Ninja Theory"s Hellblade: Senua"s Sacrifice is now officially available for Xbox Series X|S consoles, gaining all new visual effects, a chapter select, and multiple performance modes via a free update.
As part of the update, the texture resolution, particle quality, draw distance, and level of detail have all been improved on the new hardware. For the first time, players will also be able to select a chapter from the campaign and replay from there, a highly requested feature. But most importantly, DirectX Raytracing is now a feature for enriching reflections.
Xbox Series X|S owners jumping into the game will now find three options to experience the game: Performance, Resolution, and Enriched.
On the Series X, Performance mode will mean no ray tracing, dynamic resolution up to 1080p and the game will run at 120FPS. The Resolution option also disables ray tracing but runs the game at dynamic 4K resolution at 60FPS. Enriched mode enables ray tracing and displays at dynamic 4K resolution at 30FPS.
Meanwhile, on the Series S, Performance mode has no ray tracing, plays at 1080p with 60FPS. Resolution mode disables ray tracing once again but the resolution jumps to 1440p with 30FPS. Lastly, Enriched on the Series S enables ray tracing at 1080p resolution and runs the game at 30FPS.
Ninja Theory"s Will Potter said this about the new update in an interview:
"Senua’s journey is a cinematic experience, so the visual improvements are really going to up the immersion and bring the world of Helheim to life in a way we haven’t been able to do on console before. Ray traced reflections bring a new depth to the environments, from the torchlit passageways of Hela’s domain to the dramatic beaches of Shipwreck Coast."
This free update to Hellblade: Senua"s Sacrifice on the Xbox Series X|S had been developed with support from QLOC, so for any worried fans, Ninja Theory said development on Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, which it is making in-house as an Xbox platform exclusive, was not slowed down.
A PC update with the same features is also in the works, though a launch date was not provided. Ninja Theory added there are no plans to bring the enhancements to other platforms, which is bad news for those on PlayStation 5.