Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 Only Runs 30 FPS On Xbox Series X|S, Not That You Noticed

gameranx.com:

Ninja Theory has revealed something that might shock everyone: Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 only runs at 30 FPS on Xbox Series X|S.

As reported by Pure Xbox, Ninja Theory’s visual effects director Mark Slater-Tunstill revealed in an interview with GamePro in Germany that the studio decided to go for this framerate, and focus on its dynamic resolution instead. There will be no graphics modes for the game on Xbox Series X|S either, but if you get it on PC, you will be able to raise the framerate.

Of course, this is easy console warrior bait, but any fanboy who is going to try that is just setting themselves up for embarrassment. Obviously, no one knew that it was on 30 FPS. Because of the stunning visuals that we have seen in trailer and gameplay videos, it was very obviously the last thing on people’s minds.

In fact, Ninja Theory revealed that this was a deliberate choice, to make the video game feel more filmlike. That’s a really interesting statement, because it highlights the difference from gamers who love the ‘cinematic’ narrative based games, like Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and the film nerds, who like Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2.

As you probably already know, higher framerates like 60 FPS or 120 FPS increase the smoothness of a video. In video games, this is a boon, because it can help gamers react to stimuli in the game faster. Higher framerates benefit people playing first person shooters, or action games.

But in the film world, that smoothness is actually undesirable. As explained in this video, filmmakers as a rule record and project their movies at 24 or 25 FPS, even lower than 30 FPS. That’s because the filmmakers are aiming for ‘the lowest possible framerate that appears natural to the human eye.’

 We could go on about the technicalities of this phenomenon, but our point here is that, as ironic as that statement sounds to someone who plays cinematic games, it’s actually correct, if you’re someone who knows all about movies in actual cinemas.

Now,