One of the best games released in 2017, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, has been updated today with a special optimization patch for the Xbox Series X|S. Developer Ninja Theory released an update that improves some of the game's visuals, including the addition of ray tracing.
Today's update bumps the resolution up to 4K with framerates that make use of the system's 120Hz mode. Ray tracing is available on both the Series X and Series S. Ninja Theory also updated a number of textures and materials for this update. They have also updated the particle engine and other smaller details. Players will be able to choose from three different visual modes: Performance, Resolution, and Enriched. It's that "Enriched" mode that includes the ray tracing support.
One of the most requested features from fans over the past several years was for a chapter select. Ninja Theory included that very thing in today's update, thus allowing fans to go back and replay any of their favorite chapters.
As noted, this update is free to those that own the game. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is also available through Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Gaming. A similar patch for the PC release of the game is being worked on but is not yet released.
Ninja Theory says that the development and release of this patch has not impacted the development on Senua's Saga: Hellblade II thanks to them partnering with QLOC for this update.
