Hellion: Mystery of the Inquisition Impressions

Flying Fish is a new studio based in Poland, and it boasts talent from studios that have worked on other games, such as The Witcher and Two Worlds. Its first game is Hellion, a first-person action game set in medieval times, and we were invited to see it in action at GamesCom in Cologne, Germany.

The demo we saw revolved heavily around swordplay, and we watched as the developer rang a bell to summon a procession of new opponents to hack through. The combat seems to emphasise defense, so if you can block an attack, it leaves your opponent vulnerable to a follow-up blow. The developer was playing the game on a PC, but was using an Xbox 360 pad, using the trigger buttons to wield the sword. Once he had weakened his opponents, he performed gory finishing moves, hacking their heads off or stabbing them in the heart, and in the full version, you'll be able to sever limbs as well.

The second part of the demo took place in the Lyon Cathedral, or Cathedrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Lyon, in the year 1219. At that time in real-world Lyon, the cathedral was undergoing some structural work, so this is reflected in the game, with builders milling around and improving the interior as we walked around. The game is graphically impressive, especially in terms of the light streaming through the stained-glass windows. There were also lots of nice spot effects, such as pigeons on the ceiling of the cathedral.

These demos showed off the tech behind the game and how the developers want some of the gameplay mechanics to work. There's still a lot of work to be done on Hellion, but the developers have plans to include 10 different locations, including Italy, the UK, Spain, and Prussia, as well as lots of medieval weaponry, including daggers, crossbows, and grenades. You'll also be able to manifest God's power in the form of exorcisms, ripping demons from the bodies of the possessed enemies, but we'll have to wait to find out more about this.

Hellion is a long way off--it's currently in alpha--and is set for release in the first quarter of 2011 on the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. We'll be keeping an eye on its development and will bring you any more news when we get it.