Senua's Saga: Hellblade II Performance Benchmark

[W1zzard]

In "Hellblade II," Senua returns, confronting her haunting past as one of gaming's most tragic heroes. Powered by Unreal Engine 5, the graphics are among the best we've ever seen, but hardware requirement are high, too. In our performance review, we're taking a closer look at image quality, VRAM usage, and performance on a wide selection of modern graphics cards.

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[Makaveli]

Crazy demanding when a 4090 gets sub 60 fps at 4k so up scaling is required for this game.

 

[EsliteMoby]

4090 has like 70% more Cuda cores than the 4080 but it's only performing 30% better in 4K?

 

[wolf]

The visuals do truly look stunning, the level of detail in the environment I staggering and the characters are top notch. The decision around a 21:9 presentation is something I don't quite agree with, but here we are.

 

[Denver]

How sinister... the 7900XTX and 4080S with exactly 43.9fps, statistically what are the chances? lol

The game is really heavy, but at least it delivers above average quality. Facial animations are compelling and help provide a cinematic experience, but it would be nice to be able to play in full screen... Ultra-wide fans should be very happy.

 

[adilazimdegilx]

Another great review. Loved the comments in the conclusion page, tells everything I wanted to know about the game's performance. Only missing thing is the quality of the each upscalers but I know that comes with another review, later.

Since it's an UE5 title we can probably disable any post processing option within engine.ini file. IIRC first game also had the same problem. I don't blame devs for thinking that game would look so much more impactful with those cinematic effects but they should know that some people can't play the game (make them sick) with motion blur and dof. There should always be an option to turn off each post processing settings individually. I mean it's literally single line of code in engine.ini file, it can't be that hard!

 

[Solaris17]

This game is unbelievably gorgeous.

 

[Makaveli]

This game is unbelievably gorgeous.

Agreed right now i'm fully into GOT at the moment so will be on the back burner until fall maybe but looking forward to it.

 

[Vya Domus]

Something seems wrong with the benchmarking, for instance how is the 4080 so much faster than a 4070ti Super at 4K? There is an abnormally large gap between 7900 XTX and XT as well. What could explain this, 4080 and 4080 Super are once again nearly identical but that's strange since the gap between them and a 4070ti Super is so large you'd think whatever this game is doing would accentuate the difference between those GPUs as well but it doesn't, bizarre.

 

[Daven]

Another great game that is optimized across different hardware. No RT shows that the programmers know what they are doing. I hope more game developers follow suit and waist no resources on RT.

 

[alwayssts]

Could I kindly ask a favor/make a suggestion?

While I appreciate W1zard's thorough testing techniques and documentation/observation, is it possible to break out the commentary into a separate article, or at least bullet point/header?

I am speaking of something along the lines of what was done with recent AIB reviews, which I appreciated.

I read the article for the technical information, and appreciated it, but some remarks, esp the last paragraph, felt so out-of-place that I couldn't help but walk away feeling discouraged rather than informed.

I'm not saying W1zard doesn't have the right to be a critic, nor that he can't make commentary about personal preferences, but perhaps those could be encapsulated/insulated as such away from the testing information and the reality of the options of presentation?

I'm not saying that last page needs an edit, but I do believe it could certainly do with some reformatting. The editorial mixture of information/opinion leaves an odd taste. JMO.

 

[Denver]

A good idea would be to post a short video of the part of the game where performance is captured in the benchmark.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Hellblade 1 was a fantastic game: beautiful, short, bittersweet. Perfect pallet cleanser between beefier titles.

Curious to see how this would perform/look with proper RT, the software implementation is obviously because the game is already a dog to run and HWRT would be wasted.

I imagine we'll see an enhanced edition in a few years as sales flag and hardware catches up.

 

[kapone32]

I would like to make a request that TPU stops using Max settings for 4K. High is plenty enough for most players at that resolution and any of the 16+ GB GPUs from Nvidia or AMD should deliver much higher frames. Like maybe what you are getting at 1440p max. I got the first Game from Epic but because of that I totally forgot about it. Another reason Epic is no where as good as it should be in my opinion.

 

[Dr. Dro]

How sinister... the 7900XTX and 4080S with exactly 43.9fps, statistically what are the chances? lol

The game is really heavy, but at least it delivers above average quality. Facial animations are compelling and help provide a cinematic experience, but it would be nice to be able to play in full screen... Ultra-wide fans should be very happy.

Well, the 4080 and 4080S beat the crap out of the XTX at lower resolutions*, I reckon the game's memory bandwidth requirements creep up beyond what a 256-bit bus card can do at 4K. That's been the 4080's biggest limitation thus far, when data throughput gets serious, usually at 4K, the XTX gains some steam.

