850°

Senua's Saga: Hellblade II - Gameplay reveal

Debuted at The Game Awards 2021, watch the Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II gameplay reveal. Coming exclusively to Xbox and Windows PC from Ninja Theory.

Jin_Sakai892d ago (Edited 892d ago )

Looks amazing! The graphics are incredible.

LOGICWINS892d ago

I remember when the in-engine trailer premiered at the VGAs and people were saying "there's no way that's gameplay". Xbox just shut them up.

Terry_B892d ago

except that 80% of the trailer looked like its just a cutscene with some pretty basic gameplay elements.

Don't get me wrong..it looked awesome..but on the gameplay side it looked damn shallow.

arkard892d ago

The first game was the same way, so not surprising. Not a big deal since I still loved the game.

Levii_92892d ago

This is just a pretty walking sim you know that ?

Lightning77892d ago

DF even said that the game was running on a working engine. With some CG effects yes but the game was generally in engine.

Again DF confirmed this 2 years back. So they were right.

dbcoops892d ago

They didn't shut anyone up because if you think more than five to maybe ten percent of that tops was actual gameplay then you are kidding yourself. Very nice looking cut scene though.

darthv72892d ago

Damn.... thats impressive.

ABizzel1892d ago

It's all definitely "in-engine" there is aliasing and shimmering, and likely running on PC currently.

The game looks amazing, and we know games are going to get a huge leap in fidelity starting next-year as more and more "next-gen" only games release. This clip is extremely heavy on in-engine, instead of giving off a slice of gameplay, which makes me think once again this is 2023 at the earliest.

Kyizen891d ago

Ryse looked good also when it launched haha.

IRetrouk891d ago (Edited 891d ago )

It looks fantastic, but it does not match that original reveal trailer, not sure how this proved the in engine reveal as gameplay though, kinda confused me, how did any of that prove the original footage as gameplay? Infact if we look at the main characters face from both, there's a clear difference in quality.

Flewid638891d ago

I dunno why people thought it was unbelievable. Photorealistic art styles arent new.

isarai891d ago

Not really, doesn't look nearly as good

891d ago
dcbronco891d ago

Levii-92 Since when has a walking Sim been a problem for Playstation fans.

rakentaja891d ago

to Terry_B:
God Of War boss fights are no exception, very little gameplay...basically one big in-game cutscene with QTE's.

PrinterMan891d ago

Lol. It's not that great. I think the first one, in PC had a much better atmosphere. I will get it as the first one was excellent but I'm not stoked about the feel of this one.

Xbox hasn't shut anyone up.

+ Show (14) more repliesLast reply 891d ago
LordoftheCritics892d ago (Edited 892d ago )

Oh shit, looked like we are finally playing some king of cgi.

Great work.

Lightning77892d ago

So how is it that games like Uncharted and The Last Of us can all be rendered in game but this game can't, or maybe because it's a Xbox only game?

It's using Unreal 5 only on X and S and if you saw their blog they did photogrametry real time video footage of Iceland just like Forza did with Mexico. So why are you denying this is what the game looks like? This isn't CG its in engine. You know other publishers can create beautifully rendered crafted story narrative games. Sony doesn't own the genre.

LordoftheCritics892d ago

@Lightning77

You may have misunderstood my comment.

abstractel892d ago

Weird how this is getting so much hate, not directed at you LordoftheCritics. Looks amazing and a quality level we will hopefully see more of once cross-gen is gone and new-gen rules the land.

Storm23892d ago

Yeah, very impressive visuals for sure. Doesn't look like something I would want to play just from this trailer but very nice looking.

TheDoomedGuy891d ago

Wow
Well if this doesn't look like something you'd want to play not sure any game can reach your standards.

Storm23891d ago

It just didn’t look fun to me. It was absolutely gorgeous so I guess it would be cool to look at on my new TV, but it doesn’t jump out at me as something that would be fun. But I said it was just based on this trailer. Another trailer could change my mind and I am definitely open to that.

outsider1624892d ago

I forgot it was gameplay. Looks so good.

891d ago
Obscure_Observer892d ago ShowReplies(2)
dcbronco891d ago

If people can't even acknowledge the game looks amazing they might as well dig a hole to spend the rest of their lives in. These people no longer have any value to add to society because they aren't capable of being objective. That makes them effectively stupid.

