Saw Genesis SGF 2026 Hands-Off Preview: I Want to Play a Game, This Game

Bloober Team has been on fire recently, developing and publishing high-quality horror games. Saw: Genesis was a fun reveal during Summer Game Fest 2026, and an exclusive look at the game shows that it’s more than a mere cash-in.

The Layers of Fear series brought Bloober Team to the fore, but it’s the Silent Hill 2 Remake that put them on the map. Since then, it’s been one class move after another, with Cronos: The New Dawn being an excellent survival horror game, and the news that Bloober Team is also developing a Silent Hill 1 Remake, new Cronos DLC, and Layers of Fear 3.

Not content with this, Saw: Genesis is on the team’s radar as well.

There Will be Blood

I was sitting in the Dolby Theater during the Summer Game Fest 2026 Showcase, hanging onto Geoff Keighley’s every word, when all of a sudden, horror icon Billy casually rode his bike across the stage. One Saw: Genesis reveal later, and it dawned on me that my exclusive Bloober Team preview for the day after would be this.

I immediately became sadistically excited.

The Saw films are a guilty pleasure. Like most horror media, the stories aren’t great, but the action is where it’s at. Oh, and the gore, did I mention the gore? The movies are rife with it, and thankfully, so is the new game.

Saw: Genesis has nothing to do with the 2009 and 2010 video games. This is a new, standalone title set in the 1920s, bizarrely, and is the ultimate precursor to the Saw franchise you’re familiar with. Its asymmetrical gameplay is similar to Dead by Daylight, Friday the 13th, and other recent horror games that have opted for this style.

However, Saw: Genesis has a few nifty nuances that really shake up the formula—namely the small matter of disgusting dismemberment and marvelous mutilation.

Saw: Genesis Requires Your Brain, Maybe Literally

The PC-only (hopefully just for now) action title features a typical three-versus-one setup, with one person as the ‘Judge,’ and the other players taking part as the ‘Accused.’

Our exclusive 30-minute presentation took place in a fitting themed room, filled with mangled prosthetics, Billy, moody red lighting, and other graphic visuals designed to make me as uncomfortable as possible.

It wasn’t necessary, as the gameplay did that job!

We were treated to a full Saw: Genesis match, and very quickly, you see how different Bloober Team’s interpretation of the genre is. The Accused need to navigate traps and suffer burns, lacerations, and enough mental trauma to make even the most hardened therapist queasy.

Whereas the Judge spends a lot of time planning and strategizing, watching the action unfold from above through peepholes and viewing platforms. You need to strike at opportune moments to capture players by chloroforming them or by setting bear traps, for example, and hauling the vulnerable prisoners off to rehabilitation rooms.

Herein lies the dilemma for other players: Do you go and help them and drop what you’re doing, potentially endangering your own life? Or let them sacrifice their vision, lose any manner of body parts or senses in the most graphic of ways?

If it’s the latter, your gameplay changes from here on out, as the permanent damage will disable you in a myriad of ways and make your life infinitely tougher. The Accused need to work together to solve puzzles and traps, and catch the Judge when they roam the playing area.

It’s the ultimate game of cat and mouse, and as long as the formula works in the full release, Bloober Team will once again be the big cheese with Saw: Genesis.

You can sign up for the SAW: Genesis playtest right here.

Sign up for the Insider Gaming Discord and talk with the team and me about Saw and anything else!

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