Dead Island dev's Hellraid delayed to 2014

First-person co-op slasher Hellraid, from Dead Island developer Techland, has been delayed to 2014, the studio announced today in a blog post on its website.

"If we released our game this year we would have to make too many compromises and the final product probably wouldn't meet all our promises and your expectations," the developer wrote. "That's why we've made a tough decision to release Hellraid in 2014 or to be more precise: when it's done."

Techland said the additional development time will allow the studio to add new features and "completely new" game modes for single-player and co-op. The extra time will also give the studio space to "rethink a few things."

"Playtesting our game with fans and players who visited our office gave us a lot of fresh insight and new perspective on many aspects of the game," the studio wrote. "For example, we want to redesign the magic system to make it even more powerful and diverse, add new ways of casting spells and a set of new, more visually stunning spells."

"We believe that with this decision, Hellraid will deliver all that we've promised and even more."

Hellraid was announced in April 2013 for launch later in the year on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. It is unclear if the game remains in development for those platforms or if it has shifted to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, both of which launch next month.

Hellraid features a single-player campaign and a "unique" cooperative multiplayer component that pits four players against creatures of hell.

The game promises to combine elements of hack-and-slash role-playing games, first-person shooters, and online multiplayer games. Hellraid also sports a Game Master system that claims to make "each game a different experience" by placing loot and enemies in different places and generating random online challenges.

In addition to Hellraid, Techland is working on the next-generation game Dying Light, which will be published by Warner Bros. Interactive in 2014.