Hellraid 20 Minute Gameplay Video Rolls Out Surprisingly Good Combat

20 minutes of pure gameplay are on display in a lenghty developer walkthrough for the upcoming first-person, 24-player co-op title, Hellraid. Instantaneously I would have to say that this seems like a perfect game to play with the Oculus Rift, especially after watching how the gameplay mechanics operate.

While this game certainly isn't scary enough to rank as one of the VR games that might incite death, but it is the sort of game where you might feel the heart palpitations from the excitement rushing through your veins as you take down a 10-foot tall baddie trying to bury you six feet deep.

As showcased in the video above, spotted courtesy of PC Gamer, a lot of the gameplay looks like a mix of Painkiller meets Hexen.

The FPS combat actually looks pretty good, allowing players to trade blows with enemies while also being able to block and parry attacks on the fly, either using the held weapon or a shield. There's a lot of timing, strategy and precision striking involved that elevates the game above a standard hack-and-slash title, especially when it comes to facing off against special monsters.

Some of the sub-bosses or shield-carrying enemies force players to adapt and alter their strategies on the fly. It's pretty slick and forces players to react outside of just going through the motions. My only gripe with the enemies is that their attacks don't physically affect the enemy. I ever-so-slightly cringed when the one bosses started his spinning attack and just went through the pillars instead of tearing them down. But hey, at least they're honest about the limitations of the game instead of lying with fake E3 videos, right?

However, on the upside there are environmental kills that players can enact by interacting with the environment. In addition to this, some of the environmental hazards can also be used against players, too, so it's definitely something players have to be mindful of. I was also impressed with the chandelier swinging, a feature that was mentioned as being a glitch but will still find its way into the final game. Awesome.

Anyway, the game has no class restrictions. You can be whatever it is you want to be at whatever time you want to be it; you will have to upgrade your stats to excel in specific fields, though.

Now in the video it was mentioned that the team at Techland have upgraded from the Chrome Engine 5 to the Chrome Engine 6. What you saw above in the video is from the Chrome Engine 5, and even though I thought the enemy reaction animations, lighting and some of the A.I., behavioral modules seemed pretty tight, they mention that Chrome Engine 6 will see even further improvements, which is a very promising thing, especially as more players will join in on the co-op adventure.

I wasn't really paying much mind or attention to Hellraid before, but it looks like it could turn out to be a pretty cool game when it launches next year for the PS4, Xbox One and PC. You can learn more by visiting the official website.