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Hellblade 2 represents the single largest visual leap and most significant technical achievement in videogame history (56K/Mobile No)

damidu

Member
I still say that for what it is... the matrix awakening is better
yeah its even a better game, while being a tech demo lol.

kinda incredible how they wasted 7 years on this shit. will be the most predictable studio closure i guess.
ms didn't even bother to post one of those bullshit "dloaded millions of times" pr weets for it. and people still wonder about sales
 
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Synless

Member
Agreed, gameplay and sales have nothing to do with this topic.

It still isn’t the single biggest leap in graphics in gaming. probably not even in the top 5 biggest leaps.

It is a great looking game though. However I would question how much of that is due to linearity of the design, restrictions of what you can do in those environments.

If you compare it to an open world game with a shit ton going on it sure will look impressive compared to that because they can focus on character models, structured environments and have full control on what will happen as the game isn’t as dynamic.

This reminds me of some older arguments here on Gaf back when open vs linear games were being compared…. history certainly echoes.
 

Darsxx82

Member
yeah its even a better game, while being a tech demo lol.

kinda incredible how they wasted 7 years on this shit. will be the most predictable studio closure i guess.
ms didn't even bother to post one of those bullshit "dloaded by millions times" pr weets for it. and people still wonder about sales
Lol

First, the game has not been in development for 7 years, it is the fallacy and lie that some insist on repeating.... In 2020 it had almost not started yet.

Second, for your information, the Matrix demo was created by a larger team than those who created Hellblade 2. Important note when evaluating what it means today, in cost and time, to create games with that level of visual fidelity . Even more so in times when UE5 is just beginning to be an optimized graphics engine.
 
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Hellblade 2, Alan Wake 2, Horizon 2 Burning Shores DLC, Microsoft Flight Simulator and The Matrix Awakens demo, are hands down the undisputed visual kings this gen.

Again, most of us might not like these games, but it doesn't change the fact that they are the best looking bar none.
 

SlimeGooGoo

Party Gooper
Protagonist doesn't even compare to best waifu this gen

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jwaxeman

Member
It’s cool that the game looks so great but I really wish developers would prioritize gameplay and complexity over how pretty their games look. This game was about as fun as the Matrix Unreal Engine tech demo.
 
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King Dazzar

Member
Bar one or two shots. The images were as boring as watching the game. Way too much blur and processing in loads of them. We know it looks good, at times. But everything I've seen in general looks like pretty corridors. Nothing that takes my breath away in terms of scale, art direction and general awe at what's going on all at once.

I'll be far more impressed by say a next gen RDR 2, where the world not only looks amazing, but is very much alive too. And isn't just corridors.
 

MayauMiao

Member
"single largest visual leap and most significant technical achievement in videogame history"

Sorry but I quite disagree. The game looks like a step up but its not the most significant in video game history.

 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
I'd say both DOOM and Quake on PC and whatever the first 3D games on consoles were were more important.
 
I'd say both DOOM and Quake on PC and whatever the first 3D games on consoles were were more important.

It's hard to settle on one, but if just focusing on different sectors:

Arcade: 2D racers (Outrun, Hang-On etc.) to Daytona USA, Ridge Racer

Home Console: 4th gen (SNES, PC-Engine, MegaDrive) to 5th gen (PS1, N64, Saturn). I mean the leap from Super Mario World to Mario 64 is arguably the single largest gen-to-gen visual & immersion leap in gaming to this day. 5th gen to 6th gen is a good 2nd tho because 60 FPS was finally normal again in 6th gen for most games (and 3D game design matured).

PC: Pre-DOOM to DOOM. Although, Wolfenstein complicates that a bit. To me DOOM is mostly visual; if also talking game systems/complexity & visuals, I think System Shock was a big leap and way ahead of its time.
 

Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
Not the largest graphical leap, you are literally out of your mind to make that claim.

Also, the “game” is beyond pitiful. Overly linear, little to no interaction with the environment, short, and incredibly boring.

I would rather have a thousand more years of games that look like they came from the PS2 with far superior gameplay and narratives than this trash.
 

KXVXII9X

Member
I hate tearing this game since it boldly sticks to its niche and unique concept, but it further supports my opinion that visuals alone aren't enough to achieve convincing realism and immersion. It is technically impressive visually but its gameplay and systems are quite restrictive and shallow.
 
I hate tearing this game since it boldly sticks to its niche and unique concept, but it further supports my opinion that visuals alone aren't enough to achieve convincing realism and immersion. It is technically impressive visually but its gameplay and systems are quite restrictive and shallow.

Yes. Character models are god tier and the best there is right now, the rest is not up to the same standard.

Not knocking the game but overall its not the complete visual package as say the latest version of Cyberpunk on a high end PC.
 

Rac3r

Member
Yes it looks great, but its essentially a visual tech demo. The Order 1886 is more of a "game" than Hellblade 2, but got raked over the coals for being too short and too cinematic. This is how you know the Xbox tax is not real.
 

