A new Unreal Engine showcase reveals the technological advancements made with the rendering software, featuring an impressive facial animation showcase for Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2.

The short animation was part of the State of Unreal gameplay showcase held at GDC 2023. 

The animation is brief but highlights the details in the facial expressions made by Melina Juergens, the actress who plays Senua in Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. You can clearly see the subtle movements of her facial muscles and eyes. 

Epic Games revealed the impressive capabilities of Unreal Engine 5 a couple of years ago, and it seems Unreal Engine has improved the technical capabilities of the game engine since then. More and more titles are using the power of Unreal Engine 5 for new and upcoming releases; Tekken 8 makes great use of the engine as shown in recent gameplay trailers, and action RPG Wayfinder will be making the switch from Unreal Engine 4 to 5 for various improvements, including raytracing.

Sennua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 was originally announced back in 2019, and we’ve gotten a bit of information on the upcoming sequel to Hellblade since then. The game already sported impressive visuals from previous trailers, too. 

With Ninja Theory continuing to work on Hellblade 2, it’ll be exciting to see how the studio pushes the boundaries of Unreal Engine.