When Senua's Saga: Hellblade II releases exclusively for Xbox Series consoles and PC on May 21, 2024, Ninja Theory's dark action-adventure is set to set new standards in visual realism. Using the latest graphics technologies, the attentive developers managed to translate their artistic vision into gaming reality, free from the limitations of previous console generations. Technology, craftsmanship and art rarely went hand in hand as much as on this grueling journey to the cool north.
The foundation for Senua's Saga: Hellblade II is laid by Epic's powerful Unreal Engine 5, which inspired the experienced studio Ninja Theory to achieve a graphical masterpiece with the latest tools. Above all, it was the setting of the game, 10th century Iceland, that determined the technological framework. For maximum immersion in the dark volcanic island in the North Atlantic, Ninja Theory had to depict the location in the game in great detail.
Off to Iceland!
This process involved extensive visits to the island to identify some of the most dramatic areas as locations for the game. Once the developers were sure where the action-adventure would take place, they photographed the area from the air for hours and hours using powerful drones. The backdrops for the individual sections of the game were created from this data and images. In extensive photo sessions on site, all possible surfaces were scanned: from moss-covered stone to black sand beaches to cooled lava, scans were made that were translated into the game environment using photogrammetry. Applied photorealism has rarely been more impressive.
The situation is similar with the clothing of the game characters: Ninja Theory tailored their own robes, belts, loincloths, caps from period-appropriate materials – leather, fur and linen, among other things – and carved totems and other larger and smaller things that were common in these latitudes . All of this was also translated into the game using photogrammetry scans to dress the characters. The goal was to give the world and the objects it contains a lifelike texture. You could almost believe that you could reach into the game, feel everything and trace individual depressions in the rocks with your fingers.
Essentially, it's all about creating that impression and maintaining it throughout the entire length of Senua's Saga. Unreal Engine 5 does its part with the new Nanite technology, which the developers used to scatter millions of pebble-sized fine details throughout this world. This not only looks incredibly natural and believable, but also counteracts the flatness of many other video game worlds. And because the new feature called Virtual Shadow Maps provides these micro details, such as stones and smaller rubble, with fine, viewing-angle-stable shadows from every direction, it looks as if it has always been there.
Virtual actors, true to life like never before.
Of course, Senua's crusade through this world would only be half as gripping if the characters we follow weren't as believable and true to life as the environment they move through. That's why Senua actress Melina Jürgens was translated into the game down to the last detail. Epic's MetaHuman technology was used to create the game heroine. This allows Senua's skin to let the light shine through gently, her eye movements to appear completely natural and her teeth to not look like they came from carnival joke sets. Even the smallest wrinkles are clearly visible and take away from her face the doll-like quality that so often marks the dividing line between a real-looking figure and a computer-created mannequin.
These virtual actors were then brought to life in Ninja Theory's new performance capture studio, where dialogue, story film sequences and fight animations were captured with the utmost precision. Finally, state-of-the-art effects unite the actors with the lifelike world that surrounds them: a world-class motion blur adds power to every movement, and the clean depth of field that always captures the essentials means that Senua and all the other characters fit into the environment as if they were tailor-made.
So this is Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, not only an engaging adventure in terms of play and narrative, but also a technical milestone that sets standards in 2024. A game like this proves that good graphics are nice to look at, but excellent graphics create authenticity, life and credibility and elevate the story they illustrate.