Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 runs at 30 FPS on Xbox Series X|S consoles
Developer Ninja Theory confirms that Senua’s second adventure is 30 FPS on Xbox Series X|S consoles.
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What you need to know
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 forSenua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, the upcoming third-person adventure being developed by Ninja Theory and Xbox Game Studios. Speaking withGamepro.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 withPolygon, 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 inStarfield, 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.
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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 inXbox Game Pass.
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.
