The first-ever gameplay trailer for Hellraid, the hack-and-slash action game revealed last month, is sadly short but still looks pretty good. Not great at this stage, perhaps, but definitely good. The environments look fantastic and the monsters appear to move fluidly and dismember satisfyingly, but the way the hands remain perfectly still during spellcasting seems a bit off to me. Hopefully that’s just because the game is still in development, and the final result will have a more natural appearance.
The magic bits are very reminiscent of the mid-90s Raven fantasy shooters Heretic and its sequel, Hexen, which is not a bad thing by any measure, but I’m still hoping for something more akin to Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, with a greater and more immersive range of environments and a focus on melee combat. Magic is impressive, after all, but when I lead, it’s swords for everyone!
Hellraid is being developed by Techland, the studio that brought you Dead Island and Call of Juarez, and is expected to come out later this year for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.
