While Romero Games’ at-risk shooter has seemingly been rescued from being scrapped, few details have been officially revealed about the title so far. A new report, courtesy of Insider Gaming, however, reveals quite a bit of information, including the fact that it was originally going to be titled Hellslayer, and would have several inspirations from games like Hotline Miami in terms of its mechanics. In a new episode of the Insider Gaming Weekly podcast, Mike Straw has revealed that the title would involve players taking on the role of a priest that is fighting demons.
“The new game is not what was [being made] in a partnership with Microsoft,” said Straw. “That game is gone, but they’re taking elements from it.” He went on to discuss the fact that the original version of the game was titled Hellslayer. “It was a first-person shooter inspired by Hotline Miami, meaning that if you die and would just come to life right away,” he continued.
While Straw wasn’t able to reveal what elements of this older title were being carried over into the new game, he expressed quite a bit of enthusiasm about what he has learned, especially for players that are already fans of classic id Software titles like Doom and Wolfenstein 3D. As for why only parts of the original iteration of the game are being brought over into the new title, Straw speculated that it likely came down to the developers taking the time to see what they had and making a decision to narrow down the scope of the game.
Doom co-creator John Romero himself had confirmed that this shooter project had been saved after having gone through some major changes. In a discussion at Salón del Videojuego de Madrid earlier this month, Romero said that the title had “been basically completely redesigned,” while also noting that it “incorporates a lot of the elements” from the original incarnation of the game.
“We’re not starting at ground zero,” explained Romero. “We can take pieces out of and put into a brand new indie game. We have a lot of stuff we can put in the game. The design is completely different, but the team is very excited about the new design.”
As part of this redesign, Romero has also confirmed that the scope had been changed, making the newer incarnation of the title a “much smaller game” than what it used to be. This, he noted, also had the added benefit of revitalising the development team. He said, “the people working on it are all directors from different departments, and they didn’t actually get to the code or design or whatever to do it themselves, but now we get to actually do that”.
“[We get to] do the thing we are really good at, ourselves. And, that’s why small teams are great,” he continued.
Romero had confirmed that this project had been saved a few months after Romero Games CEO Brenda Romero had announced its cancellation from investors having pulled out. At the time, development on the game was noted as going quite well, with the studio being able to hit all required milestones.
