Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice gets free Xbox Series X upgrade

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice has been optimized for Xbox Series X and Series S. The upgrade is free for anyone who has the game, which includes subscribers to Xbox Game Pass.

The upgrade is only for the new Xbox consoles. Hellblade studio Ninja Theory says an update for PC “is currently in development,” but there are no plans to offer it for any other platforms. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice launched in 2017 on PlayStation 4 and Windows PC. Microsoft acquired Ninja Theory in June of 2018.

The optimized Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice gives players three visual fidelity settings — performance, resolution, and enriched, with the latter offering ray tracing on both Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. Enriched mode supports dynamic resolutions up to 4K on Series X, and full HS on Series S, at 30 frames per second for both consoles.

Performance mode on Series X offers dynamic resolutions to 1080p at 120 Hz frame rates; it’s full HD and 60 fps on Series S. Resolution mode on Series X prioritizes dynamic resolutions to 4K, at 60 fps; Series S gets dynamic resolution support to 1440p at 30 fps.

“Also being added: Texture resolution bump, Chapter select, increased particle quality, increased draw distance, higher levels of detail,” the game’s official website says.

Ninja Theory said QLOC, the company behind Hellblade’s port to Nintendo Switch in 2019, handled the optimized version upgrade, freeing the studio to continue working on Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2. In June, the studio indicated the sequel was still early in development, likely the reason why it wasn’t shown at the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase for E3 2024 that month. Senua’s Saga was announced at The Game Awards in December 2019.