Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - Optimized For Xbox Series X|S

Relive Senua's journey and experience her world through new eyes in Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, now optimised for Xbox Series X|S. Available now with enriched visuals, DirectX Raytracing, resolution mode and more.

[OptimusDK]

Nice - that is how it shold be done ... free update for enriched visuals, DirectX Raytracing, resolution etc.

[Darkborn]

Was that a sleight on playstation for charging $10 for duelsense features, 3D audio and more? Funny that Xbox doesn't have those features. I'm not super into the $10 upgrades they are charging either, but they own those features and it their right to charge for it, especially if the competition doesn't have it.

[MadLad]

Oh look, Darkborn going on a tangent because he chooses to over-read into a comment, and gets offended because he thinks it's a slight against Sony.

Have never seen that one before.

Either way, I agree with Diety;
You shouldn't be defending minimal upgrades behind a paywall.

[ABizzel1]

The problem is there's no standard.

For Xbox Auto-HDR, FPS Boost, and some of these features are all part of DirectX, which is a Windows toolset and benefits Xbox since it runs a Windows Kernel. There's not much that needs to be done, to outside of play testing to make sure everything is running well, and maybe a tweak here or there.

On the flip-side PlayStation is running a self-made Linux for their OS, and that means they often have to find 3rd party compatible tools, update the last-gen tools, or make them from scratch for their console each time they release a new console.

Windows is always going to be on billions of devices and that's excluding Xbox, any given PS OS is only going to be on around 100 - 150 million consoles.

I don't fault Sony for charging for upgrades if there is a meaningful enough reason to do so like additional content. However, Xbox has the overall better implementation by simply updating the game by taking the High/Ultra Settings from the PC version and then adding their DirectX benefits on top of it.

This is why IMO, Sony needs to work with a major OS creator and co-create the tools they need on the software/OS side, because this is an area Xbox is a generation ahead of them, because Microsoft has been doing this as their bread and butter of their company for over 50 years now, whereas, Sony's first real gaming OS was in 2005 with the PS3.

They need to partner with Google and help get funding from them by developing these tools for Android OS, using a Google custom created Android Kernel for PlayStation. This is a partnership Google would die to have, because it will drastically improve performance of Android games, and even see the potential release of some PS classics on Android Marketplace, as well as, key Android games being compatible with PlayStation, and more importantly the potential birth of a PSP / PSV successor in the form of a PlayStation tablet.

[Livingthedream]

Darkborn, weird ass comment to make. Let’s put it in perspective for you. MS doesn’t have those options/features to offer right? Sony does right? So the options/features MS has to offer they add for free, pretty good right? Sony decides to charge you for those features on a previously released title, and you defend them. You state they (Sony) owns them, then why charge your most loyal base for that; anyway you’re absolutely right, it’s their right to charge for them, but from the looks of things MS looks more consumer friendly right now:

[Killer73nova]

Just because they own it doesn't mean it's right to charge for it.

[-Hermit-]

Darkborn, that is why you bought the console for $500. You already paid for those features when you bought the console, so you shouldn't have to pay for them again when they are included in a game.

[4Sh0w]

Wow, some people will defend anything...I mean Im one of those who understands costs go up so I could understand if a games costs went up to $70 vs the $60 price tag from more than a decade ago but no gamers cried and course now we have microtransactions, gambling and more money grab BS schemes in games now so thats better right? But I digress...paying for extra features a console has per game is just bad, either put it in the console cost up front or suck it up. Theres reasonable ways to make profits and then theres just GREED.

On topic this game looks sick....in a good way.

[itsmebryan]

Xbox has had 3d audio since 2017. Xbox one was the first console with 3d audio.
https://www.whathifi.com/am...

[Sonyslave3]

Lol 3d audio u do know ms been doing 3d audio going back to xbox one smh check out gears 5 3d audio xbox one.

Xbox had 3d audio going back to 2017 n it was the console to have it.

[Ausbo]

Not sure where you have been, but I’ve been using 3D audio on my Xbox for years now.

