Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 [XBSX|S, XGP]

But let's try anyways.
Can't say anything about shadows and reflections, but AO looks RT to me. Maybe. Just because it looks good. Totally unsure.
I wonder: If reflections are RT, why do they pick a water scene where SSR would work without artifacts?
Why no real indication of RT here, or Godfall, or any other next gen related stuff we have seen so far?
Still waiting on RDNA2 silicon?

 

Senua's trailer was very artistically driven. It seems to me like expressing the vibe and themea of the game was more important than showing off technicalities about the rendering engine (which I assume is still in a state of rapid flux anyway)

 

Yeah, it reminds me of how PC games have tried to show RT benefits with reflections.

• Control method - Game set in an environment that just naturally has lots of reflective or semi-reflective surfaces (modern office building).
• Most other game's method - have water EVERYWHERE (even indoors) in the game so you can have reflective surfaces.

I'd rather see a developer just make their vision of their game (cinematics included) and use RT where it makes sense to use RT rather than creating artificial scenes purely to try to shove RT in your face.

Considering the setting for Senua's Saga, the lighting is going to be where RT is likely going to be used the most. Considering the thematic focus of the game (dark themes) then the use of RT may be rather subtle in many cases.

Halo Infinite or the next Forza might be a better place for MS to showcase RT (lots of reflective metal and glass surfaces).

Regards,
SB

 

Yeah, the setting would benefit a lot from cloudy sky area light shadows. But can't see this here. That's really a hint of no RT.
(Still unsure about AO - could be just SS with higher sample count.)

 

Game isn’t due out for a long time.(not at launch)
Cheapest most straight forward way to get accurate effects, lighting, shadows and AO will be to leverage RT for a engine demo like this. And then switch to a hack for the actual game if performance cannot keep up.

I can’t imagine a studio doing it in reverse anymore. Studios should at least for developing a game start RT first and build the world dynamically understanding the lighting changes in real time and then using finalized values for baking.

 

I agree when it comes to the matter of an entirely fresh engine, but I think it's also possible that many aspects may just be those from the prior iteration of the engine, maybe dialed up, whilst the most impressive/complete aspects of an engine upgrade are the ones which are actually showcased. At least at this early stage.

For example, the shader quality, skin physics, and animation are astounding in the trailer. It would make sense that those are the aspects of the Hellblade 1 engine which have been steadily improved upon since the last patch was released for the initial game, and that those could continue without any kind of significant paradigm shift. Lighting, on the other hand, is presently in a state of flux, and I feel quite safe in assuming that it's the aspect of their engine which is most perplexing to them right now (i.e. best practices haven't really been demonstrated industry-wide at present, so there must be a lot of toing and froing over the right balance of techniques in a hybrid lighting engine. Assuming that's what Hellblade 2 is, of course.) So, just dialing up the fidelity of the lighting techniques from Hellblade 1 might make the most sense at this early stage, hence a lack of apparent RTRT.

 

Isn't Hellblade 2 using Unreal engine?

 

I don't think that's confirmed. It seems likely. NT have used it since Enslaved.

 

Didn't Unreal themselves use Senua as a poster child for their engine, and facial mo-cap tech?
Given the emphasis on the amazing facial performance of the new trailer, I assumed this was a continuation of their work with epic. It would be a big win for both. Epic gets a new mascot and test bed for next gen, and Ninja Theory gets Epic's extra support.

 

here:

 

As well, considering how much The Coalition modified UE and what they were able to accomplish with the engine, I could see them potentially working with Ninja Theory WRT UE. Likewise Ninja Theory sharing some of their fantastic facial mocap with The Coalition.

Basically I don't see any reason for Ninja Theory to stop using UE.

Regards,
SB

 

I think NT use 3lateral for scanning and rigging. They have their own ties with Epic. They were involved with the kite demo.

If NT are using UE they're also getting Quixel megascans for free as well. The trailer landscapes are certainly the kind of thing that would benefit, especially if they're trying to keep the budget similar to the first one.

 

Epic's Unreal 2020 sizzle reel confirms this as UE4.

 

NT are doing Dev diaries on project Dreadnaught, their plan going forwards of small teams. It's pretty interesting. They confirm in that they are doubling the size of the team for Hellblade 2, so about 40 people.

 

The Hellblade (1) Dev Diary series was really great.

BTW: If you like stuff like that, check out https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMakingOfGames/
I post so much there that the original subreddit creators made me a mod and I've pretty much taken it over.

 

darn, want to play the game so much, but for some reason the beta Xbox app for PC doesnt want to run it.

 

I wonder if Hellblade 2 is using some early version of Nanite. @Dictator was saying in his DF breakdown that the lack of discernible LOD transition was suspicious.

 

What prerendered demo of HellBlade? I've missed this

 

Look at the first page of posts, should have the video.

 

understood, but from what I know this is not "prerendered"
It runs sub 4K resolution (3840x1608) and can't sustain more than 24 fps and there are some imperfections in the trailer’s field of depth effects and some halos around certain objects
if it is the case (prendered at different framerate), the trailer in-engine would be 4K@30fps rock steady

DF have some doubts on the LOD switching, but this do not means the trailer is "prerendered"
UE5 techdemo misses the same LOD switching, so, it is prerendered too?