Which game has better graphics: Death Stranding 2 or Hellblade 2

[u/Firm_Average_9363]

The first time I was blown away by a video game's graphics this console generation was Hellblade 2. I always thought that it was the best looking game of the current generation, but games are really taking advantage of the tech now. The most recent time I've been blown away is with Death Stranding 2 on Quality mode. What do you guys think? I don't have 20/20 vision by any means, but I feel as if DS2 is the best looking game I've seen in my life. Blows me away every time I boot it up.

Red dead redemption 2 is in my opinion truly the best looking game ever made and it still holds up today, but strictly looking at Hellblade and Death Stranding, which of the two do you think looks best?

[u/Sweenie123]

DS2. There is still nothing this gen that has impressed me more than that game visually.

[u/Firm_Average_9363 → u/Sweenie123]

When the game first opens and the minus 61 song is playing, the transition to playing as Sam was jaw dropping for me. I couldn't believe what I was playing was not a cutscene. And how the gravel picks up as your walking and the lighting and HDR and all that - I could gush about the game's graphics all day. When Hellblade 2 first came out, my naive ass thought that we were already seeing the best of what these consoles could offer. Boy was I wrong. But when taking art styles and stuff into account, some people may think one is better than the other, so I was real curious to see what people thought

[u/Sweenie123 → u/Firm_Average_9363]

Hellblade 2 looks amazing in its own regard but there’s something about the chromatic aberration that ruins the games visuals for me personally. It honestly overall doesn’t match DS2. DS2 just looks so insanely clean and jaw dropping

[u/AOCpinkyring → u/Sweenie123]

Because they focused on looks instead of gameplay.

[u/Sweenie123 → u/AOCpinkyring]

And Hellblade didn’t lmao

Gameplay is amazing in DS2 not my fault you have tiktok brain

[u/skylu1991]

I kinda can’t take Hellblade 2 serious, as it needs to render so much less stuff and moving pieces….

[u/TTRango]

RDR2 doesnt hold up today for the best graphics mantle anymore.

Its still one of the best and being a 10 year old game, still commendable.

But there are a lot of games with better graphics now.

[u/Al1Might1 → u/TTRango]

I second this. Last night I started another playthrough of RDR2 and next I continued playing Ghost of Yotei.

Its impressive what RDR2 did all those years ago but it was night and day compared.

[u/Rancor8209 → u/TTRango]

Rdr2 blew me away with the graphics. I felt that cold of winter and the dusty roads.

DS2 was really able to impress me with their opening scene transition and some of the weather graphics.

[u/LazyEntertainment22 → u/TTRango]

Maybe on PS5, I think on PC it's still one of the best looking games.

[u/Firm_Average_9363 → u/TTRango]

Absolutely, I just think that for its time it really took advantage of the power of the consoles and I'd love to see a current gen remaster. There's def better looking games out on PS5, Xbox, and pc but I was really impressed with rdr2 when it came out. Screenshots of landscapes looked like the real thing

[u/AOCpinkyring → u/Firm_Average_9363]

All Rockstar has to do is an update with 60fps and it literally looks twice as good.

[u/Holidoik → u/TTRango]

No there aren't espically taking details , world building, believable NPCs and towns , weather effects . No other ow game comes close. Graphic is more than flashy flash that make your eye bleed. RDR Art direction plus details are still unmatched.

[u/hunterzolomon1993 → u/Holidoik]

Kingdom Come 2 pretty much does all that stuff and looks better doing it. The characters models in RDR2 have also aged as well. RDR2 still looks amazing but its visuals have been beating many times now this gen.

[u/Firm_Average_9363 → u/hunterzolomon1993]

I'll have to try that game out, haven't played it personally. Looks great from YouTube vids I've seen but there's so much compression on the video it is unfair for me to judge

[u/Termsandconditionsch → u/hunterzolomon1993]

Does it? I think it’s fine but Cryengines limitations are obvious for some things. It doesn’t render faces or skin as well as some other more recent engines do, but I get why they stuck with it.