[IRetrouk]

Deity the ps5 adds hdr to everything, it also boosts lots of games framerates too, some even get a res boost, all for free.
Don't forget, the features added were not part of the original code, they charge extra for any extra dev time that goes into the extra features, weather that be haptics and adaptive triggers, new lip syncing, or reworking the textures, framerate or resolutions, which as much as I would prefer them free, it's understandable that they aren't, I don't work for free and don't expect the devs to either, ms should be applauded for this though, no doubt.

[SyntheticForm]

Lol. Lighten up; the dude's just happy that it's getting upgraded. Everyone accepts that not everything can be free, but this one's free, and that's a good thing.

What a strange reply.

[Petebloodyonion]

Why is it that every PlayStation fans seem to forget that tempest 3d audio is just Sony's own encoding similar to Dolby Atmos and Window Sonic?
And even funnier to know that this new important, must buy, game-changing technology has been around on Xbox since 2017.
https://news.xbox.com/en-us...

[Darkborn]

Every game that is getting a ps5 upgrade that's a Sony first party already got a ps5 fps and res bump for free you guys. That was free incase you missed it, days gone, the last of us 2, death stranding, God of War, horizon, spiderman, and more got a FREE upgrade from Sony. They are charging for features that nobody but Sony owns. They own the duelsense controller with more than just rumble features some one mentioned. You clearly never tried a duelsense sir. The ps4 controller has like 10 features the current Xbox series controllers doesn't have. The duelsense has even more features than that. Why would a company that makes money primarily from video game development and hardware not charge for a feature they spent millions on? 3D audio is also something they implent which the competition doesn't have a 3D audio engine baked into the hardware. It's stuff that Microsoft DOESN'T HAVE in case the people in the back are still deaf.

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

You can praise the quality of Sony's games while still fairly criticizing them, and you can also do the same for MS and Nintendo. We still have the PS3 Store because many fans like myself were willing to criticize Sony even when others made excuses.

I'm a PS guy but the upgrade fees are obviously not necessary when you look at the amount of free upgrades we've seen (Metro Exodus, Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order, FF7, Miles Morales, Borderlands 3, Crash 4, Doom Eternal, etc).

Ghost Of Tsushima's PS5 port is indisputably quite barebones compared to many of those ports, especially Metro Exodus (a huge upgrade). Even EA are doing these things for free. C'mon. The €10 upgrade is bullshit. The €20 fee for Spider-Man Remastered was also terrible.

The €10 upgrade for Death Stranding is much better because at least there's actually a lot of new content included. That's understandable, but that's about it.

This tactic is being done to force users to get used to higher prices (€80 games).

[John_McClane]

Actually I believe Xbox had most of those features before PlayStation.

[babadivad]

It's hilarious watching people justify getting ripped off...

[Petebloodyonion]

I'll agree that I'm happy that Sony is providing performance patches for free since, according to Cerney, it is a simple process but I still believe that charging for extra features that console can do is like when Sega is charging for extra difficulty and plus mode.

"3D audio is also something they implent which the competition doesn't have a 3D audio engine baked into the hardware. It's stuff that Microsoft DOESN'T HAVE in case the people in the back are still deaf.
Sorry to bust your bubble but Windows Sonic encoding just Dolby Atmso were on Serie X day 1. You have to pay a 15$ licence fee to Dolby to unlock the use (its a 1 time fee for all MS platform) and Window sonic has been around Microsoft platform since 2017.
And unlike Playstation 3d tempest that only work on headphone, both DO work on real 7.1 surround home theater systems.

[TheGreatGazoo30]

3D audio is a brand name. Xbox has spacial audio.

[Gamer75]

"Was that a sleight on PlayStation for charging $10 for duelsense feature, 3D audio and more?" Nah that's just you seeing something that isn't there because you think that when someone says something positive about xbox that it's somehow an attack on ps

[Sayai jin]

Does not look like a swipe at PS.
Why do yiu feel the need to rush in and defend a company. Anyways... Imagine that during the N64 days having to pay extra for a an classic game that featured the rumble feature. Wow.

