that shows the real potential of Unreal Engine 5. For me it is the technological ceiling in terms of technology today in the world of video games.

And I hope that at least the most ambitious Triple A games that come out in the remainder of the generation will match what is shown in this Hellblade 2 as much as possible.

 

[GymWolf]

If making a 5 hours experience is the only way to have this graphic i hope nobody follows hb2 example tbh.

Let mid devs like ninja theory doing this stuff (like the next marvel movie game) and don't waste 5 years of good teams with this shit.

 

[Radical_3d]

Lol, so anyway… I think most of us who have seen the game in person can safely say that Hellblade 2 has gotten scarily close to CGI cutscenes using realtime graphics, right?

1080p’s CGI.

 

[ChiefDada]

The eyes don't look believable it's actually unimpressive considering it's pre rendered. The subsurface scattering is quite lacking as well giving the character an airbrushed look. Senua is much better wow kudos to you for debunking your own position.

 

[Insane Metal]

People are trying reaaaaaaly hard to downplay Senua's graphics. It looks amazing. We all know why (it's a relatively small game, with linear paths to go, the so called walking simulator, it's not an open world game) so why not just accept it? Why is it so hard?

 

[Represent.]

nothing. And I do mean nothing… comes close to Hellblade 2.

Completely in a league of its own.

The combat section at the end of chapter 6 I think it was.. solidified that.

Wow

I don’t know how anyone in THIS thread can’t appreciate it.

Ignore everything else, we’re talking pure fidelity and pure visuals. Not how open it is, not the amount of enemies in screen m.. none of that.. on a purely visual basis it is THE best looking game of all time.

 

[ChiefDada]

People are trying reaaaaaaly hard to downplay Senua's graphics. It looks amazing. We all know why (it's a relatively small game, with linear paths to go, the so called walking simulator, it's not an open world game) so why not just accept it? Why is it so hard?

Exactly. If this thread was dedicated towards gameplay commentary than I'd be singing a completely different tune but this is the graphics thread and we should be analyzing specifically on those visual merits.

 

[GymWolf]

People are trying reaaaaaaly hard to downplay Senua's graphics. It looks amazing. We all know why (it's a relatively small game, with linear paths to go, the so called walking simulator, it's not an open world game) so why not just accept it? Why is it so hard?

A single dude saying that a console game doesnt look quite as good as netflix cg is trying really hard?

I think the truth is in the middle, it looks surprisingly close considering the power gap, but not there yet, the difference is probably bigger in motion where all the hair\clothes physics and digital acting animations are considerably better in the netflix movie.

 

[sankt-Antonio]

Exactly. If this thread was dedicated towards gameplay commentary than I'd be singing a completely different tune but this is the graphics thread and we should be analyzing specifically on those visual merits.

I do think people’s cognitive capacity is big enough that they come to the conclusion that a corridor game with black bars is less of an achievement than having this GFX in an open world game.

The same way people aren’t really impressed anymore by pre rendered cut scenes.

 

[Balducci30]

I do think people’s cognitive capacity is big enough that they come to the conclusion that a corridor game with black bars is less of an achievement than having this GFX in an open world game.

The same way people aren’t really impressed anymore by pre rendered cut scenes.

It’s not a like for like comparison because we’re talking about realtime graphics, regardless of how they were achieved. Chances are if you can get this level in a corridor game by an AA team - we will be seeing things that look closer to it than what we currently have by AAA teams in the upcoming years. It at least gives something to aspire to. We all are well aware if GTA6 manages to pull off the graphics it had in the reveal trailer that will be much more impressive

 

[DanielG165]

Let mid devs like ninja theory doing this stuff (like the next marvel movie game) and don't waste 5 years of good teams with this shit.

Calling Ninja Theory mid is certainly a take, not a good one, but a take nonetheless!

 

[Lethal01]

the character an airbrushed look.

This is actually a great point, but its also totally on my end rather than being how the show looks, I got an I got an AI upscaled imaged mix in with the direct unedited screencaps of the episode because I was just grabbing the highest res pic I had for gymwolf.

Other than that nah, The Netflix episode has more advanced SSS, Shadows, Reflections, Indirect lighting/AO... Hair, Cloth. How close Hellblade comes is great and should be celebrated but it still has a ways to go. If someone says its clos I won't disagree, "close" is subjective, but if someone says its better they are just wrong.

There is a scene in the netfix adaption I think does not look great though

 

[GymWolf]

Calling Ninja Theory mid is certainly a take, not a good one, but a take nonetheless!

Lmao there is people in this forum calling better devs mid or worse, my take is not even room temp as far as shock value.

I never enjoyed much any of their games, so to me they are mid AF, i don't consider stuff like dmc, enslaved or heavenly sword masterpieces or even great games tbh, let alone experiences like the hellblades...

I'm more surprised that anyone would consider them cream of the crop developers or some shit, and hb2 is not gonna change my mind.

 

[adamsapple]

Self_Destructive posted a great comparison of the 2019 announcement trailer versus the final game in a very similar location / senua outfit.

Looks like they did a pretty damn good matching the announcement render (since they said something like how nothing of the game was in development at that time)

There is NO post editing to this image. Everything here was done using the in-game photo mode, adding 2 additional colored lights and adjusting the focal distances and FOV. Sucks they didn't use the same animations in the full game... but as you can see.. it's very clearly something that can be done with this engine in real-time by professionals who actually know what they're doing with cameras and lighting. The model is damn near the same outside of the hair and clothing.

Obviously other parts of the game don't hold up quuuiiiiite as well as the initial trailer. As I said the fire and other effects are drastically toned down, probably for the consoles, since it's simply too demanding. Still though, pretty amazing how close they got.

 

[CGNoire]

Are you serious? The Hellblade shot literally looks near photorealistic. The creators of Beyond the Aquila Rift were aiming for photo realism and that Hellblade shot looks more realistic. Hellblade just has video game quality hair…

Sorry but the use of overcast or indirect only lighting in alot of modern games to "invite" your imagination to fill in the blanks doesnt impress me as much as it does you all. The hellblade model would not stand up at all if shot under the same lighting conditions. Not to mention the shader quality difference as well.
HB2 benefits alot from its art style and lighting choices used to mask its realtime shortcommings. Lumen still isnt on par with the lighting used in aquilla and neither are the shaders either.....and of course the hair.]