Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice gets ray tracing on the Xbox Series X|S

Having just turned four years old, one of the Xbox One’s best-looking games has been long overdue for a next-gen upgrade, and thankfully the now the wait is over as Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice has been optimised for the Xbox Series S and X. 

Featuring “enriched visuals, DirectX Raytracing, resolution mode and more,” this next-gen enhancement from QLOC has everything you might expect from a Series X|S optimised title, as it makes use of the consoles best features.

With the power of the Xbox Series X, you can even now play Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice at 120hz in dynamic 1080p, however across the Series X|S consoles it won’t always be so buttery smooth. 

Despite the incredible power of the Xbox Series X, running dynamic 4k, as well as ray-tracing, will see your performance knocked all the way down to a lowly 30fps, or 60fps if you can live without ray-tracing in what Ninja Theory has dubbed “resolution mode.” 

On the Series S however, you’ll be stuck with 30fps in all but the performance mode, which reaches 1080p HD at 60fps, lagging some way behind its bigger brother. Resolution mode is at least 1440p at 30fps, however, enabling ray-tracing in “enriched mode” knocks that resolution back down to only 1080p once more. 

On top of the visual improvements available in the new graphics options, such as “upgraded materials, particles and LOD (level of detail),” Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is also receiving one of the games most requested features, chapter select, so you can replay your favourite moments from the games emotive story when you want to. 

With Xbox having recently announced their upcoming Gamescom 2021 livestream for the 24th of August, it’s possible that we might be set to see more of Senua soon, as the livestream, focusing on already announced games, may show off more of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. 

For those concerned that this Series X|S optimisation might slow down the development of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, thankfully Ninja Theory has confirmed on their website that thanks to a partnership with QLOC, they’ve been able to “focus on our future projects, including Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II.”

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is available now on Xbox Series X|S consoles, playable via Xbox Game Pass. A PC version of this upgrade is currently in development, however, there are no plans for other platforms beyond this at this time.