[Imalwaysright]

Darkborn

You sure got defensive there and I immediately knew the reason why but I have to say that I wasn't expecting you to admit the reason why you got defensive. What wasn't surprising though, was seeing pathethically bending over to Sony and actually defending them but hey it's just a few more things to add to the all the other things that make this industry a consumer nightmare... right?

[SurgicalMenace]

I'm all for charging for things that take effort to make happen. The real question is, does MS even have the quality of service enough to charge extra? At this point, they had to create a service that doesn't require their "supporters" to actually purchase their games so how would they justify charging extra without being hypocrites?

Sony nor Nintendo have any reservations about charging what they know their products are worth and you see where they're both at. It's a confidence thing really....🤷🏾‍♂ ️

[DJStotty]

@Darkborn

Geez, and xbox fans are the ones that are accused of "accepting anything xbox shoves at us", the difference is when they attempted a price hike for xbox live on xbox, we rebelled against it, seems like Sony fans are just rolling over and taking the price increases like a man..

[redrum06]

Bullshit, that's just being greedy.

[RaidenBlack]

Kinda curious what level of DX RT enhancement they've added.
Saw glimpses of RT reflections in the trailer.
And a bit of RT GI it seems?

[darthv72]

What timing. I've had this downloaded from GP on my One X for a while now and only yesterday decided to give it a go. Interesting game with all the soft voices in the background. now I understand it when people suggest playing with headphones.

With this update, I can download it to my Series S and continue her journey with enriched visuals (yeah, that didn't sound like an ad)

[Obscure_Observer]

Life is FREE

[Jin_Sakai]

Looks nice. Does the game run at 60fps with Ray Tracing like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart? If not I’d rather play it with RT off.

[roadkillers]

That's great! Hopefully I can find some time to enjoy. I never get time for games anymore.

[RaidenBlack]

Happens. Don't worry, bruv.
Hope, you'll soon be able to get some time to relax and enjoy.

[4Sh0w]

Yep my biggest problem these days....too busy, so I got to carefully pick n choose to maximize my little gametime.

[LoveSpuds]

Enjoyable enough game which was already a looker before getting these upgrades. I have to say, as someone who has the platinum trophy for this game, I thought it was honestly a little over rated as the gameplay was very repetitive in respect of both the combat and puzzles.

[LOGICWINS]

I tried it on Game Pass and it didn't "grab me" personally. I'll give it another shot at some point though.

[wiz7191]

The gameplay is repetitive but the story and the overall vibe is amazing

[jznrpg]

It was pretty good as a smaller AA game but was I think was overrated because of the subject matter . I think they should have kept it as a smaller AA game but they are trying to turn it into a AAA now . The story was good and graphics were nice but the gameplay was lacking

[alb1899]

Let's see what they can bring with a big budget. I'm all in!

[SurgicalMenace]

Just platinumed it recently, myself, but it took quite a bit more energy to play than I thought it would when I purchased it. Combat was more satisfying than the story. It wasn't as great as the media made it out to be, but decent none the less.

[Killer73nova]

I'm going to have to reply this again and see the difference! Would like to see a 60fps mode with RT Like racket and clank.

[Popsicle]

I am curious to see if it will be running at 60fps with RT already. Bethesda was able to provide 60fps and RT with Doom and with Hellblade likewise being a last gen game I suspect it is possible. The Xbox One X Enhanced version runs at 4K and 60fps on the Series X already via BC because the game had both a performance and fidelity mode and was not locked at 30fps. In other words, if you play on fidelity mode the performance upgrades to 60fps naturally on the Series X even before the patch. I am excited to see the actual results of the optimization including performance with RT. Also love the free upgrades just wish I had more time to revisit more games.

[CaptainHenry916]

I'm surprised they had time to get this done when Hellblade sequel is still in Pre-production stage and early phase. The focus should be on the sequel now. Can't wait to play it in 2024-2025

https://www.google.com/amp/...

[King_Noctis]

So you mean they don’t have enough team to develop 3 games at once (this, Hellblade 2, and Project Mira)? You mean this update took massive manpower?

