Hellblade 2 will be 30fps only on Xbox consoles

Hellblade 2: Senua's Saga will only run at 30fps on Xbox Series X/S.

The upcoming game from Ninja Theory has been built exclusively for Xbox and PC using Unreal Engine 5, truly showing the power of the engine.

However, this comes at a cost. Ace German outlet GamePro has confirmed, the game only runs at 30fps on console with a dynamic resolution. There are no graphics modes, although frame rate can be increased if played on PC.

The game's VFX director told GamePro this is to offer a “cinematic” experience and the article writer noted that due to slow and weighty gameplay, the lower frame rate wasn't an issue.

However, this could put off some players hoping for a smoother experience. This also follows Bethesda's Starfield, which was also locked to 30fps on console.

It's unclear if the need to release on the lower-powered Xbox Series S is a factor behind this decision.

Yet Polygon has described Hellblade 2 as a “tech showcase”, due to its use of UE5 as well as completely motion-capped animation for both performances and combat. The team visited Iceland to map authentic landscapes, and built props and costumes to be scanned for hyper-realistic textures.

In further news, Polygon noted the absence of Ninja Theory founder and Hellblade writer-director Tameem Antoniades from the studio. An Xbox spokesperson has since confirmed he is no longer working at the developer, with no further reason given.

Antoniades was involved in Hellblade 2 during the early stages of development, although it's now being led by three creative leads: environment art director Dan Attwell, visual effects director Mark Slater-Tunstill, and audio director David Garcia.

The release date for Hellblade 2 was announced in January during Microsoft's latest Xbox Developer Direct. The game arrives on 21st May as a digital-only release across Xbox Series X/S and PC, and will be available on Game Pass on day one.