Yeah, games have imitated movies for a long time anyway, I don't see a reason why developers can't experiment with aspect ratios to create a certain visual look that goes hand in hand with the story, tone and themes. A game set in a claustrophobic, eerie prison? Go for the 1.37:1 academy ratio to drive home that stuck in the fish tank feel. Why not? Here we have those wide, but isolated, lonely vistas for Senua to get lost in and the scope aspect ratio fits like a glove.
This is a great point and definitely a missed opportunity. I don't need an explanation myself as I always understand the reasoning behind aspect ratio choices but it looks like a lot of gamers don't, so a 2 minute video with, let's say, Ninja Theory buddy Alex Garland would have been great.
I understand what you mean... But for me a good game has to have some type of good gameplay in it....
How hard it is to understand that it is not your typical bloated and full of needless fat video game with markers, fetch quest, pointless choices which don't affect anything, pointless levels and numbers, goddamn crafting with inventory management, adjustable difficulty which won't even let you outlevel everything in the game etc. to let you live your power fantasy. I won't name any games, but it is super obvious which games I mean and as it so happens these games are selling millions, while some very niche and much more impressive games get buried under them and criticised for not being yet another brainless pop-corn time waster. Good lord, ugh...
Yeah I think you have to change the headphones driver in audio settings back to the default option when playing this.
I honestly just can't comprehend how can someone not like the combat in Hellblade II. It's like we've played completely different games.
Kinda bad example. I mean, even though A Plague Tale's sequel is better in almost every way, both games are... hmm, how should I say it without insulting these games cuz I love them to death...
The puzzles in the game are way different than in any other game with puzzles. They're basically very simple environmental puzzles mixed with mysticism and in a game like this there's no need for RE or Myst-like "kill your brain or become an Einstein" kind of puzzles. There's also lore totems in the game and two of them in fact while the first game had only one and you need to find them. I mean, they did what must be done in the most elegant and organic way possible without wasting a lot of your time.
Yeah cheers that’s what I’ve ended up going with. As I mentioned I really wish they explained this fully in the game settings.Yeah I think you have to change the headphones driver in audio settings back to the default option when playing this.
Hype - Headphones Required – Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II’s Binaural Audio Is Like Nothing You’ve Ever Heard
I asked copilot: what is binaural sound? Binaural sound is an intriguing phenomenon that enhances our auditory experience. When you listen to two tones with slightly different frequencies simultaneously, your brain creates an illusion called a binaural beat. Here’s how it works: The Illusion...www.neogaf.com
Yeah I agree that it’s more like an interactive movie. But for me it might be the first game to actually pull that off. The realistic graphics and gazillion motion capture animations and no UI and even the black bars all remove the gamey feeling and makes it feel like it’s all a cutscene.
I liked the first game. It isn’t long.
Yeah I agree that it’s more like an interactive movie. But for me it might be the first game to actually pull that off. The realistic graphics and gazillion motion capture animations and no UI and even the black bars all remove the gamey feeling and makes it feel like it’s all a cutscene.
It just don’t look or play like a typical Game™.
Can’t say yet if I think this is good or bad. My mind tells me I suddenly need to act like with movies and finish it first before I can rate it. And maybe prepare and pop some popcorn for the next session!
So far (4.5h) it has exceeded my expectations in many ways but also stumbled badly in other ways. Right now I have no idea why they thought it was a good idea to keep the same boring matching figures puzzles. The stone puzzles are better but the movement is too slow so they’re still mostly annoying.
I saw a video with the fire/lava effect - I don’t think it’s quite on par with the rest of the visuals. But games are way behind in that regard. It’d be awesome if they used some sort of actual fluid sim for the fx...
How hard it is to understand that it is not your typical bloated and full of needless fat video game with markers, fetch quest, pointless choices which don't affect anything, pointless levels and numbers, goddamn crafting with inventory management, adjustable difficulty which won't even let you outlevel everything in the game etc. to let you live your power fantasy. I won't name any games, but it is super obvious which games I mean and as it so happens these games are selling millions, while some very niche and much more impressive games get buried under them and criticised for not being yet another brainless pop-corn time waster. Good lord, ugh...
ANYWAY....
Just finished the fight at the Draugar ritual. Jesus Christ almighty. I remember some devs tried to show something similar to make you feel disgusted and scared. First game that comes to mind is of course Tomb Raider 2013. So, Ninja Theory just fuckin' annihilated the whole thing to a point of it being no more than a childs play. I can't even describe just how brutal and realistic the whole leadup to the fight was, with torned and decapitated bodies literally in front of you and at a distance with amazing camera work, lighting and shadows, allowing you to see just enough and not make you throw up and then... then you have to fight your way out of this hellhole.
