The demo drew to a close shortly after this fight and I was left suitably impressed with plenty of questions left unanswered. Why was the king cursed? Who was the player in all of this? Why were we at the monastery and why was it full of monsters? Techland promised that the final game will have plenty of outside areas including swamps and mountains. They went on to say that there is focus on the weaknesses of mankind and how evil monsters prey on those weaknesses.
In closing, Techland mentioned that they are aiming for a 2015 release and that there will be Early Access via Steam in due course. This seemed like a strange decision, but they insisted that it was to check the balancing and replayability, and test the arena and mission modes. Personally, I have no problem with this, provided it isn’t their way of getting Q&A done via the public – there’s a reason why people are paid to do that.
That concern aside, I’m very excited for Hellraid. It looks like a gritty, challenging, and harsher version of Skyrim with an intriguing storyline and a heavy emphasis on combat and player development.
