There have been some mediocre Saw games in the past, but Saw: Genesis is a bit more ambitious, making the most of Bloober Team’s horror game pedigree. The game is a collaboration between Bloober Team’s Broken Mirror Games subsidiary and Anshar Studios, with both teams providing much-needed gameplay insights for SGF 2026.
Players are divided into a judge and three defendants, in an asymmetrical configuration similar to E.volva Or Dead by daylight. The Judge is this game’s post-World War I Jigsaw Killer and is seemingly the predecessor to the franchise’s iconic villain. Bloober Team said that Lionsgate greenlit the story and settings for this kind of prequel, so Genesis is the barrel inside SawThe narrative universe of ten films. Judging from the pre-recorded playback we’ve seen, it definitely follows the pace of body horror you’ve come to expect from the series.
The judge can set traps, use his own hidden corridors and elevators, and generally play with the heads of the accused. The judge also begins the game with a level map and complete knowledge of resource locations. In addition to a noise detection skill that allows the Killer to see where players are, even through walls, the Judge has his own minion, the Accomplice, who (although not a human player) can kidnap downed players or push them into trap rooms. Another weapon is hallucinogenic gas, which makes defendants feel attacked. Despite all this, the antagonist is also physically weak – vulnerable. If the accused manages to corner the judge with a weapon, most of which is hidden inside the level, the judge is unlikely to survive.
Naturally, the Accused benefit in terms of numbers. During some pre-recorded gameplay segments, the developers demonstrated different strategies they can take, such as splitting the judge’s focus or moving toward high-risk, high-reward tasks and objectives. This gives the judge less time to set traps.
As they work together to complete challenges, the accused will have to sacrifice themselves to escape traps or speed up their tasks. I watch barbed wire that makes you wince and hands burn on overheated levers. Player health functions as a resource; something to spend on avoiding death, provided it doesn’t kill you in the process.
Each round lasts 10 to 15 minutes and includes two different challenge rooms designed to test the defendant’s cooperation skills. Again, you can choose to hurt yourself to speed up solutions and gain the upper hand over the judge, who will spend time setting traps while you solve challenges. These rooms act as a structural bottleneck in the levels: you’ll need to beat them to progress to different parts of the map.
However, it might be wise not to rush. If you’re trapped, you have the same decision to make, in what the game calls “Rehabilitation” through sacrifice. Fellow Accused can help you free yourself from traps, but you can also decide to sacrifice a body part, such as a hand or an eye, to free yourself. You will then have to explore the rest of the maze with this limitation.
Each game can end in several ways: the accused can die in traps, run out of time (and his sinister headgear will explode), kill the judge, or simply manage to escape the level. As the game moves into alpha testing, the team seems very keen to adjust and polish the gameplay as players play with the concept.
I’m intrigued to see how Bloober Team and Anshar Studios balance the two warring sides, including challenging anyone who wants to play the role of the sociopathic mastermind.
Seen GenesisThe playtest waitlist is open now and it will be coming to Steam Early Access soon.