CaptainHenry916891d ago (Edited 891d ago )

Hellblade always looked great especially on PC. No one's not denying that. The first game was definitely a looker

NeoGamer232891d ago

It does look amazing, but the Matrix looked awesome too.

This shows us the difference of targeting only current gen platforms vs also targeting last gen platforms.

CaptainHenry916890d ago (Edited 890d ago )

Hopefully it's not 70% a walking simulator just like the first game 😬

+ Show (5) more repliesLast reply 890d ago
RaidenBlack891d ago

Textures look really good.
But some particle effects, like the water splash when the Giant enter the cavern was juddery 15fps.
Seems pretty early in development stage ... so will get fixed eventually.
Feels like a late 2023 release if not 2024.
Still ... Kudos Ninja Theory.

MellauxGMNG891d ago

You didn't do a very good job disguising the downplay in this comment

RaidenBlack891d ago

@MellauxGMNG
Yea my wording skill has seen better days ... But
What if I told you I am not into console-battle and you'll seldom see me there?
When you have presentation of such high production values, these certain minor imperfections stand out.
And what I pointed out, you can genuinely see its there. But its minor and happens during development.
But you know what? When the game'll release in 2023, all those'll be ironed out.

891d ago
senorfartcushion891d ago

That’s a good thing, though, it is still a video game.

Just means that it was gameplay and not a fake cgi vertical slice.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 891d ago
CaptainHenry916892d ago (Edited 892d ago )

Was that just a cut scene?

Sonyslave3892d ago

Nope geoff said that all gameplay footage

RedDevils891d ago

Is gameplay meaning you just staring at the screen, I'm impress.

KingofBandits891d ago

Dorito King said it was gameplay, incredibly limited gameplay but real time none the less.

891d ago
Godmars290892d ago

Looked like a cut scene that's using in game assets.

If gameplay there was no indication of control or heavily scripted.

Killer73nova892d ago

You never played the first game did you

cartoonx1891d ago

that is how the first one is, heavily scripted.

Zeref891d ago

There was literally gameplay, if you played the first one you would know how Hellblade gameplay looks.

891d ago
darthv72891d ago (Edited 891d ago )

i wondered why there was no aiming reticle but then i figured they can simply turn that off so the focus is on what you see on screen as a whole. the detail, motion blur the scale and how seamless it jumps between cinematic and control. If you look close, you can see the subtle shift from player control to computer control (cinematic) and back.

As far as scripted goes, no different than the LoU2 and the demo reveal or any of the other gameplay reveals where it switches from player control to cinematic for dramatic effect. Just no on screen hud to distract.

senorfartcushion891d ago

I’d say as artists the devs have the right to give themselves a pat on the back simply because people are confused as to whether or not the video was a cutscene or not.

Bruh891d ago

@Killer73nova

Let me save you a lot of time, N4G is flooded with PS fanboys that cannot fathom the Series X/S hardware can produce something like this because apparently only Sony studios can produce visually breathtaking visuals and no one else lmfao

Godmars290891d ago

@Bruh:
You're saying "this is the power of Series X" while talking about something playable on everything from XB1 to PC. This "demo" could have been the PC version for all anyone knows.

Wait for a tech breakdown, not that MS ever does those, before praising them for whatever this is.

+ Show (5) more repliesLast reply 891d ago
Chevalier892d ago

Unreal Engine looking really good between this and Matrix. The way the scene unfolds with the camera makes me think of God of War a bit.

891d ago
UnSelf891d ago

Comparing a game that’s not out to games that are? Nice.

Let me try. Last of Us 3 looks better than Hellblade or any Xbox game

Chevalier891d ago (Edited 891d ago )

@Unself

"Comparing a game that’s not out to games that are? Nice."

Wtf are you talking about? Why is it not okay to compare Matrix demo from the Awards show that's playable now to what we saw from Hellblade? They're BOTH using Unreal 5 engine. The visuals look very good for Unreal 5 engine.

As for what I meant is the way the game angled the camera while Senua and her group left the cave seems similar to the way God of War was in a continuous shot. How is that a negative?! All I was saying was They're using a similar technique. What does the technique used have anything to do with it being out or not?

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 891d ago
alb1899892d ago

It was in engine and it was really amazing.

