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Forums - Microsoft Discussion - Digital Foundry: Hellblade II - "A defining moment in the evolution of realtime graphics"

curl-6 on 24 May 2024
Soundwave said:
curl-6 said:

This is the Gears of War of this generation in my eyes; the first game that shows a big leap over the best of the previous generation.
The intricate micro geometry, the naturalistic lighting and materials, the lifelike characters, it's easily the best looking video game I have ever seen.

It's also the first ambitious UE5 title that really feels like it fits comfortably on consoles; previous stuff like Immortal of Aveum and Lords of the Fallen had major performance issues.

Immortals of Aveum is more of a wide open, traditional game with lots of action on screen, there are going to have to be sacrifices, it looks to me like current consoles can only run stuff like Hellblade 2 better because it's extremely linear, slower paced game without a whole lot happening on screen. Aveum is a more ambitious game in scope. 
For HB2, unfortunately 5 hour games just aren't going to be marketable even if the reviews were even better (they seem to be OK) and the graphics aren't enough to get mass audiences to care. 
 
7 years in development to make a 5 hour game that is linear kinda tells a story right there. How long would it take to make a 30 hour game like that with more stuff happening on screen? And how many times higher would the budget have to be. I hope the studio doesn't suffer mass lay offs like the Aveum team did. 

30fps vs 60fps makes the biggest difference I'd say; running UE5's more demanding features like Nanite and Lumen at 60fps seems to ask a bit too much from current consoles.

Hellblade II was made by a relatively small team by industry standards, this isn't an AAA game, more of an AA project just with AAA graphics.

Also, it didn't take 7 years; production started in 2020 so it took 4 years.



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Soundwave on 24 May 2024
curl-6 said:
Soundwave said:
Immortals of Aveum is more of a wide open, traditional game with lots of action on screen, there are going to have to be sacrifices, it looks to me like current consoles can only run stuff like Hellblade 2 better because it's extremely linear, slower paced game without a whole lot happening on screen. Aveum is a more ambitious game in scope. 
For HB2, unfortunately 5 hour games just aren't going to be marketable even if the reviews were even better (they seem to be OK) and the graphics aren't enough to get mass audiences to care. 
 
7 years in development to make a 5 hour game that is linear kinda tells a story right there. How long would it take to make a 30 hour game like that with more stuff happening on screen? And how many times higher would the budget have to be. I hope the studio doesn't suffer mass lay offs like the Aveum team did. 

30fps vs 60fps makes the biggest difference I'd say; running UE5's more demanding features like Nanite and Lumen at 60fps seems to ask a bit too much from current consoles.

Hellblade II was made by a relatively small team by industry standards, this isn't an AAA game, more of an AA project just with AAA graphics.

Also, it didn't take 7 years; production started in 2020 so it took 4 years.

5 hour game in 4 years is still not great though I believe they've said they did a pre-production in the year prior to that too. 

Unfortunately for them I don't think Unreal Engine 5 graphics is really something the general audience cares much about (same with the Aveum guys). 

80 people dev team isn't that small either, crazy how that used to represent a massive team, but it isn't anymore, the behind the scenes stuff to me kinda indicates they had at least a decent budget. They were making movie quality costumes physically for example to scan into the game for characters, massive amounts of mo-cap, and stuff like that. It is financed by Microsoft after all. 



curl-6 on 24 May 2024
Soundwave said:
curl-6 said:

30fps vs 60fps makes the biggest difference I'd say; running UE5's more demanding features like Nanite and Lumen at 60fps seems to ask a bit too much from current consoles.

Hellblade II was made by a relatively small team by industry standards, this isn't an AAA game, more of an AA project just with AAA graphics.

Also, it didn't take 7 years; production started in 2020 so it took 4 years.

5 hour game in 4 years is still not great though I believe they've said they did a pre-production in the year prior to that too. 

Unfortunately for them I don't think Unreal Engine 5 graphics is really something the general audience cares much about (same with the Aveum guys). 

80 people dev team isn't that small either, crazy how that used to represent a massive team, but it isn't anymore, the behind the scenes stuff to me kinda indicates they had at least a decent budget. They were making movie quality costumes physically for example to scan into the game for characters, massive amounts of mo-cap, and stuff like that. It is financed by Microsoft after all. 

