Developer Techland is currently enjoying success in the industry that they previously struggled to obtain. Their first hit came in the form of Dead Island, and afterwards, they put out the even better-received Dying Light, which has sold over 3.2 million copies, making it the best-selling game in the history of the company.

Besides zombie-related franchises, Techland also had a very interesting dark fantasy horror title in development. Played from a first-person perspective, this brutal game, Hellraid, was set to feature unique online game modes as well as standard single-player and multiplayer components. Unfortunately, those anticipating the game should turn their attention elsewhere.

Techland has announced today that the development of Hellraid has been put on hold for an indefinite amount of time. Techland says that they conducted an internal analysis and came to the conclusion that the game simply wasn't up to their standards. A quote from their official statement reads, "[...] we decided the best course of action would be to send it back to the drawing board and invent our dark fantasy title anew."

The development resources being spent on Hellraid are now being allocated to further the expansion of their new and very popular Dying Light franchise. However, as the quote says, there is a chance that they may return to the Hellraid concept down the road. For now, however, consider Hellraid officially cancelled, and don't expect any new information on the game for the foreseeable future.

This is good news for Dying Light enthusiasts, in a way, as they will now be able to look forward to more content for the franchise.

"[...] we will consolidate our development resources and focus on further expansion of our Dying Light franchise."

It's unclear if this means that Techland will be focusing on making more DLC for the existing Dying Light title, or if they plan on working on a full-fledged Dying Light 2.

In any case, Techland has been good at releasing fresh content for Dying Light. The first major expansion, The Bozak Horde, will be available in just five days on May 26th. The game has also received a number of free updates as well, including one that added a hard mode, among a number of other items.

While the continued support of Dying Light is nice, it's a shame that yet another horror-esque game has wound up on the chopping block. Fans of the genre have already suffered a significant blow recently with the cancellation of Silent Hills, as well as the complete removal of the terrifying P.T. from the PlayStation Store. That being said, there's still a slight ray of hope for Hellraid to make a comeback, as the developers did not say that they are outright throwing the concept away, whereas Silent Hills is definitively and utterly dead in the water.

Hellraid was originally slated to release this year for PC, PS4, and Xbox One as a digital-only title.

Source: Hellraid