Jin_Sakai892d ago

It wasn’t in engine it was gameplay as Geoff stated.

Godmars290892d ago

But where's indication of control or player input?

dbcoops892d ago

Gameplay implies someone actually playing. Outside of maybe pressing a button one or twice to throw a spear the rest of that was a cut scene.

oldenjon892d ago (Edited 892d ago )

smh.... gameplay is in engine dork

oldenjon892d ago (Edited 892d ago )

OMG that someone actually disagreed with me and 13 people agreed with @Jin_Sakai is really concerning haha. You can't have out of engine gameplay

Imalwaysright892d ago (Edited 892d ago )

So it was in-engine running in real time meaning that it was running gameplay assets. Pre-rendered in-engine cutscenes are the ones that often don't use gameplay assets and as result look like a graphical upgrade when compared with gameplay portions of games.

oldenjon892d ago (Edited 892d ago )

@Imalwaysright Geoff probably only called it 'gameplay' to make the distinction that it's not pre-rendered. Obviously there is much actual gameplay to speak of. You're only seeing Senua running to trigger an in-engine story event / cutscene, and besides some basic combat that's all she really did in Hellblade 1 anyways.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 892d ago
4Sh0w891d ago (Edited 891d ago )

Wow, visually that is stunning but personally I need more actual gameplay mechanics/ interaction. My same problem with the first one.

EmperorDalek892d ago

This looks incredible. I'm sure the combat and puzzles will be fine, the first game was fairly good in those departments.

Show all comments (229)
60°

Call Of Duty On Game Pass Is A Big Risk Big Reward Gamble

Discover the impact of Microsoft's decision to include Call Of Duty in Game Pass. Explore the pros and cons and speculate about future changes.

Read Full Story >>
gamersocialclub.ca
Elda11h ago

Most folks that have a Gamepass subscription will not spend the $70, they will use Gamepass instead to play COD. MS will most likely make their money from some solely PC players & some solely PS5 owners. Even some PC players may opt to use Gamepass instead of spending $70. I would think MS would want to make every dime they could from retail sales. As long as they put new releases of COD day one on Gamepass, MS will lose out on some sales of COD.

porkChop8h ago

COD makes truck loads of money on microtransactions. That's likely the play. Get more people in the door through Game Pass and sell more microtransactions. Have a steady stream of events to keep people interested so they keep their sub, and then just the sub alone would double the revenue from that player each year.

Elda5h ago(Edited 5h ago)

Buying the game at $70 a pop including the deluxe versions is much better than people subs for a dollar to $15 a month. Die hard fans that usually buy the game also buy into the transactions. Again putting any new COD day one on Gamepass is definitely a sure loss of making some retail money for every copy of COD. With the last iteration of COD being bad most likely people are going to sub to Gamepass to play COD basically saving themselves $70, that is a loss of retail sales.

Kakashi Hatake8h ago(Edited 8h ago)

Most that don't have Gamepass will just buy the game and he done with it. People that do will just result in a retail sale being lost. Some will buy the subscription for the month then be done. This is lose lose. Casuals aren't going to pay almost 300 dollars a year for COD.

ApocalypseShadow6h ago

The reality is that Microsoft already knows the answer as stated by them in their documents. PlayStation gamers have built up an ecosystem of games and they aren't migrating over and dropping what they have to buy an Xbox to play one game in a service you have to pay monthly for. Cheaper to just buy the game. And, I'd bet many casual COD players don't know or care about the acquisition.

Which is why Jim Ryan pushed to make sure that that one game continues to be sold as usual on Sony's platform to keep the status quo. Every other IP owned by Activision are worthless. And Activision has shown they don't care about other IP like Tony Hawk by cancelling them.

Sales WILL be lost on Xbox. That's for certain. Microsoft can only hope that Xbox gamers continue to buy up those micro transactions to make up for those lost sales. Only positive for Microsoft is that they get to dip into PlayStation game sales that we all know from history and NPD, that Sony's console sells more games. But increase subs from Sony fans for game pass? Not happening in any way that matters.

Sony, on the other hand, can have their cake and eat it too. They get COD and they can continue dropping more content for their fastest selling GaaS game which is Hell Divers 2. As the game passes 12 million sales and doesn't beat you over the head with micro transactions, Sony has a win win situation and can support the game getting more content to keep players engaged.

