Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice Gets Ray-Tracing Upgrade for Xbox Series X|S
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is optimized for the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles. The game will receive on those platforms, among other things, ray tracing, better graphics and a resolution mode. The PC version of the game will be upgraded later.
Hellblade developer Ninja Theory announces the changes in a trailer, showcasing the improved graphics and ray tracing. The trailer description states that the game is now available with “enhanced visuals, DirectX Raytracing, resolution mode, and more.” The update will be available for free to owners of the game with an Xbox Series X or S, according to the Ninja Theory website, as well as Xbox Series X|S users with Game Pass. An update for the PC version of the game is currently in development, but it is not yet known when it will be released.
On the Xbox Series X, according to Ninja Theory, users can choose from a “performance mode” without ray tracing, with a dynamic resolution of up to 1080p and a frame rate of 120fps. A resolution mode also becomes available, with a dynamic resolution of up to 4k, running at 60fps without ray tracing. An ‘Enriched’ mode with ray tracing also gets a dynamic 4k resolution and runs at 30fps. The Xbox Series S will have a 1080p mode with ray-tracing at 30fps, a dynamic 1440p mode without ray-tracing at 30fps, and a performance mode with 1080p resolution at 60fps.
The Xbox Series update came about four years after the release of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, which hit the PC market on August 8, 2017. A year later, the game was released for Xbox One and in 2019 a version appeared for the Nintendo Switch.
Ninja Theory is currently working on a sequel, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2. The game was announced at the same time as the Xbox Series X at The Game Awards in 2019. It is not yet known when the sequel will be released, but Microsoft announced this week that it will be released on Holds an Xbox Games Showcase presentation August 24, detailing upcoming games. The company may reveal new details about Hellblade 2 on that date, though that hasn’t been confirmed yet.