Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 runs at 30 FPS on Xbox Series X|S consoles

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By Samuel Tolbert
published

Developer Ninja Theory confirms that Senua's second adventure is 30 FPS on Xbox Series X|S consoles.

Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 combat
(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)

What you need to know

  • As part of a round of previews for its upcoming game, Ninja Theory confirmed that Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 runs at 30 FPS on Xbox Series X|S consoles. 
  • This is a conscious choice due to the nature of the game's presentation, involving various graphical effects from across the Unreal Engine 5 tech suite. 
  • Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 is set to launch on May 21, 2024 across Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and Xbox Game Pass.

We've got some of the first technical details for how Senua's second adventure will be playing on gaming hardware. 

There's a new round of previews for Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2, the upcoming third-person adventure being developed by Ninja Theory and Xbox Game Studios. Speaking with Gamepro.de, Ninja Theory confirms that Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 runs at 30 FPS on Xbox Series X|S, though players with a beefy PC rig — the Windows PC requirements have not yet been revealed — will be able to push the framerate higher.

Why does Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 run at 30 FPS on Xbox Series X|S?

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While the game is not yet released and as such, a full technical breakdown is not yet available, it's fair to say that Ninja Theory has focused on visual fidelity, prioritizing the way the game looks as a conscious choice. The team has been using new techniques and features to push what's possible, including scanning handcrafted items like doors, tools, and outfits to make them look more realistic, as well as taking advantage of Unreal Engine 5's virtual geometry system Nanite.

Speaking with Polygon, Ninja Theory environment art director Dan Attwell notes that by using Unreal Engine 5 “the turnaround between scanning the thing and putting it in the level is drastically cut, and you can spend that time finessing,” adding that this tech pipeline has given the team the "trajectory we wanted."

Analysis: Not surprising in the least

While I certainly understand players who want everything to be 60 FPS, CPUs have limitations, and I'm not even remotely shocked that Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 is locked to 30 FPS on current-generation Xbox hardware. 

Whenever I have the option, I'll almost always choose a higher framerate in a game, but if it isn't possible without sacrificing integral parts of the design, like we saw in Starfield, then I trust developers to make the best choice for the game. 

All of the previews I've read today (Polygon's in particular is excellent, and you should read it) extensively praise the way the game looks, so as far as I can tell without actually playing myself, it seems like Ninja Theory made the right choices for the story they are crafting and the world they are building.

Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 is slated to launch on May 21, 2024 across Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC. The game will be $50 at launch, and like all Xbox first-party titles, it's included day one in Xbox Game Pass. 

Samuel Tolbert
Samuel Tolbert
Freelance Writer

Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter @SamuelTolbert.

5 Comments Comment from the forums
  • fatpunkslim
    So, the first article to talk about hellblade 2 on this site since the preview, is to say that it's in 30 fps? that's it ? This is where you see that the press is doing very badly, all to create clickbait for the trolls! Amazing !

    Overall, the technical gap, whether at the visual or gameplay level, just seems enormous. Regarding the gameplay, which was the weak point of the first, the preview videos show a big effort on it. Cant' wait to get my hands on the most beautiful game of its generation
    Reply
  • rmark66
    Windows Central said:
    Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 runs at 30 FPS on Xbox Series X|S consoles, per developer Ninja Theory.

    Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 runs at 30 FPS on Xbox Series X : Read more
    Another game giving reason for a Series X Pro sooner than later! Actually, for a Series S Pro as well (still at lower resolution, but 60 fps).
    Reply
  • Samuel Tolbert
    fatpunkslim said:
    So, the first article to talk about hellblade 2 on this site since the preview, is to say that it's in 30 fps? that's it ? This is where you see that the press is doing very badly, all to create clickbait for the trolls! Amazing !

    Overall, the technical gap, whether at the visual or gameplay level, just seems enormous. Regarding the gameplay, which was the weak point of the first, the preview videos show a big effort on it. Cant' wait to get my hands on the most beautiful game of its generation
    I'm not sure how basic, factual information is clickbait for trolls? We weren't a part of this round of previews. Also, (as I wrote in the article) I absolutely think it's the right call in order to push Hellblade's visuals. The game looks stunning, and it's my second most-anticipated game of the year (only behind Frostpunk 2).
    Reply
  • HeyCori
    While I much prefer 60, if Hellblade 2 plays anything like the first, 30 will be just fine. IMO, Hellblade is more of a story over game play type of game.
    Reply
  • fatpunkslim
    Hi,
    thanks for your return

    Yes but you wait until the end of the article to say it. You should know that many people stop at reading the title or reading the first lines of the article. It only participates in this stupid controversy of 30 fps, while it is surely the most beautiful game of its generation and that no current console would have been capable of running at 60 fps. There are no games comparable to the technical prowess demonstrated on Hellblade 2.

    Even if you haven't had any previews, you could also write an article summarizing the opinions of Gamespot, Ign, etc.... I just find it surprising that the first article on hellblade 2 after the preview of the game is about a false controversy

    On Alan Wake 2, which is very beautiful visually, but not as much as Hellblade 2, the performance mode clearly degrades the resolution and quality and the 60 fps is very unstable despite everything. Besides, most players, if I believe the Reddit messages, prefer the 30 fps mode because it is on a fairly slow pace, just like hellblade 2. We could cite dragon dogma 2 in 30 fps while graphically it is is not a slap in the face, etc....

    We must not confuse the controversies created from scratch by the media and influencers, or the unscrupulous or some trolls, with what the players really think.

    You could have at least put in the title for example:
    Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 runs at 30 FPS but it doesn't matter.

    It would have been more in line with the content of the article. Because the way the title is shot suggests that it is a bad thing, while for visual fidelity, it is on the contrary a good thing, the 60 fps mode would have degraded the visual experience and immersion too much.
    Reply