As a side note, COD is probably going to turn into some version of Sea of Fortnite Duty. Games as a service sitting in game pass being milked dry with micro transactions and constant updates making you feel you're playing an unfinished game that keeps going and going with no soul.

Tedakin5h ago

I'm not sure why everyone is acting like COD is a surprise. That was always the plan. They said in court during the FTC case they were doing this. They have said repeatedly and recently all first party games are going to Gamepass.

370°

Here are some brand new screenshots for Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2

Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 will be released in a few days and Microsoft has shared some new screenshots for it.

Read Full Story >>
dsogaming.com
PrinceOfAnger1d 10h ago

Best looking game of the year?

Barlos1d 1h ago

Not sure why the disagrees because clearly it's visually a fantastic looking game. I'd be interested to know what better looking games from 2024 the people who disagreed think look better.

PrinceOfAnger1d 1h ago

I'm interested too, what game looks better this year ?, but we all know who are these people , cleary the ones who don't have the game day one on their favorite platform.

PrinceOfAnger19h ago

@Cacabunga

Lol CGi ?
you need to wait for the full analysis from digital foundry.

Cockney17h ago(Edited 17h ago)

@PrinceOfAnger
You asked a question some agreed some didn't then you ridiculed those that disagreed
why go full fanboy?
That is kinda flaky, I'd suggest maybe seeing some gameplay before jumping the gun, we are all waiting to see what digital foundry say

Abear2112h ago

Nobody believes Xbox hype because they burned so many people with Halo, Starfield, and Redfall.

Hard to tell from a monster PC screenshot, but yeah, it will likely be the best looking console game when it launches.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 12h ago
mkis00722h ago(Edited 22h ago)

I mean best looking game of all time so far imho...that said, that is all that we know. It's a set goal that is easy to achieve if you are not getting bogged down in physics, ai, and other power hungry operations. Most dev's have more they are going for then just the best graphics. Also this is one of the first true Unreal Engine 5 games that is pushing the said graphics aspect. UE always looks damn good for each iteration.

I want to see what the face idle animations look like.

Profchaos21h ago

Quite possibly I can't think of anything else that came out this year with a high level of Fidelio like this

Zeref18h ago

It's a new graphical benchmark

Huey_My_D_Long16h ago

Honestly, I agree, just wished MS would have marketed this more. Ill try to pick it up on PC if I have the extra cash.

gleepot16h ago

I definitely think you'll be hard pressed to find a bigger visual marvel than hellblade 2 for a while, regardless of how it ends up being game-wise.

InUrFoxHole14h ago

Yes but I hope the story is good

Makersbreath214h ago

After watchdogs, I’ve been overly cautious of hyping myself up for how a game looks until I get it in my hands.

+ Show (6) more repliesLast reply 5h ago
romulus231d 1h ago

The game is gorgeous there's no denying that.

Sonic18811d ago (Edited 1d ago )

I should be able to get 4K 60fps in medium to high settings on my RTX 4080. I noticed they mentioned the rtx 4090 in the article

Rynxie9h ago

Will my Nvidia 980 be able to play it on high?

Sonic18818h ago(Edited 7h ago)

@Rynxie

What about the FPS? Trying to get it in 60fps. Hopefully it doesn't turn out like Dragon's Dogma 2

andy8513h ago

I'd rather go ultra and 1440 tbh. 4K is massively overrated unless you play on a huge TV

Sonic188112h ago(Edited 12h ago)

I'll be playing it on my LG G3 Oled 55 inch TV. I was going to use DLSS 3.0. As long as I can get a stable 60fps is really all that matters to me

Flewid6382h ago

Yup that is how I game on my PC. From the couch, controller, 1440p/60 locked on every genre.

FACTUAL evidence1d ago

Looks good, but don’t know if it’s actual in game graphics. We’ll find out soon enough.

romulus231d ago

Safe to say the majority of those shots are cut scenes not actual game play and that last shot of the face is absolutely a cut scene, I wish we had in game graphics like that when you're actually playing but we are no where near that level yet. Still it's very impressive looking.

Lightning7714h ago

It's all real time, no cut aways. This is UE5 game so it's all seemless.

