John Romero’s Cancelled Xbox Game Was A “Priest Simulator” With Hotline Miami Vibes

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We finally know what the father of Doom was working on for the last ten years before Xbox pulled the plug, and it sounds beautifully chaotic.

When Xbox brought down the hammer last July during its massive layoff wave, Romero Games found itself among the casualties. We knew the studio had a publishing deal with Microsoft that evaporated overnight, but the actual project remained shrouded in mystery. A new report from Mike Straw at Insider Gaming has finally lifted the curtain. The game was called Hellslayer, and frankly, it’s a shame we’ll never experience it in its intended form.

The Gospel of Gunfire

According to Straw’s sources, Hellslayer was a first-person shooter starring a demon-hunting priest. While that premise might sound conventional for the man who helped birth the FPS genre, the gameplay mechanics tell a different story.

The game drew heavy inspiration from Hotline Miami. Its central hook was an “instant restart” system. Death didn’t trigger a loading screen or interrupt the soundtrack because players simply snapped back to the beginning of each area immediately. This design philosophy points to a game built around speed, precision, and relentless trial-and-error rather than any kind of sprawling story experience.

Ten Years in Development Hell

The most jaw-dropping revelation from the report isn’t the shotgun-wielding clergyman but the development timeline. Sources indicate Hellslayer spent close to a decade in production.

I have to side with the Reddit commentary on this one because when a game cooks for ten years and still gets cancelled, something was probably burning long before the publisher showed up. A decade represents an eternity in game development terms. To put that in perspective, both Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal shipped while this project was apparently stuck in neutral. That context makes Xbox’s decision to cut funding after the layoffs far more understandable.

From the Ashes: The New Project

The silver lining is that Romero Games survives. Although Hellslayer as originally conceived is dead, the studio is pushing ahead with a “completely redesigned” project that salvages elements from the cancelled title.

Romero confirmed at a recent panel that they aren’t building from zero. The team is repurposing assets and concepts from the scrapped game and reshaping them into something new. He hinted that while the result is something he has “never played before,” fans of classic id Software shooters should feel right at home.

My Take

John Romero is an industry icon, but legendary status doesn’t guarantee financial viability. The current market is unforgiving, and a ten-year development cycle for what amounts to an indie-scale shooter raises serious concerns. With any luck, this “redesign” gives the studio the direction it needs to actually release something. I’m genuinely curious to see what a “Hotline Miami FPS” looks like once it escapes development limbo.