Spoiler

*it's a whole 2 fps better, but it seems some people need every win they can get

I would like to make a request that TPU stops using Max settings for 4K. High is plenty enough for most players at that resolution and any of the 16+ GB GPUs from Nvidia or AMD should deliver much higher frames. Like maybe what you are getting at 1440p max. I got the first Game from Epic but because of that I totally forgot about it. Another reason Epic is no where as good as it should be in my opinion.

I would like to make a request that AMD makes some competent cards that can tackle a 4K bench suite, but a man can dream. This generation's been boring, it's like, the 4090 far ahead of the pack, the 4080 and the XTX trading blows, where they're either dead even or leading one another by 10%, and then the other cards trailing far behind. It's like every review was made redundant.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

I would like to make a request that AMD makes some competent cards that can tackle a 4K bench suite, but a man can dream. This generation's been boring, it's like, the 4090 far ahead of the pack, the 4080 and the XTX trading blows, where they're either dead even or leading one another by 10%, and then the other cards trailing far behind. It's like every review was made redundant.

They did a pretty good job last gen in rasterization and an ok one this generation, but next generation ain't looking so good for them likely matching like a 5070 at best lol.

 

[nguyen]

Well next-gen UE5 games definitely need Upscaling to have playable FPS, and Nvidia is still leading the AI Upscaling front (albeit the gap is smaller now with XeSS 1.3, TSR and possibly FSR3.1)

 

[kapone32]

Well, the 4080 and 4080S beat the crap out of the XTX at lower resolutions*, I reckon the game's memory bandwidth requirements creep up beyond what a 256-bit bus card can do at 4K. That's been the 4080's biggest limitation thus far, when data throughput gets serious, usually at 4K, the XTX gains some steam.

Spoiler

*it's a whole 2 fps better, but it seems some people need every win they can get

I would like to make a request that AMD makes some competent cards that can tackle a 4K bench suite, but a man can dream. This generation's been boring, it's like, the 4090 far ahead of the pack, the 4080 and the XTX trading blows, where they're either dead even or leading one another by 10%, and then the other cards trailing far behind. It's like every review was made redundant.

You obviously have no idea what you are talking about but it does not matter. I am just waiting for Outpost Infinity Siege to finish download and I will forget about the ridiculous comment you just made like 40-57 FPS is good for Nvidia. Thank AMD for Freesync panels so it is not a teary mess.

 

[Sithaer]

Only finished chapter 2 so far but this game is insane, well its more like a playable art but still. 'I'm a fan of the first game too'
Luckily the forced 21:9 is not an issue for me since I've been using that aspect ratio since 2019 so for once its good to see a game properly made for that instead of me having to tinker with it..
I usually turn off the excess post processing in 99% of the games but not in this case cause imo it fits the artistic/filmic design of the game but I do agree that it should be optional in case it makes someone sick. 'again, luckily not me'

This has to be one if not the most immersive game I've ever played, that last fight scene in chapter 2 literally gave me goosebumps. 'this also happened at later parts of the first game but lately hardly any game does this to me..'

 

[ratirt]

I'm looking at the low settings and high settings and there is not much visual difference. Low setting brings the fog and less clear picture and maybe some details are lowered but not so much you would see it while gaming. Maybe it is just the scenes presented but that was my first impression.

 

[wolf]

Only finished chapter 2 so far but this game is insane, well its more like a playable art but still. 'I'm a fan of the first game too'

First game came out of nowhere and it was very enjoyable for me too, more of an immersive experience and loosely 'playable' narrative than a game, but hey in a world full of reboots, remakes, and oh so many samey games of most genre's, one like this every now and then is nice to see. It certainly breaks new visual ground too, which for me always helps add to the immersion and make the awe and experiences more memorable.

 

[TomasK]

If future games are like this then my current gaming PC is also my last one. Sounds like the graphics are the only good thing about the game, but I think that due to the heavy post processing and letterboxing not even that is true. And I could not care less about graphics, really. As long as AAA games look at least like a good 2019 game (eg Division 2, Horizon Zero Dawn port), I'm fine with it. Actually, I prefer it. Would rather have 100+ FPS with 2019-like graphics than barely 60 FPS at 1440p and "cinematic" graphics. I hope that devs at least spend some time optimizing high and medium graphics presets to give people like me playable FPS (ie over ~75 FPS). Hellblade II is definitely not a game for me and I hope it does poorly purely because I don't want to see more games like that.

There is film grain, motion blur, chromatic aberration and depth of field, all enabled, all the time

you can't adjust the Field of View and the game has huge black bars on both the top and bottom that can't be turned off

After reading that, I hope the studio gets shut down.


Have a nice day!