BbMajor7th

Member
I'd have to disagree - most games struggle for this level of fidelity because they have masses of additional mechanics and calculations going on that eat up processing power, they also tend to be about five or six times the size (at least). If you're willing to bin all that off and make a six-hour game of mostly walking forward, than yeah, you can win the graphics crown quite easily. Most developers aren't going to do that.
 
Not the largest graphical leap, you are literally out of your mind to make that claim.

Also, the “game” is beyond pitiful. Overly linear, little to no interaction with the environment, short, and incredibly boring.

I would rather have a thousand more years of games that look like they came from the PS2 with far superior gameplay and narratives than this trash.

I wouldn't call Hellblade 2 "trash" but it's definitely lukewarm as a video game. The fact it's also a de-evolution of the original when it comes to the combat and puzzles is...well, remarkably bad.

Also outside of a few select things the game is at best visually on par with other stuff like HFW: Burning Shores or Cyberpunk on PC with RT enabled. But both of those games have far more going on, are far more complex, and far larger. So IMO them looking as good as they do with all that happening is more impressive than Hellblade II.

Like I'm almost tempted to say Hellblade II is the Dragon's Lair of this generation.

Reminds me a lot of The Order 1886 case.

Graphical astonishing but very short. At least the former had decent sales.

TBH it's not even that the game is short (talking about Hellblade II). If you know what you're doing, games like Resident Evil 1 are ridiculously short. But at least they have game systems you're meant to master, mechanics you can get skilled at, and some sense of exploration even if it's not open-world. Or things like item management, persistent gameplay strategies etc.

Hellblade II has NONE of that. It's like those 3D FMV 'experiences' that came out on PC back in the early '90s to push multimedia. Even games like Night Trap have more depth to them than Hellblade II. And at least in The Order, you had some actual combat mechanics; there just wasn't enough use of it because the game was so short. Hellblade II has no mechanics or systems to learn, no depth to its play.

The story doesn't even branch based on dialog choices, so there's no replay value there, either. You can watch a playthrough and get 99% of the same experience as the person who played the game. Again, could never say the same thing about even something like Night Trap. Can't say that about most visual novels either (since a lot of them have branching narratives based on your choices).
 

Vick

Member
Game visuals are wild, in many ways it is indeed the best seen this Gen so far, and I don't even think you fully did the game justice with your images. At times it's pure high quality pre-rendered goodness in real-time.
It may have the very best facial animations ever seen in a game, and at times best lighting as well possibly.

Also don't really understand the posts bashing the actual game, as it has very little to do with the Thread if we exclude the concept of resources available.

I think you could have spared this nonsensical Thread title though, as it's actually insulting for anyone who hasn't started playing games this gen, as previously illustrated by others:

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Four years apart.

FF9 and FF10 also released a year apart for a more drastic visual leap.

As those times and true generational leaps are long gone, we had much less linear titles the previous gen which for most people would look just as good as Hellblade II..





Hell, last gen we had free-roaming titles looking like this:

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Or this, as far back as 7 years ago..

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Or this also:

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While leaving headroom for this:

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But even if someone did start playing this Gen, the Thread title would remain just as insane as not only we were recently playing this on our consoles:

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We also had this cross generation immense free-roam sporting this kind of motion captured NPCs:
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While running at 60fps, having dynamic time of day and weather and needing to allow all kinds of immaginable insane shit between countless giant different enemies and crazy fights with infinite particles and mechanics, flying mounts, underwater etc. to even having to render stuff like this:



While at the same time somehow featuring better technical/visuals aspect than Hellblade II at times, as shown in this video:



Like the protagonist peach fuzz which is technically and visually superior in Horizon while remaining not just noticeable but actually perfect even far from close-up:

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The game looks amazing as is, going against your argument with nonsensical claims like this makes no sense. Especially as it's UE5 basic offering, no new proprietary tech whatsoever.. Crysis in 2007 this is not.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Gran Turismo 3 A Spec disagrees
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In fact that whole generation of games disagrees
MGS, Silent Hill
Hell Resident Evil to Resident Evil 4 is one generation.
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That's a big fucking leap

Don't get me wrong Hellblade 2 is nice looking game, but it doesn't look much better if at all then some of the best looking games this generation
 
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Hoddi

Member
I wouldn't call it the biggest leap in history. But since Crysis? Yes, absolutely.

Its biggest issue is that the console versions are ruined by that horrible post-processing. Disabling those on PC makes it shine and I think many people are underestimating that. I also really like it as someone who loved the original.
 

fallingdove

Member
Enslaved was fun as hell.
You mean the game that took auto-platforming to a new level. The game that had you mashing out the same combos over and over against endless waves of same-y mechs. The game that tacked on a poorly implemented shooting mechanic because reasons over addressing the janky camera.

The gameplay in Enslaved was a half-step up from the monstrosity that was Heavenly Sword but I wouldn’t consider it good. The bonus points Ninja Theory gets for graphics and world building typically hide the rest of their game’s shortcomings. I’d argue that DmC was their strongest attempt at good gameplay but they had Capcom looking over their shoulders throughout the entire development cycle.
 
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