Techland has issued a new trailer for co-op action game Hellraid. According to the developer, you’ll be able to play this first person fantasy “solo or with friends for hundreds of hours and never get bored”, which is quite a claim. Hellraid will be relying on procedurally generated content to ensure that each session provides a “different experience” with custom “loot and enemies” and “random online challenges.”

It’s been an interesting decade for Techland. Once known for producing second tier racing titles, the Polish developer finally announced itself to the mainstream with its western action game Call of Juarez back in 2006. Five years later, the team enjoyed further success with its open world horror game Dead Island. Earlier this year it delivered the surprise sequel Dead Island: Riptide, widely seen as a significant stumble.

While Call of Juarez and Dead Island were published by Ubisoft and Deep Silver respectively, Techland will be entirely responsible for the release of its latest project. Look for Hellraid to land on 360, PS3 and PC. A release date is yet to be announced.

Presented in glorious alphabetical order, New Media: Retail Roundup is your indispensible checklist of the home console and handheld titles arriving in stores this week. What will you be playing?

MICROSOFT Xbox 360 Metro: Last Light

NINTENDO WU Nothing 3DS Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity

SONY PS3 Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut * Metro: Last Light PSV Nothing

VARIOUS PC Metro: Last Light

New Media: Downloadable Digest is your handy reminder of the downloadable titles released last week.

MICROSOFT Xbox 360 Doritos Crash Course 2 * Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2 * Just Dance: Disney Party * Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine * Power Rangers: Super Samurai * Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien * The Witcher 2

NINTENDO WU Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge * Solomon’s Key (NES) * Xevious (NES) 3DS Color Commando * Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move * Reel Fishing 3D Paradise Mini * Wrecking Crew (NES)

SONY PS3 Alien Spidy PSV Nothing

VALVE Steam Afterfall Insanity – Dirty Arena Edition * Pinball FX 2 * Super Sanctum TD * System Shock 2

Welcome to The Black List, your one stop shop for the stories published on the site this week.

MONDAY REVIEW Defiance > Defiance has generated a lot of hype. Arguably it is the first “true” experiment in transmedia. The game (developed by Trion Worlds) and the TV series (produced by the SyFy channel) have been collaboratively developed from the very beginning, and there are even suggestions that developments in the game world will crop up in future seasons of the show. Unfortunately, the game itself is less than spectacular. Although it suffers from a general lack of polish, the things it does do well (especially the MMO elements) are pretty compelling. READ MORE

TUESDAY REVIEW Don’t Starve > Don’t Starve is an interesting experiment and it certainly has a lot to offer. The unique crafting based gameplay may be easy to understand but it also offers a surprising amount of depth. The cartoony world is pleasant to traverse and the creature design is inspired. All these positives do wear off though when you realise that the game (as it currently stands) doesn’t really have a point and there is little to keep you coming back for more. READ MORE

WEDNESDAY NEWS Ubisoft fires Patrice Désilets > Ubisoft has fired the man responsible for the first two Assassin’s Creed blockbusters. As reported by Game Informer, the publisher has confirmed that Ubisoft Montreal creative director Patrice Désilets is no longer with the company. This isn’t the first time the two have parted ways. Désilets resigned in 2010 to take up a position with THQ Montreal. Ironically, THQ was then forced to sell the business to Ubisoft, bringing Désilets back into the fold. READ MORE

THURSDAY JUST ANNOUNCED Wolfenstein: The New Order > One of the FPS genre’s most storied names is about to be dragged out of retirement, with Bethesda Softworks this week announcing that Wolfenstein: The New Order is on its way to systems old and new. While Bethesda does own id Software (the studio most closely associated with the franchise) it has assigned development duties to Swedish team MachineGames. READ MORE

FRIDAY JUST ANNOUNCED The Sims 4 > After the launch of SimCity attracted an avalanche of negative publicity and middling reviews, EA may be rethinking its stance with regard to ‘always on’ experiences, at least in the short term. The publisher this week announced that work had commenced on The Sims 4 and the press release for the game described it as a “single-player offline experience”. READ MORE

Do you think work has commenced on the first expansion pack?

After the launch of SimCity attracted an avalanche of negative publicity and middling reviews, EA may be rethinking its stance with regard to ‘always on’ experiences, at least in the short term.

The publisher this week announced that work had commenced on The Sims 4 and the press release for the game described it as a “single-player offline experience”. While these sorts of ‘features’ don’t generally rate a mention, EA obviously wanted to assure fans that they won’t be experiencing connection issues this time around.

Development duties will be handled by Maxis, the same studio responsible for previous instalments in the series, as well as the recent SimCity debacle. Maxis is aiming to offer players “a deeper connection with the most expressive, surprising and charming Sims ever”, as well as the ability to “effortlessly share their creativity with friends and fans”.

The latest instalment of this world conquering life sim is due for release on PC in 2014.