The consoles are more than capable of doing it like Alan Wake 2 or even Last Of Us 2 on last gen PS4.

romulus2312h ago

@Lighning77

LOL, nah. There's a difference between in engine and in game while you are actually physically playing and controlling the character. I'm not saying the game doesn't look good in fact I've said the very opposite but people need to be realistic, there's going to be a lot of cut scenes in the game just like God of War or Uncharted where the game will look way better in those cinematic non playable cut scenes than actual game play. There's no way that last face shot image is game play, that is a cinematic in engine cut scene, you can disagree if you like but that's what it is..

Lightning7710h ago

It's all the same even during story elements. That's pretty much what they've been touting this whole time. DF will break it down so we'll have to wait and see.

PrinceOfAnger21h ago(Edited 21h ago)

If you played the first game you will know this is all real-time in game.

purple10119h ago

the lockdown was not kind to senua, just like Alloy from horizon, she's put on about 15lbs

Psychonaut8515h ago

I may be wrong but I’m pretty sure that’s a different character, not Senua.

Show all comments (45)
220°

Ghost of Tsushima PC has 84% positive reviews and a peak online audience of 72 thousand people

On 16 May, the long-awaited release of the PC version of Ghost of Tsushima took place. And the game proved to be a great success on the first day.

Read Full Story >>
gagadget.com
PrinceOfAnger1d 17h ago

69,477
all-time peak 3 minutes ago.

thorstein1d 16h ago

Nice. It's really cool that PC players get to play this masterpiece.

PrinceOfAnger1d 16h ago

It has surpassed spider man now
it's 71k+
game did this with way shorter time than spider man.

itsmebryan18h ago(Edited 18h ago)

@prince
I'm confused. Does that number mean total players at one time playing like a snapshot
or total sales? If it's the former that's not very accurate because I know I'm not the only person that buys games and plays them later and that number is not included.

RNTody1d 14h ago

Great, I loved this game. Definitely think it's Sucker Punch's best work to date!

rippermcrip1d 14h ago

Is this going to be the new thing thing? Articles about Steam reviews? Which of course was in response to the false article about the review bombings in the first place.

Christopher1d 11h ago

Hey, just a heads up that the new owners did open news to Steam updates, but we try our best to not allow them to go on daily updates unless relevant to some other news. I understand this isn't everyone's cup and tea and sympathize, but the door has been open. If you feel it's 'too much' please do PM me or submit a ticket to the mod team. Thank you.

1d 6h ago
shinoff21831d 3h ago

I came here to post this link in that specific article. 84 perce t is pretty good. How many bad reviews were there like 5

GamerzElite1d 14h ago

This is good game and Ghost eliminate all fake outrage.

CrimsonWing691d 12h ago (Edited 1d 12h ago )

I always get confused by this, but is 72k good sales numbers for a game? I keep seeing games fail at selling 2.5 million and that they need to be on multiple platforms but is an additional 72k adding much?

Fishy Fingers1d 12h ago

Im not sure how its confusing :\

72k actively playing. Not 72k sold.

A good example is Helldivers 2, 6m sold, 450k (at its peak) active players.

But how many swords swung is what we're all really waiting for.

shinoff21831d 3h ago

Lmao. How many swords swung. I was hoping for how many steps

wesnytsfs16h ago

And its how many years old from initial release.

Crows901d 12h ago

72k is concurrent
...that is not the sold figure.

Michiel19891d 11h ago

for one they already had a huge launch on the playstation, they don't need to sell 5m to make the porting to pc profitable and as pointed out below that number you see is just the people playing it at this moment.

Plague-Doctor271d 9h ago (Edited 1d 9h ago )

Also from the insomniac leak we know these PC ports are a quick turnaround and budgeted around $2-4 million. At 100k sales they break even including Steams cut. They may not sell millions but they are a great ROI

elazz23h ago(Edited 23h ago)

72k concurrent. That is a global number. People who bought the game are not playing at the same time because of timezones, working schedules, holidays, events... There is no good rule of thumb but you can extrapolate based on other games that also released sales data. Then it is clear that the PC release alone accounts for at least 500K copies sold on steam, maybe closer to 700-800K. Probably will sell over a million this extended weekend.

According to steamspy and other data gathering sites games like Days Gone, Spider Man, God Of War, Horizon Zero Dawn have sold 2 to 5 million copies on Steam. So I expect Ghost to reach similar numbers. Probably even surpass it.

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