Hellraid development put on hold

Originally announced in April 2013, Hellraid is a first-person action game about battling the forces of Hell, who are raiding the dark fantasy world in which the game is set. Or at least it would be, if it ever actually came out. And right now, that's not looking too likely.

"We would like to officially announce 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," Techland announced today. "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."

That reinvention isn't going to happen right away, however. Techland said its focus for now will be on the "further expansion of our Dying Light franchise," and there's no indication of a possible future release date. That's not quite the same as an outright cancellation, but it's awfully close.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.