First person RPG Hellraid isn't cancelled, Dying Light dev responds

The Polish developer showed us Hellraid at last year's E3, a dark fantasy first person RPG with four player co-op. Since the unmitigated success of Dying Light, Techland has raised their expectations for Hellraid, stating that the game had been put on hold. It turns out that this wasn't entirely accurate.

Techland posted the following statement on the official Hellraid website. Hellraid was previously slated for 2014 'Early Access' Steam launch, and a full PS4/Xbox One/PC launch in 2015.

..."We would like to announce officially that our dark fantasy FPP game Hellraid will not be released this year as previously planned, and the development of the game has been put on hold.In the recent months, we conducted an internal analysis and came to the conclusion that Hellraid, in its current shape and form, is not meeting our own expectations for this project. Therefore, we decided the best course of action would be to send it back to the drawing board and invent our dark fantasy title anew.In the meantime, we will consolidate our development resources and focus on further expansion of our Dying Light franchise."...

Those comments have been further clarified by Techland CEO Pawel Marchewka, who told Eurogamer that Techland's efforts are merely focussed on supporting Dying Light's 4.5 million active players.

..."Right now, we want to concentrate on Dying Light. We wanted to be fair with the fans, so we wanted to send a clear message, especially as a lot of the people were expecting new things coming from Hellraid at E3 and Gamescom. We decided to take the pressure away.Once we deliver everything we want [for Dying Light], probably by the - I don't know - end of the third quarter this year, we will then maybe start to send some new [Hellraid] materials or information or thinking about what's the release date, something like that. There is nothing concrete about this timing. But putting on hold means we want some of the resources to concentrate on Dying Light, and once they do what needs to be done we will come back to Hellraid."...

Considering the success and quality of Dying Light, I know my personal expectations of the dev are higher than they were back when they shipped Dead Island. I'm sure the millions of new Techland fans will be happy to hear that Hellraid isn't cancelled.

Source: Eurogamer

Jez Corden
Co-Managing Editor

Jez Corden is a Managing Editor at Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by tea. Follow on Twitter @JezCorden and listen to his XB2 Podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!