Evil Dead: The Game - What We Know So Far

Recently, many game studios have tried to tap into audiences' nostalgia. This practice has resulted in a deluge of remakes and the return of the not-so glorious movie tie-in title. Gamers have received unexpected classics such as the incredibly creepy Alien: Isolation, as well as flops like Predator: Hunting Grounds. For better or for worse, Saber Interactive has thrown its chainsaw into the ring with Evil Dead: The Game.

While this isn't the first video game based on the Evil Dead name — and Dead by Daylight players can now run away from Leatherface and Pyramid Head as Ashley J. Williams — Evil Dead: The Game seemed to catch many people by surprise. Given this, fans have little idea of what to expect from it. When will Evil Dead: The Game come out? What is the gameplay like? These are all pressing questions, and here is what we know so far.

Normally, the Evil Dead: The Game site would be your main source of information, but in this situation it offers little help. The one-page destination only provides a vague release window of 2021. That is 365 days of speculative launch possibilities.

Since Evil Dead: The Game snuck up on audiences, it's unclear how long the game has been in development. That kind of information is crucial to narrowing down a realistic release window, and without it, we are basically blind. The game could drop sometime in January (unlikely), or it could channel its horror movie origins and hit storefronts in October. Alternatively, Evil Dead: The Game could celebrate the 38th anniversary of Evil Dead: The Movie and launch on April 24.

We simply don't know when the game will launch. It appears 2021 is the most Saber Interactive can give us right now.

The trailer for Evil Dead: The Game apparated at The Game Awards, and it serves double duty as an announcement trailer and gameplay trailer.

The video doesn't reveal much about the title, at least much for audiences already versed in the Evil Dead franchise. It provides the normal spiel about Ash Williams visiting a cabin in the woods with his girlfriend, discovering the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, and accidentally releasing Deadites. However, the narration glosses over how Ash's hand went bad and had to be replaced by a chainsaw — other than that, the backstory is all there.

During the narration, you see faces new, old, and rotting. Audiences are treated to a digital recreation of the Knowby Cabin, a few Deadites, and Ash and his allies. Judging by the trailer, the game will feature a younger Ash (either that or he's hiding his grey hair and wrinkles remarkably well). More importantly, one of Ash's friends is a medieval knight, which implies the game treats Army of Darkness as canon. Once Ash vs. Evil Dead aired, that movie was retconned out of existence, but perhaps the game will retcon the retcon.

The final 10 seconds of Evil Dead: The Game's trailer features snippets of gameplay where Ash and co. slay Deadites with chainsaws, boomsticks, hunting rifles, and more, all while outside the Knowby Cabin. It sounds like a cross between Left 4 Dead and Friday the 13th: The Game, but the official website adds a few more pages to the gameplay tome.

Saber Interactive bills Evil Dead: The Game as an experience where players work as a team to explore, loot, craft, and survive Deadite hordes. Players can equip over 25 weapons and customize survivors via skill trees while "managing your fear." Is Evil Dead: The Game supposed to be scary, or will characters have a fear meter? Who can say?

However, if co-op isn't your speed, you can play Evil Dead: The Game competitively and control a powerful Kandarian Demon — which can possess Deadites, the environments, and the discarded corpses of other player characters.

Evil Dead: The Game is slated to launch on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. It's unclear if the PC version will be available through Steam, GOG, or the Epic Games Store, or if Evil Dead: The Game will feature cross-platform or cross-save functionality. Can you play the game on PC and team up with friends on PlayStation 5? Can you save progress on your Xbox and pick up from where you left off on the Switch? Only Saber Interactive knows for sure, and it ain't talkin'.

Moreover, these planned platforms aren't necessarily finalized. Game development is a long and arduous process, and sometimes scheduled ports need to be sacrificed for the sake of time and quality. And sometimes the opposite is true. Saber Interactive could drop the Xbox One and PS4 versions or add a Stadia port. Anything is possible since Evil Dead: The Game may still be at an early stage in development.