Techland has scrapped development on first-person hack & slash Hellraid after it was decided that the game would fail to live up to the developer's expectations.

The game had previously been due to launch on PS4, Xbox One and PC later this year, but it has now been sent "back to the drawing board" in an effort to start development anew.

The project's abandonment, however, will allow Techland to focus its resources on expanding hit zombie franchise Dying Light, which launched to commercial success earlier this year.

"We would like to officially announce that our dark fantasy FPP game Hellraid will not be released this year as previously planned, and the development of the game has been put on hold," Techland wrote in an update on the game's website.

"In the recent months we conducted an internal analysis and came to the conclusion that Hellraid, in its current shape and form, is not meeting our own expectations for this project. Therefore, we decided the best course of action would be to send it back to the drawing board and invent our dark fantasy title anew.

"In the meantime, we will consolidate our development resources and focus on further expansion of our Dying Light franchise. We wish to thank all our fans for your support - you're the best!"

Hellraid originally began life as a smaller last-gen project before switching to PS4 and Xbox One last year, and saw the player play as a demon slayer fending off the forces of Hell.

Source: hellraid.com