Horror's most sadistic franchise is officially back

The Saw franchise has spent more than two decades forcing victims into impossible moral dilemmas, with every decision carrying a gruesome price. From elaborate mechanical traps to psychological mind games, Jigsaw's twisted philosophy has remained remarkably consistent across movies, comics, and previous video game adaptations. Every new project has found another way to ask the same unsettling question: just how much would someone sacrifice to survive?

That question is about to be handed directly to players in a new way. Rather than following a scripted story, Saw: Genesis transforms the franchise into a competitive asymmetrical multiplayer experience, where cooperation, betrayal, and split-second decisions determine who escapes and who becomes another victim. Following its reveal at Summer Game Fest, the game has steadily built anticipation ahead of its eventual Early Access release. That wait is about to get a little shorter.

'Saw: Genesis' Begins Closed Alpha Testing on July 16

Bloober Team has confirmed that Saw: Genesis will begin its first Closed Alpha playtest on July 16, giving selected players their first opportunity to step inside the game's deadly trials before it heads to Gamescom later this summer. Developed by Broken Mirror Games and Anshar Studios in collaboration with Lionsgate and published by Bloober Team, Saw: Genesis pits three players, known as the Accused, against a fourth player controlling the Judge. The Accused must cooperate to survive a maze of deadly traps while making difficult moral decisions, while the Judge works to ensure nobody escapes. According to the developers, every match takes place on procedurally generated maps set in the aftermath of World War I, offering different layouts and challenges with each session.

The Closed Alpha uses a survey-based selection process designed to build a varied testing group. Steam keys and server access have already begun rolling out in phases following player onboarding, with the full playtest beginning July 16. During testing, players can queue together in parties of up to three Accused before matchmaking pairs them with a fourth player serving as the Judge. According to Bloober Team, the primary goal of the Closed Alpha is to collect feedback on multiplayer balance, technical performance, core gameplay systems, and the game's evolving meta. The studio says additional testing phases are already planned before Early Access, with future playtests expected to become progressively larger and more accessible.

Although asymmetrical multiplayer horror has become an increasingly crowded genre, Saw: Genesis is distinguishing itself by centering on the moral choices that have defined the franchise since the original movie. Success won't simply depend on surviving the traps, but on deciding what players are willing to do to escape them.