Beyond Hanwell

About Beyond Hanwell

Beyond Hanwell is a first-person survival horror game by Steel Arts Software and the sequel to Welcome to Hanwell. It entered early access on Steam in August 2024 and came out in full on 26 September 2024, reached PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on 28 November 2024, and followed on Nintendo Switch as the Nintendo Switch Edition in March 2025. You do not need to have played the first game.

The story moves from the town of Hanwell into the deeper parts of London. You emerge from Westminster Station into a dark, rain-soaked city of abandoned cars and barricades, and set out to find a figure known as the Director by recovering four ID cards from people spread across separate locations. You can take the main areas in any order, from the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben to a theatre, a luxury hotel and St Paul's Cathedral, and optional places such as police stations hold more lore and supplies. Much of the story is told through the places themselves and the notes you find.

The Anomalies that fill it are grotesque: mutated humans, a bloodied jester, a tentacled creature over a stage, teleporting witches and a lot of spiders, with a different boss in each area. You fight with a two-button melee system, using anything from claw hammers to church crosses, and a few rare guns with deliberately limited ammunition. You can also set enemies on fire, electrocute or crush them with the environment. Between fights you manage a small inventory, collect blueprints and craft ammunition and projectiles at workbenches, and solve puzzles such as working out door codes from notes. There is no HUD: all feedback is shown in the world itself.

TheXboxHub praised its atmosphere, sound and London setting and liked the boss fights, but found the combat chaotic when enemies appear from nowhere and the blueprint crafting more fiddly than it needs to be. Its Steam reviews are mostly positive. It suits survival horror fans who enjoy scavenging and exploring a detailed place and can forgive some rough combat.

How to play Beyond Hanwell

1. Buy it on Steam, the PlayStation Store, the Xbox store or the Nintendo eShop; Steam also has a free demo.
2. Explore Westminster in first person; there is no HUD, so watch the world itself for feedback.
3. Search every room for weapons, ammo, blueprints and crafting resources, and keep an eye on your small inventory.
4. Craft ammunition and projectiles at workbenches once you have the blueprints.
5. Fight the Anomalies with melee weapons and your few guns, and use fire, electricity and heavy objects around you.
6. Recover the four ID cards from the main locations in any order and take on each area's boss.

Tips

• Your inventory fills up quickly, so do not carry every piece of junk; keep space for ammo and healing.
• Guns are rare and ammunition is limited: use melee on lone enemies and save bullets for bosses and groups.
• Read the notes you find; some hold the codes for locked doors.
• Visit optional places such as police stations and hotels for extra resources and lore.
• Look for hazards to burn, electrocute or crush enemies instead of spending ammo.

Questions