It would appear that the development of Hellraid has not been going as quickly as expected, and new reports are now explaining why that has been the case. Yesterday, developer Techland announced that it will no longer be offering Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game, and that it will be moving development to a new gaming engine that would be more appropriate to handle the title’s intensity. While Steam Early Access is set to become available later in 2014, Hellraid’s actual release date has been moved to 2015.
“Techland officially announces that its upcoming dark fantasy game will run on a new engine, while the game itself went through an overhaul and is now heading to next-gen consoles alongside the PC release, with Steam Early Access planned for autumn,” wrote the company in an official press release. Hellraid actually got its first launch in 2013, and has since become a more dynamic title as a result of Techland’s immersion into the game’s development, as well as feedback from gamers. With that in mind, Techland has also confirmed that it will introduce new features, which have been shown off accordingly in a new video tease for the upcoming title.
Techland went on to explain the different modes that would be available to gamers on Hellraid. The first mode is Story Mode, where players can independently battle the “forces of Hell” while exploring the open world around them. Mission Mode would have great replay value, as suggested by the press release, and would “put more focus on arcade-style fun of climbing up leaderboards, creating the longest combos, and beating high scores.” A new mode, Arena Mode, would “offer survival gameplay with waves of deadly demonic hordes to fend off.” All modes would be offered in single-player mode and co-op modes with two to four players.
“Players will be able to create and customize their characters with armor, clothes, and accessories such as amulets,” wrote Techland as it explained how Hellraid would allow for a more freewheeling character creation system. According to Techland, the skill tree will not be limited depending on a character’s class, and that would result in players creating a character “perfectly suited to their play style by combining various active and passive abilities.” As for gameplay, Techland said that Hellraid now has an improved combat system, with “one- and two-handed melee weapons, shields, magic staves and ranged weapons.” Furthermore, melee combat has become more immersive and intricate, while magic spells will supposedly offer an impressive selection depending on what you’d be needing the spells for.
Talking about the game engine, Techland explained that its upcoming title is transitioning to the Chrome Engine 6, which is also used by another one of the company’s titles, Dying Light. Players can expect a physics-based lighting system, more complex animations and effects, advanced AI, and more detailed character models and locations. Release dates for the PC, Xbox One, and PS4 versions were not announced, but again, should take place sometime in 2015.