80 is small by today's standards, most big games these days include several hundred, even thousands of people for games like Call of Duty, GTA, RDR, etc.

And you're kinda getting off topic; this is a thread about the game's graphical performance, not its sales or financials.

Last edited by curl-6 - on 24 May 2024

dane007 on 24 May 2024

Finally we have a true next gen experience in terms of visuals and sound . Theres alot of gameplay as i am playing it now. Its 8-10 hours if you explore and get all the achievements which is the perfect length for the game. any long it will boring. Theres alot amazing environmental effects in the game . even teh fights is intense and looks cgi. Suprise they manage to get it locked 30fps for both consoles



trunkswd on 24 May 2024

I've been playing the game on my PC on the highest settings at 1440p as that the resolution of my main monitor and I have taken some screenshots. Here are a few of them. Visually it is the best looking game I've ever played and the audio is great when wearing headphones. It isn't for everyone, but I'm really enjoying it.

Last edited by trunkswd - on 24 May 2024

VGChartz Sales Analyst and Writer - William D'Angelo - I stream on Twitch and have my own YouTube. Follow me on Twitter @TrunksWD.

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Chrkeller on 25 May 2024

Hard to beleive this is just the beginning. Developers and tools are only going to get better with UE5.



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Mar1217 on 25 May 2024

A game banking most of it's chips in the aspect I have the least interest for sadly, but it is indeed the most advanced I've seen a game get on the graphical, technical level side. Technologies to render those once CGI cutscenes into actual real time are so close to us now.

Thankfully, the game also has a proper stylistic identity, otherwise it would've felt a lot like my reaction to something like RDR 2 : "Nice realism ... That's it ? Kinda boring"

Nonetheless, I'm surprised the gameplay and designs aspects of the game have basically not evolved or taken almost a seat back. They had a clear cinematic "viewpoint" they wanted to keep you immersed in even if even the active involvement of the player is rather limited through limited gameplay systems.

It works, but it's definitely not going to be for everyone.



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Leynos on 25 May 2024
trunkswd said:

I've been playing the game on my PC on the highest settings at 1440p as that the resolution of my main monitor and I have taken some screenshots. Here are a few of them. Visually it is the best looking game I've ever played and the audio is great when wearing headphones. It isn't for everyone, but I'm really enjoying it.

Fucking hell the CA is so bad I want to vomit.



Bite my shiny metal cockpit!

Imaginedvl on 25 May 2024

Funny how for some, all of sudden chromatic aberrations are such a big deal when the majority of the game does not even an option to deactivate them.

The fact that the DF videos mention it has probably nothing to do with this. Now when a game is looking amazing on Xbox, the new thing, from people who always criticize anything coming from Xbox, to downplay it will be how the CA are so bad (even if they probably cannot even know what those are in the first place). I mean come on lol

Those screenshots are amazing. The game looks gorgeous. Hard to believe those are straight from the gameplay engine…



Leynos on 25 May 2024
Imaginedvl said:

Funny how for some, all of sudden chromatic aberrations are such a big deal when the majority of the game does not even an option to deactivate them.

The fact that the DF videos mention it has probably nothing to do with this. Now when a game is looking amazing on Xbox, the new thing, from people who always criticize anything coming from Xbox, to downplay it will be how the CA are so bad (even if they probably cannot even know what those are in the first place). I mean come on lol

Those screenshots are amazing. The game looks gorgeous. Hard to believe those are straight from the gameplay engine…

All of a sudden? Eat it. I have been shitting on CA for years on this very site. Longer before that. CA is just as bad as bloom. It's fucking gutter trash of an effect that always makes things look worse. Oh Gee, I BOUGHT AN XBOX SERIES X LAST MONTH.  But sure mr Xbox no bias avatar. It's just blind hate for Xbox. Yup. Hate it so much I bought one. So bite me.

Yes I went back in time because of Xbox to ask Sony to let me disable it in Spiderman. https://www.vgchartz.com/article/458585/marvels-spider-man-2-accessibility-features-revealed/

https://www.vgchartz.com/article/458469/marvels-spider-man-2-gets-new-details-and-trailers/

Last edited by Leynos - on 25 May 2024

Bite my shiny metal cockpit!