I also have a link for you:
https://gamerant.com/ninja-...

[CaptainHenry916]

Ummm ok... I didn't say that you did.. I still expect Hellblade 2 to release in 2024-2025. It is what it is. By the way that article was published in January 21 and my article was published a month in a half ago

[CaptainHenry916]

We'll be waiting a long time to play Hellblade 2. But looking forward to it

[Atom666]

Why do you always feel the need to try to downplay Xb by talking about how games will not be coming out anytime soon?

It's almost a daily thing for you. It's really odd, and it's not as subtle as you might think.

But if you take them all as a whole, according to you, MS will be releasing a dozen huge titles in that 2024-25 time span. Hot damn, that sounds great!

[CaptainHenry916]

Atom6661h ago

"Why do you always feel the need to try to downplay Xb by talking about how games will not be coming out anytime soon?"

It's in your imagination. Just because I believe the game is ways out doesn't mean I'm downplaying XB🤔

[Atom666]

Maybe it's in my imagination.

Or maybe it's in your comment history. Should we take a look?

[CaptainHenry916]

Go for it. My comment history is neutral on everything. I just state facts. I am not a fanboy

[Atom666]

Uh huh.

In that case, thanks for all the "facts!" Boy, that XB release pipeline is loaded!

[Orchard]

"Go for it. My comment history is neutral on everything. I just state facts. I am not a fanboy"

Woops:

https://imgur.com/cnMSFA9

https://n4g.com/news/238043...

[4Sh0w]

haha.....Captain said he was neutral, wow.

[Sayai jin]

Man, you were already put on blast.

[rob-GP]

They didn't - the studio that ported the game to the Switch are the ones who did this update. NT had nothing to do with it according to their Twitter posts.

[CaptainHenry916]

That clears everything up then.

[MadLad]

Would love to see what information you are basing your 3-4 year assessment off of, outside of simply wanting to perpetuate the "MS has no games" mentality, in the face of them having now dozens of studios working on new projects.

They're showing Senua 2 at the upcoming conference, and I'm not only expecting a release window, but one far earlier than what you're stating.

[silkylove]

This upgrade was done by an outside company. The same one that made the Switch port. Has no impact on Hellblade 2.

[Kgb1thegame]

That looks so good, good lord can you imagine how the new one is gonna look and play.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

In Phil we Trust!

[Obscure_Observer]

"In Phil we Trust!"

Amen Brother

[CaptainHenry916]

$60 games? Well technically we're paying $15 for gamepass each month as well and that will definitely add up the price.

[Nosferatu_dude]

15$ not only for hellblade is it? You make it sound like you pay only for one game, but in fact there are 100+ games and you can try alot of them each month, so... Whats your point?

[CaptainHenry916]

No point. But I do believe Microsoft will change the price when they get enough subscribers so they can make more profit. I expect a 10 percent price increase in the future.

[CaptainHenry916]

The next gen just started. Give it some time when new games come out. I'm more curious to see will Microsoft change the price for PC gamers since gamepass is a little different and inferior on PC. I think they should keep it at the same price for PC gamers

[NeoGamer232]

I think this is a Microsoft change and not just a Phil change.

You look at things like changes to approach on Windows, MS Office, Azure, Gaming, and MS Surface devices.... Microsoft has figured out that listening to and targeting the consumer's needs help them improve across the board. This is not just an XB change. And I would credit Satya just as much or more then Phil.

[NeoGamer232]

@Elemental13
I think Satya felt that if they were going to commit seriously to gaming it needed to report directly to him. Satya has turned everything at Microsoft around. In every one of Microsoft's businesses they have all improved and are becoming more consumer friendly since Satya took over.

Phil has played a big role on the gaming side, but he could only play that role if the CEO let him.

[Sayai jin]

I don't trust anyone. A better word woyld be confidence. They will have my confidence once Xbox releases blockbusters. As far as value in game pass they have my confidence. Like, thr Coalition has my confidence in making a great Gears game.