Holy shit! I haven't played a better game with realistic sword fights than this EVER. It's so fuckin' visceral with blood and sweat and you even could be caught on fire cuz some enemies have torches and they sure love to toast you to crisp, eat you piece by piece, suck your blood and eat your brain. What's also amazing to see is that this shole fight can be played very differently each time you die, with completely new animations, moves, killing blows and stuff like that that it's almost required to die a few times just to see it in action (play the game on Hard people!).
It is so fuckin' incredible how swords clashing and deflecting sounds and feels, how astounding animations and transitions between different fights are. And all of this while you're surrounded with an amazing and thick atmosphere, billions of particles, amazing music under moon's light with dancing lights and shadows from torches and stuff... Eat shiiiiiit, modern God of War!
Fuckin' WOW, Ninja Theory! I thought the first boss fight was incredible but the Draugar ritual is just in the whole other universe. I got so immersed into the whole thing that I wasn't even thinking about making shots and stuff. Hellblade II is fuckin' easily my game of the year, EASILY! Can't even imagine which game can beat it for me this year. DD''2'' was the first candidate until I actually played it some more (~200 hrs) and finished it (almost 2 times).
Also, in game models are exactly the same as during cutscenes, the thing is though, you simply can't see all the details (small hair on skin, pores, detailed scars etc, etc. during gameplay) cuz of the very strong DOF effect which blurs all details during cutscenes even, not to mention that to even see them you need to zoom in a lot and the farther the camera is from the character, the worse it gets when it comes to details, cuz they're getting lost. It is the best, the most realistic video game and interactive entertainment ever, period. You can even seen dozens of blood vains in the eyes ffs. The only thing the game lacks really is Pure Hair or even better next gen physics based hair rendering, that's fuckin' it. I honestly cannot believe how well the game runs with all this pure next gen visuals, with zero stutters and all that during extremely heavy and demanging scenes. There's some really fuckin' serious and god tier programming wizards working at Ninja Theory
Still better looking than MJ
Its is amazingHoly shit, the Ingunn boss segment.
The movements tied to the music and the things happening around you. Love the detail of all the sand on the ground rapidly shifting.
Hell of a set-piece.
Well yeah. I'm not saying that fire effects are next gen, it's pretty much more or less the same as in many other modern AA, AAA and B games. I'm saying that what they did is extremely effectinve in creating thiсk, encapsulative and emmersive atmosphere, feeling of dread, fear and danger
I just watched more of the walkthrough, there are moments where it seems to be using some type of fluid sim, or something very basic that mirrors a sim with certain parts of the water, and the fire on the giant - but it may be pre-rendered in some way. I hear GTA6 is going to have an actual fluid sim but who knowsWell yeah. I'm not saying that fire effects are next gen, it's pretty much more or less the same as in many other modern AA, AAA and B games. I'm saying that what they did is extremely effectinve in creating thiсk, encapsulative and emmersive atmosphere, feeling of dread, fear and danger
The thing is though, even this level of quality can destroy FPS cuz of alpha transparency and stuff - which is still insanely hard for GPUs to handle and especially at close range, so imagine what actual physics based fire fluid simulation can do to the GPU. We're still not there yet, but look at all those cloth physics and physics effects in general, they're almost in all AA and even B games now and GPUs just effortlessly rendering all this with great performance and barely any performance cost, while if you remember, when this physics based cloth and class rendering was first introduced in Mirror's Edge.... it was an effin' slide show. Then Batman Arkham Asylum came out with steam and debri physics and not that long after snow deformation in Arkham Origins, physics based rain and even more impressive cloth physics in Arkham Knight and so on (there's more games with physics, but these are just the most notable ones). It's logical step forwar for video games to have physics based fire, water, other kinds of fluid and stuff, but it takes time and hardware needs to be there to handle it. Mirror's Edge was released 16 years ago, so... maybe in the next decade or so we'll see some slide show? I mean, we have to start with that at least
I want a piece of gear that takes advantage of this. I am looking toward a display and auditory experience paring that is literally the best I have ever had.Yeah I think you have to change the headphones driver in audio settings back to the default option when playing this.
Hype - Headphones Required – Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II’s Binaural Audio Is Like Nothing You’ve Ever Heard
I asked copilot: what is binaural sound? Binaural sound is an intriguing phenomenon that enhances our auditory experience. When you listen to two tones with slightly different frequencies simultaneously, your brain creates an illusion called a binaural beat. Here’s how it works: The Illusion...
When you accidently press the photo mode button during a cutscene and realize it’s all in-engine
It's fucking insane, you have complete camera / focal control over all the scenes, shows that it's all real-time, no pre-rendered video shenanigans.
I need to do a 3rd playthrough for the new game+2 narrative and just focus on photos.It's fucking insane, you have complete camera / focal control over all the scenes, shows that it's all real-time, no pre-rendered video shenanigans.
such a beautiful game. 
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