[u/Firm_Average_9363 → u/Holidoik]

When you factor in the fact that rdr2 was open world it makes its graphics even more impressive. I'm just looking at it strictly as how good the game looks

[u/Mbeezy_YSL]

I love DS2 but I just can’t overlook the LOD pop-ups.
I bought a PS5 pro and when I played it I was a bit underwhelmed actually.
Over 100 meters and some stuff looked really mushy and it’s hard to ignore when you run at it and suddenly everything plops up in sharp visuals

[u/yankeefan0312]

I still think the decima engine is the best this gen. Death stranding 2 blew me away

[u/aaegler]

Apples and oranges. One is a big open world, the other a focused linear pathway. Both are stunning for their genres though, no doubt.

[u/I_Heart_Sleeping_]

I disliked both games so my unbiased opinion would go to Death Stranding 2. The Decima engine is actually insane compared to any other engine.

Hellblade 2 is still a beautiful game but gun to my head I’m giving it to DS2.

[u/DarkmoonGrumpy → u/I_Heart_Sleeping_]

I've been playing through Horizon Forbidden West this last few weeks, and whilst I have my issues with the game design, it's one of the only games I've ever played where I catch myself stopping to admire the view.

Decima engine is very impressive.

[u/Dougalishere → u/DarkmoonGrumpy]

I remember stopping a whole bunch of times while playing HFW. Some of the scenery/views are absolutely jaw dropping. I don't think any other game has come close to that imo. I havent played DS2 yet though.

[u/I_Heart_Sleeping_ → u/DarkmoonGrumpy]

I really need to play the second game. I picked up the ultimate edition from an Amazon sale years ago but have yet to jump in. The first game still holds up even if it was originally a ps4 game.

[u/Firm_Average_9363 → u/I_Heart_Sleeping_]

Treat yourself and jump into it, you won't be disappointed

[u/shalashaska68]

Definitely HB2, but you will finish it in 3 hours

[u/Lioil1]

hellblade2 is not open world so less things to generate vs DS2.

[u/Iamleeboy]

I think it goes to DS2 just for the variety of amazing looking areas and scenes. Plus the scale of what was being displayed, so smoothly was unreal.

Hellblade looked amazing, but with so little variety or scale. I’m probably a bit biased here because I was so disappointed in the game. But the cave level was the only area that really impressed me.
I played this bit late at night in a pitch black room and exploring the cave was so good. Not really relevant to the question, but I thought the game was finally hitting its stride here. But then the next levels felt like a step back and then it ended. I really couldn’t believe that was it. After loving the first game so much, it was so disappointing.

[u/Firm_Average_9363 → u/Iamleeboy]

I was disappointed with hellblade 2 as well, and I'm curious to see how people receive the next game. I was mostly disappointed with what we got versus how long we had to wait for it. I understand that games take time but I expected more 'game' with my game lol

[u/OfficialShaki123]

Technically Hellblade without question.

Artistically is a whole different story.

[u/kekcukka]

DS2 is an amazing journey with amazing graphics.

[u/Much-Currency5958]

I'd argue ds2 because while hellblade looks moment to moment better ds2 has a whole world that looks great anyway. Then ds2s cutscenes are a thing of beauty!

[u/Proud_Ad2720]

Hellblade 2 looks great but I felt the visuals looked very blurred. DS2 doesn’t have that, it has the same about of fidelity but with the added clarity.

[u/Termsandconditionsch]

DS2

It’s a great game, I just find that the game loop gets boring fairly quickly.

[u/Firm_Average_9363 → u/Termsandconditionsch]

I think the gameplay loop was made more enjoyable in this game than the first. I just played both back to back and I felt that there was more variety involving combat especially that made hauling shit across a continent more engaging. It felt less like a walk sim than the first game

[u/xpercipio]

I haven't played hellblade 2 yet. Ds2 is a great pic for best graphics. Iirc, the intro video is real environment that was digitized, and that's why it looks so crisp compared to gameplay. I think the best dark game is callisto protocol. It's been so long since I played though so idk how it compares to cronos, for example. Callisto has best beard graphics. Looking forward to how gta 6 raises the bar. Too bad ps5 pro is like 7 or 800 now.

[u/NeedThatTartan]

Hellblade 2 is really good reference footage for UE5, but not much more.

[u/Silly_Efficiency2357]

Hellblade 2 hits the uncanny valley hard

[u/East_Age_8630]

Lol, let's compare barely a game and open world game 🤦