Hellscreen, the FPS with a rear-view mirror, has left Steam early access two episodes short of its original plan: 'This is a bittersweet experience for me'

Hellscreen, the FPS with a rear-view mirror, has left Steam early access two episodes short of its original plan: ‘This is a bittersweet experience for me’ | PC Gamer Skip to main content Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition UK US Canada Australia Subscribe Sign in View Profile Sign out Search Search PC Gamer Games Hardware News Reviews Guides Video Forum More PC Gaming Show Software Movies & TV Codes Coupons Magazine Newsletter Affiliate links Meet the team Community guidelines About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine SubscriptionWhy subscribe?Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming magTry a single issue or save on a subscriptionIssues delivered straight to your door or device From$1Subscribe now Don’t miss these RPG ‘We lost things such as physics in games:’ The dev behind my most anticipated RPG thinks players are craving more interactive games, not just ‘moving around in a static 3D environment’ FPS Laid-off Highguard developer cuts loose on the reaction to the infamous Game Awards reveal trailer: ‘We were turned into a joke from minute one’ Horror Reanimal review: Astonishingly bleak and oblique survival horror FPS High on Life 2 review FPS Highguard didn’t flop RPG The dev behind my top upcoming RPG is a Hungarian chef who thought ‘if not now, then when?’ and learned coding from scratch to make his dream ‘eurojank’ masterpiece FPS Thanks to one mad modder, we can now play Doom on an in-game terminal in Ultrakill Action Underrated hack ‘n’ slash Blades of Fire heads to Steam with a 2.0 update, bringing new game plus and ‘expanded death and mutilation variations’ for you sickos out there FPS Highguard review Horror Silent Hill: Townfall ditches tradition and goes full first-person survival horror FPS Finally, the FPS I keep asking for: Deep combat, classic modes, and an honest-to-god server browser FPS Highguard is fine when you don’t have an internet in your ear telling you it’s nasty Action Anticipated anime action RPG halts updates just 3 months after launch because of poor sales: ‘The game wasn’t fun enough to sustain a consistent, healthy player base’ FPS ‘We don’t need [player counts] to be super huge in order to be successful’: Highguard devs respond to posters declaring it dead on arrival FPS The internet is not convinced it should care about another PvP hero shooter, drops a collective eye-roll that plunges the big Game Awards final reveal into a YouTube dislikes hole PopularArc RaidersBest PC gearFalloutHelldivers 2PC Gamer Quizzes! Games FPS Hellscreen Hellscreen, the FPS with a rear-view mirror, has left Steam early access two episodes short of its original plan: ‘This is a bittersweet experience for me’ News By Rick Lane published 15 February 2026 The Doom-like shooter was unable to realise its final form due to “budget reasons.” When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Uk_resistant) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter PC Gamer Get the PC Gamer Newsletter Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. 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Subscribe to our newsletter Adding a rearview mirror to a first-person shooter might sound like a daft gimmick, but as PC Gamer’s Ted Litchfield discovered three years ago, the defining mechanic of Hellscreen is anything but: “You have a mini, lower-res screen in the upper quadrant of your view at all times, and can blow it up and shrink it back down with the shift key,” he wrote after taking the early access shooter for a spin 2023. “Left click fires forward, while right click fires backwards and does quadruple damage while you’re in motion.”It was an idea that produced thrilling and highly unusual combat encounters, and Hellscreen showed huge promise as it launched into early access. Then, things went quiet. Hellscreen’s last Steam update appeared more than two years ago, a long time for an early access game to remain dormant.At the end of last week, however, Hellscreen suddenly released into 1.0, while developer Jamie D explained exactly what had gone down during the game’s long silence. Related articles Sektori developer says the response to his Geometry Wars-inspired roguelike has been ‘awesome’, but the game’s sales still leave him ‘with zero salary for 4.5 years’ ‘I consider it a millennial shooter’: The FPS dev making hit shooters by leaning into ‘2007-core’ Fallen Aces’s second episode won’t be out this year, but it will feature a first-person car chase with a tommy gun in both hands and a foot-operated steering wheel “This is a bittersweet event for me,” he wrote on the subject of Hellscreen’s launch. “The game was to have three episodes but I had to cut it to one due to budget reasons.” This echoes the updated early access disclaimer on Hellscreen’s Steam page: “Due to the game’s sever[e] under performance and external funding being non-existent, I am unable to fully realise the full version of Hellscreen as originally intended.”Jamie says that Hellscreen was originally conceived around a decade ago, though actual development