With plans for the next Evil Dead movie gathering steam, including talk of where the film might be set, Bruce Campbell has recently been busy answering questions about the franchise. Although Campbell will likely not appear in Evil Dead Rise, he is still involved in various parts of the series, including a long-in-development video game. And after acknowledging that a new game was still in the works last year, he’s now given a more detailed update on where things are with the production.
As part of an interview with Diabolique Magazine this week, Campbell had the following to say about the proposed game:
“I have been looking at and approving a bunch of new stuff. They are full-fledged, full bore into it. I think they are talking 2021 for an actual release. It’s rolling along, looking great. It got delayed because of the nightmare of video games. Platforms change and evolve. You look at somebody else’s games and go, ‘Shit! We have to change everything now.’ We have to stay current.”
Campbell is also working on a voice performance for the game, which now seems to be the most likely new version of Ash we’ll get after the actor’s retirement from on-screen appearances. Of course, there have been a lot of Evil Dead games in the past, from a Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum adaptation of the original movie, to a bunch of console titles of varying quality in the 2000s. We’ve also had several mobile games, and Ash popping up in the likes of Poker Night 2 as a non-playable-character, as well as guesting in Dead By Daylight and most likely, Mortal Kombat 11.
What exactly a new game will cover, and who’s developing it, is still a bit of a mystery. We hope that it’ll be return to the survival horror of Evil Dead: Hail to the King from the early 2000s, but Campbell’s previous talk of an immersive experience could mean a more open-world approach is planned.
Whatever the final result, a new Evil Dead game in 2021 would be a great appetizer before Evil Dead Rise, which is still in pre-production. Given what’s happening with COVID-19 and the movie industry right now, getting the new film ready for 2021 could now be a stretch, so it’s good that Campbell and co. have other projects in progress as well.
