Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Hellblade
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice	2017
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice VR Edition	2018
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II	TBA

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a singleplayer third-person adventure game developed by Ninja Theory. Senua's Sacrifice is the first title of the Hellblade franchise and the first game to be self-published by Ninja Theory.

The game was released in August 2017 and was considered a commerical and critical success, although several reviews did make general mentions that the gameplay at times felt uneven compared against the rich narrative elements that compose the majority of the experience. In November 2018, High Dynamic Range (HDR) graphics support was added in a patch.^[2] On November 16, 2021 a patch for the PC version of the game was released, making it on par with the Xbox Series X/S version and adding DLSS and AMD FSR support.

In December 2019, Ninja Theory announced the second title of the Hellblade franchise, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II.^[3]

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Developer website		Humble Widget. Includes Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice VR Edition.
GOG.com		Includes Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice VR Edition.
Humble Store		Includes Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice VR Edition.
Microsoft Store		Xbox Game Pass for PC
Steam		Includes Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice VR Edition.

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Delete or rename startup videos^[4]
Go to `<path-to-game>\HellbladeGame\Content\Movies`. Delete or rename `NinjaTheory_Logo.bik`, `ThirdParty_Logo.bik`, `ThirdParty_Logo_ONION.bik`, `UE4_Logo.bik`, `Qloc_Logo_4k.bik`, and `Qloc_Logo_1080.bik`.

Game data

General settings

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\HellbladeGame\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor\
Microsoft Store	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\NinjaTheoryLtd.HellbladeSenuasSacrifice_nkbnxvch6z38g\LocalState\HellbladeGame\Saved\Config\UWP
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/414340/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\HellbladeGame\Saved\SaveGames\
Microsoft Store	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\NinjaTheoryLtd.HellbladeSenuasSacrifice_nkbnxvch6z38g\SystemAppData\wgs
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/414340/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud
Xbox Cloud

Video

Graphics settings

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor		Select Windowed Fullscreen mode.
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)	See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)	Scales with the textures option. See Anisotropic filtering (AF) to set it separately.
Anti-aliasing (AA)	TAA is used by default. SSAA and FXAA can be forced.
High-fidelity upscaling	DLSS 2.3, FSR 1.0
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)	Added with update 1.03.^[5] Missing from the Microsoft Store version.
Ray tracing (RT)	Ray-traced shadows and reflections.
Color blind mode	Color Blindness setting simulates Deuteranopia, Protanopia, and Tritanopia.

The game engine may allow for manual configuration of the game via its variables. See the Unreal Engine 4 page for more details.

Field of view (FOV)

Use Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Ultrawide and FOV fixes

Input

Keyboard/mouse settings

Controller settings

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration		No mouse acceleration.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity		See Controller sensitivity.
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration		Microsoft Store version of the game

DualShock 4 controllers
DualShock button prompts
Light bar support
Connection modes	Wired Wired tested.^[6] Bluetooth and not supported without using an XInput wrapper. DualSense not supported.

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Controller sensitivity

Modify GameUserSettings.ini^{[citation needed]}
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open `GameUserSettings.ini`. Look for `AxisMappings=(AxisName="TurnRate",Key=Gamepad_RightX,Scale=1.000000)` and adjust the numeric value, e.g. `Scale=1.500000`.

Audio

In-game audio settings.

Accessibility settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Master, Music, SFX, Voices, Menus
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

To change the language in the GOG.com version, use language_setup.exe found in <path-to-game>.

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Arabic
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Danish
Dutch
Finnish
French
German
Latin American Spanish
Indonesian				Fan translation by IGTC Team (Indonesia Game Translator Community)
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Thai				Fan translation, download.
Turkish

VR support

3D modes	Native	Notes
Native 3D		VR officially supported in standalone VR version, see Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice VR Edition.
Nvidia 3D Vision		Download Helix Mod fix. See release notes on GeForce Forums (archived).
vorpX		G3D, Z3D, DirectVR Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.

Issues fixed

Game fails to run with the `DX12 is not supported on your system.` message

Use the `-dx11` command line argument^[7]

Constant slowdowns/low FPS fix

Change the DirectX to 10 without command lines (for Microsoft Store version)^[8]

Press ⊞ Win+R
Type dxcpl and press ↵ Enter
Press Edit list...
Under Enter a process or folder name paste paste HellbladeGame-UWP64-Shipping.exe and click Add
A dialog will pop up, click Yes and then Ok
In the bottom part of the DXCPL window, find Device Settings
Under Feature level limit select 10_1
Check Disable Feature Level Upgrade
Click Ok to apply changes

In case Windows can not find DXCPL, go to Windows Configurations/Options, then Apps, then click on Optional features, press Add feature and install Graphics tools.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	11, 12	November 2021 update brought support of DirectX 12.^[9]

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	PhysX
Cutscenes	Bink Video

Uses the Enlighten middleware for Global Illumination.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	7, 8, 10
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i5 3570K AMD FX-8350
System memory (RAM)	8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	30 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 AMD Radeon R9 280X 2 GB of VRAM DirectX 11 compatible
Other	Minimum supported resolution is 1280x720

A 64-bit operating system is required.

Notes

↑ Unreal Engine 4 engine build: 4.25.0.0^[1]
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/414340/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (414340) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

↑ Verified by User:Mastan on 2021-12-06
↑ You can now play Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice on PC in HDR! - last accessed on 2018-11-21
""HDR (high dynamic range) support for both NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards""
↑ Hellblade 2 confirmed for both PC and Xbox Series X - last accessed on 2019-12-22
""A Microsoft representative has confirmed that Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 will be released for both PC and the upcoming Xbox Series X.""
↑ Verified by User:Waschbär on 2017-12-17
↑ Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice :: HDR Now Available - last accessed on 2018-11-21
↑ Verified by User:Rct3guy on 2021-11-19
Tested V2 wired. Bluetooth unsuccessful for both DualShock 4 V2 and DualSense
↑ https://steamcommunity.com/app/414340/discussions/0/3194738434889268083/#c3194738434892562318
↑ Verified by User:Rysllo on 2021-06-14
↑ Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Enhanced on PC - last accessed on 2021-12-10

[2] Unreal Engine 4 engine build: 4.25.0.0^[1]

[Proton_path_note-6] 2.0 ^2.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/414340/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (414340) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

[engineversion-1] Verified by User:Mastan on 2021-12-06

[3] You can now play Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice on PC in HDR! - last accessed on 2018-11-21
""HDR (high dynamic range) support for both NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards""

[4] Hellblade 2 confirmed for both PC and Xbox Series X - last accessed on 2019-12-22
""A Microsoft representative has confirmed that Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 will be released for both PC and the upcoming Xbox Series X.""

[5] Verified by User:Waschbär on 2017-12-17

[7] Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice :: HDR Now Available - last accessed on 2018-11-21

[8] Verified by User:Rct3guy on 2021-11-19
Tested V2 wired. Bluetooth unsuccessful for both DualShock 4 V2 and DualSense

[9] ttps://steamcommunity.com/app/414340/discussions/0/3194738434889268083/#c3194738434892562318

[10] Verified by User:Rysllo on 2021-06-14

[11] Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Enhanced on PC - last accessed on 2021-12-10

[Note 1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[Note 2]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[1]

Developers

	Ninja Theory
	QLOC
Engines
	Unreal Engine 4^{[Note 1]}
Release dates
Windows	August 8, 2017
Reception
Metacritic	83
OpenCritic	84
IGDB	84
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Cinematic camera, Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Adventure, Hack and slash
Art styles	Realistic, Live action
Themes	Europe, Fantasy
Series	Hellblade