[Petebloodyonion]

Great trailer that entices you onto revisiting the game :)
Personally, I liked the experience, the story was memorable and the game is nice (It's a decent 7.5/10) and the length of the game feels perfect.
And it's quite nice to see these updates offered for free (like on PC) compared to the last generation where we would have been charged a whole 40$ for more or less the same thing.

[Jericho1337]

Dammit, literally just finished replaying it to get all the runes. One of my favourite games of the previous gen.

[JayRyu]

I'm looking forward to playing through this game again! It's one of my favorite games. Loved the immersion.

Making a Great looking game look even better!

Can't wait for part 2

[4U2NV]

I swear some people in here have no clue what the hell they're talking about after reading the comments.
There is not ONE GAME that has been released on ps4 upgraded to ps5 where there is an added charge for the content. Please let me know what game because if people are referring to Ghost Tsushima DLC... well its the DLC youre paying for, not the features. Same with spiderman PS5. There is no 'charge' its simply buy a new game and get spiderman PS5 for free.
So please show me this list of games i need to pay for because i must be missing something lol

https://www.xfire.com/every...

[Darkwatchman]

Spider-Man Remastered WAS paid!!! You didn’t get the ps5 version for “free” with Miles Morales. It was an “upcharge” when bundled with Miles Morales. I own Spider-Man on PS4 and to get th remaster, I have to pay $20 for the ps5 version!

(I had already bought the ps4 version of Morales for my brother because he told me didn’t want to wait until we got a ps5 to get the ps5 bundle)

[RumHam]

While Sony has provided plenty of free 60fps or resolution upgrades for free, you chose to highlight the 2 games where it's not. Even if you have the PS4 version of Ghost Director's Cut which includes the new island, you would still need to pay $10 to upgrade to the PS5 version. Spiderman remastered was also not a free upgrade, you have to buy the ultimate edition of Miles Morales which was $20 more at launch. There is no upgrade path for those that own Spiderman on PS4.

[Chris12]

@4U2NV - you don't even know when you're being nickel and dimed. SMH

[4U2NV]

Oh trust me I definitely do, thats why I now game soley on Sony consoles 😁

[rob-GP]

Ghosts charges you $10 to upgrade, it's like $40 to upgrade AND get the DLC.

Death Stranding is a $10 upgrade - published by Sony, so their charge

Spider-Man had no upgrade, you could only buy it if you owned Miles Morales, for around $40

Wreckfest has a $10 upgrade (on both platforms)

Call of duty has a $10 upgrade (on both platforms)

Sony is the only publisher so far which hasn't given any FREE upgrades outside of the simple patches to unlock framerates. You would have thought that Sony would have been pushing their studios to create PS5 updates to push their console sales, then offer them free - but nope.

No hate on either company but Sony are being a little greedy tbh

[thesoftware730]

Loved the game, some of the best mood, voice acting, sound and visual style in a game period.

I will check out the enhanced mode with RT, I also have Dolby Vision..gonna check it after work today.

Currently s playing Plague Tale, reminds me of this, Decent gameplay loop, but everything else is amazing.

[whitbyfox]

Nooo i’ve only just finished it on Series X as well.

Will have to go through again before the second one comes out.

[MADGameR]

Easy to do on a previous gen game... let's see what they can do with Hellblade 2

[ecchiless]

the pop in is also next gen... and that ray tracing lmao XD

[MocBistro]

The game is oone of the most boring gamez Ive ever played

[supbuddy]

its ok i guess

[DarthZoolu]

I'm an Xbox fan but I cannot figure out why people think this is a good game.

[repsahj]

...i also tried it on ps4 two years ago, i didn't like it. I give another go when they release it in switch, still didn't care to finish it. Hoping for huge improvement in the next game, especially the combat.

[GrmpyolGamer]

Great game. Highly recommended

[DJStotty]

Looks like they are gearing up for a Hellblade 2 showing at gamescom!! Get the audience to relive Senua's sacrifice, and then slam them with a showing of HB2.

Game is going to look insane