On the surface, Hellraid has everything. A dark fantasy atmosphere. Plenty of varied monsters. A solid combat structure. Environments which have an authentic feel of dank death around the corner. And yet for some reason, the game is just lacking…something.
At another hands-off presentation last week, Techland showed off their medieval game Hellraid, a first-person swords and sorcery epic that could tickle your Hexen bones. It’s the first new-gen game for Techland, and it’ll be a self-published title that takes players into the depths of hell, or at least some very authentic cathedrals.
In the hands-off demo, I got to see all of that in action, as the Techland developer bashed and cleaved his way through the level. From the looks of things, the combat has a satisfyingly meaty steel on steel approach, with enemy AI being intelligent enough to attempt to parry your attacks and follow through with a quick counter.
You can charge up some magic attacks, carry a shield and inflict plenty of gory retribution in a title that looks decent at least. One other feature that was touted to the audience, was that enemies would be randomly generated each time you started playing. Mini-bosses, hordes of skeletons and various other demons would have no set spawn point at all, in order to crank up that tension of not knowing what waits around that corner.
It’s very much Skyrim meets Hexen meets Diablo then, with loot everywhere and bosses ready to cause some havoc. But as I said, the game is just missing that crucial spark to make it more interesting. Maybe the co-op action and environmental attacks will propel it forward. Maybe it’s still too early for me to be judging what I’m hoping will be a better game than what I saw.
If Hellraid is going to succeed however, it’s going to need to leverage that aforementioned co-op angle, which pretty much every game at E3 did this year. If it can combine random enemy generation times four with some solid loot and a decent raid-boss level challenge, then it might have something going for it.
Last Updated: June 18, 2014
Alien Emperor Trevor
June 18, 2014 at 13:33
Hexen bones? You damn heretic.
Alien Emperor Trevor
June 18, 2014 at 13:35
Hopefully the combat is more Dark Messiah of MM than Skyrim. Skyrim combat is as dull as dishwater.
Admiral Chief Cyber Commando
June 18, 2014 at 14:02
I remember reading about DMoMM as “The adventures of sir kicksalot-deathboot in the land of conveniently placed spikes and ledges”
I don’t care about that, I thought the combat was flippen fantastic
Alien Emperor Trevor
June 18, 2014 at 14:11
lol well that is a good description – they did go a bit overboard with that. Was great fun though, and the actual swordplay was pretty decent too when you needed it.
Admiral Chief Cyber Commando
June 18, 2014 at 14:12
I haven’t played a game with that level of swordplay in quite some time
Alien Emperor Trevor
June 18, 2014 at 14:12
No Dark Souls yet?
Admiral Chief Cyber Commando
June 18, 2014 at 14:13
I jammed DS, but the controls (both KB+ms as well as controller) irritated me.
I left that to jam other things and have not gone back yet, so its on the backburner
Alien Emperor Trevor
June 18, 2014 at 14:18
I still have to go back & finish it. Got distracted & now I’m fairly nervous because I’ve forgotten how to fight lol.
Hammersteyn
June 18, 2014 at 13:38
All I got from this was Hexen, the rest doesn’t matter.
Alien Emperor Trevor
June 18, 2014 at 13:49
Just found out The Witcher 3 collector’s edition will be available for pre-order in ZA “in the coming weeks.” So we are getting it. Yay!
Admiral Chief Cyber Commando
June 18, 2014 at 14:13
Sure looks good though
Rince&exhale
June 18, 2014 at 14:13
Darryn, you were just tired, it is a good game, repeat after me, ‘it is a good game’…
Alien Emperor Trevor
June 18, 2014 at 14:21
Or it’s Hellgate London all over again.
Kromas
June 19, 2014 at 06:39
Ouch. Even I felt the burn there.
Viking Of Science
June 18, 2014 at 15:10
@Darryn_Bonthuys:disqus, you just described Borderlands in the last bit… If this has any of the Fun of Borderlands or Diablo 2, It’ll be great.
Kromas
June 19, 2014 at 06:39
Well …. apart from the switch to swords instead of guns it pretty much looks like Borderlands. (Minus Cell Shading)