 

[Sithaer]

First game came out of nowhere and it was very enjoyable for me too, more of an immersive experience and loosely 'playable' narrative than a game, but hey in a world full of reboots, remakes, and oh so many samey games of most genre's, one like this every now and then is nice to see. It certainly breaks new visual ground too, which for me always helps add to the immersion and make the awe and experiences more memorable.

Yep, Hellblade was a nice fresh air and it still is even if its a short game.
I play a variety of games/genres but tbh this heavy narrated/emotion based type is the most memorable for me, Plague Tale was also a gem. 'both games'
Honestly I'm getting kinda tired of big open world games that require me to spend ~100 hours just to barely finish them..

If future games are like this then my current gaming PC is also my last one. Sounds like the graphics are the only good thing about the game, but I think that due to the heavy post processing and letterboxing not even that is true. And I could not care less about graphics, really. As long as AAA games look at least like a good 2019 game (eg Division 2, Horizon Zero Dawn port), I'm fine with it. Actually, I prefer it. Would rather have 100+ FPS with 2019-like graphics than barely 60 FPS at 1440p and "cinematic" graphics. I hope that devs at least spend some time optimizing high and medium graphics presets to give people like me playable FPS (ie over ~75 FPS). Hellblade II is definitely not a game for me and I hope it does poorly purely because I don't want to see more games like that.





After reading that, I hope the studio gets shut down.


Have a nice day!

If you did any research about the game/watched some of the developer vids then you would know that its an artistic choice for this very specific style and story. 'Senua has psychosis and whatever else mental issues so she sees the world/reality in a different way'
The game is also capped at 30 FPS on consoles so I guess anyone who plays the game on a console does not have a playable experience huh, its not a fast paced game more like a playable movie/art.
Black bars cause of the 21:9 design, yea well should I also complain about every single game that I've played in the past 5 years on my 21:9 monitor that required me to tinker with ini files,hex edit or use a 3rd tool/software just to have some half assed 21:9 support w/o black bars and some were even unfixable? 'yes we still get such games even in 2024 from AAA studios that can't be arsed to support ultrawide out of the box and yet fans can fix it in a matter of days..'
Now 1 game is relased in a 21:9 mode only in 2024 and ppl lose their shit.

They put a lot of work into both games as a smaller AA studio with a much smaller budget so compared to that they put down 2 impressive game imo so hoping for them to shut down is just childish.

 

[shk021051]

stunning graphics

 

[Garrus]

Another great game that is optimized across different hardware. No RT shows that the programmers know what they are doing. I hope more game developers follow suit and waist no resources on RT.

it is using lumen, a form of RT, all the time

If future games are like this then my current gaming PC is also my last one. Sounds like the graphics are the only good thing about the game, but I think that due to the heavy post processing and letterboxing not even that is true. And I could not care less about graphics, really. As long as AAA games look at least like a good 2019 game (eg Division 2, Horizon Zero Dawn port), I'm fine with it. Actually, I prefer it. Would rather have 100+ FPS with 2019-like graphics than barely 60 FPS at 1440p and "cinematic" graphics. I hope that devs at least spend some time optimizing high and medium graphics presets to give people like me playable FPS (ie over ~75 FPS). Hellblade II is definitely not a game for me and I hope it does poorly purely because I don't want to see more games like that.





After reading that, I hope the studio gets shut down.


Have a nice day!

For sure it doesn't look clean because of all the heavy post processing. I still remember Mass Effect 1 ruined by film grain, turn it off and it is so pretty, still the best looking game released in the last 5 years. This water came out in 2007 and it looks better than all the 2024 games.

You can turn it all off. Use the run command in windows.

%localappdata%\hellblade2\saved\config\windows or winDGK depending on the version

open config.ini

paste this at the end of the file

[SystemSettings]
r.FilmGrain=0
r.SceneColorFringeQuality=0
r.Tonemapper.GrainQuantization=0
r.Tonemapper.Quality=0
r.NT.Lens.Distortion.Intensity=0
r.NT.Lens.Distortion.Stretch=0
r.NT.Lens.ChromaticAberration.Intensity=0
r.NT.DOF.RotationalBokeh=0
r.NT.DOF.NTBokehTransform=0


---

thank me later

game runs at 90fps with my 7900 XT with FSR quality, it isn't too heavy even on high, and runs 120fps+ with medium settings

the problem with Hellblade 2 is you will literally go in to a cave and HOLD W for 2 hours. Terrible. Even the cutscenes don't continue without holding W (like climbing). Heck I wish they were NOT interactive cutscenes after holding W for 2 hours.

The entire game is only a few hours though. Worth a once playthrough. But yeah, this is not the future of gaming. Xbox 360 is still number 1. Along with the SNES era.