Hellraid

Like a bat out of hell, except you’re going in and you're not a bat.

Is that skyrim 2 there?
No, sadly not. It’s Hellraid, the first person hack ‘em up from Techland, creator of Dead Island. It’s built on chrome engine 6, the same new gen engine as its other new game Dying Light (see page 40). You play a member of a cursed family, on a quest to redeem your honour that quickly escalates until clue in the name you end up raiding hell itself. never a good idea.

Do i detect an undead theme to its games?
Yes, the screenshot may be of a (cross eyed) skeleton, but that’s not all there is to the game. There’s poetry, wit, art… and smashing demons up with hammers. It might look like The Elder Scrolls but it’s a more action heavy take on fantasy, closer to arkane’s Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, or Diablo from a first person  perspective.

Does it have classes, like dead island?
No, this game has no classes, but it is rather RPG-y. and rather than a skill tree there’s a kind of web of over 150 skills from which you unlock neighbouring abilities.  our favourite is the Frost nova skill, because it lets you power attack a duo of frozen foes with a two handed mace. The crunchy sound when they break is just lovely.

So it’s just bashing demon popsicles?
Kind of. There are three modes, all seamlessly integrated. They are: Story, with a linear narrative path, Mission, with randomised objectives, challenges and levels; and arena, which is a ‘nightmarishly hard’ horde mode. You can jump in and out of them with the same character, and all are 2-4 player co-op to boot. oh, and there’s tons of loot.

Sounds delightful. When can we play it?
no release date yet, but we’re guessing 2015. If you want to get a taste for the ‘dark fantasy universe’ ahead of release, there’s a mobile adventure game called Hellraid: The Escape already out that sounds equally brutal. otherwise, if you want to authentically experience the horrors of raiding hell, have you considered spending a weekend in croydon?