Namco Bandai are resurrecting the cult Mega Drive fright-fest, Splatterhouse. It’s heading back to European consoles in 2010. This is good news.

The remake was originally in development at BottleRocket Entertainment, before Namco pulled the plug due to “performance issues” and continued things internally, even offering a lifeline to several BottleRocket employees when the company reluctantly closed its doors earlier this year.

Onwards and upwards, though, and Splatterhouse is definitely back on the agenda. It should be worth waiting for too, with artwork by noted Marvel Comics artist Dave Wilkins and a storyline crafted by Judge Dredd wordsmith Gordon Rennie.

Gameplay charts the horrific exploits of one Rick Taylor who, while searching for his girlfriend in a spooky mansion, discovers a Terror Mask that turns him into an over-muscled and reassuringly psychotic killing machine, with a worrying penchant for beating his hellish adversaries to death with their own severed limbs. Nice. But nicer still is Rick’s health system, whereby his flesh is literally stripped from his bones as he takes hits and regenerates in real-time when he dons the mask.

In other words you’re probably going to need strong stomachs and proof that you’re 18 or over for this one. Which excludes us out on both counts, obviously. Check out splatterhousegame.com/ for more gruesome screens and info.