Summary
- Many ambitious games are doomed to never see the light of day, or find themselves in permanent limbo.
- Sequels are often the victims of cancellations, as well as large open-world games with plenty of promise.
- Some canceled horror games dreamed up by indie studios, including Death of Rose and Alice: Asylum, would have treated players to a world of dark delights.
Every gamer has one canceled game that haunts their dreams, that they would give anything to get the chance to play. Some rumors of games leave fans with their fingers crossed in hope for years, like the long-rumored cancellation of the Bully sequel, while other games almost make it to a state in which they could release before failing at the final hurdle.
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Whether it’s artistic differences, failed budgets, the admirable efforts of lone developers, or the unfortunate closure of studios, some games are destined never to reach their full potential. Here are eight ambitious games which never made it out of the development studio to enjoy a full release.
8 Super Mario’s Whacky Worlds
Super Mario World's Successor Ended Up Scrapped
Super Mario World
- Released
- August 23, 1991
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo EAD
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Genre(s)
- Platformer
- Platform(s)
- SNES, Nintendo Game Boy Advance
Nintendo's most iconic franchise has canceled several Mario games over the years, including Super Mario Spikers and Mario's Castle. The unreleased sequel to 1990's Super Mario World looked to be a quirky follow-up to its beloved predecessor. The bizarre prototype for the game would have seen Mario conquering new terrains and exploring real-world settings.
It was a strange direction for the franchise, with developers at NovaLogic working tirelessly to bring the game’s demo to life. In spite of their ambitious efforts, the game was ultimately canceled due to the poor sales performance of the long-forgotten CD-i console.
7 Death of Rose
A Puzzling Horror that Never Came to Life
- Genre: Horror
- Developer: Feardemic
- Canceled: 2020
The canceled horror title Death of Rose promised players a campy, satirical take on the horror genre with plenty of scares. Players would have taken on the role of Scott, a young man chasing rumors that a local abandoned high school had become a sacred site for a Satanic cult. Scott receives help from his partner via walkie-talkie as the two take on challenging puzzles and encounter ghoulish monsters.
The game’s lone developer, Artur Laczkowski, canceled the title upon feeling he would not be able to bring the game to life in the way he had envisioned.
6 Shadow of the Eternals
A Return to a Hellish World of Mysteries
Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
- Released
- June 24, 2002
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Silicon Knights
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure
The spiritual successor to Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, the game that put the much-acclaimed sanity system on the map, was highly anticipated by its cult following of fans. The game would have been developed by Precursor Games and would have once again been centered on players uncovering the secrets of a mysterious tome and meeting famous historical figures along the way, including the alleged serial killer Countess Elizabeth Báthory.
Without the large backing from Nintendo that the first game had enjoyed, the game was delayed indefinitely in 2013 following two failed Kickstarter campaigns.
5 The Lord of the Rings: The White Council
An Ambitious Open-World Game Set in Middle-earth
- Created by
- J. R. R. Tolkien
- Current Series
- The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Of all the incredible worlds crafted by creative minds over the years, perhaps none is more deserving of a rich open-world treatment than The Lord of The Rings. The visionary title, The Lord of The Rings: The White Council, would have treated players to the chance to explore a rich re-imagining of Tolkien’s world where they would work to ally themselves with the honorable White Council.
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The game was put on indefinite hold in 2007 and has sadly been left to fade into memory ever since.
4 Scalebound
A Promise of Taking to the Skies that Never Got to Soar
Scalebound
- Released
- January 1, 2017
- ESRB
- t
- Developer(s)
- Platinum Games
Platinum Games’ Scalebound was a project originally dreamed up before the studio created the masterpiece that is Bayonetta. The game entered development later on in 2013, promising gamers the ride of a lifetime through a gorgeous open world atop the back of a dragon.
Players would have taken on the role of Drew, a young man from the modern day who finds himself in a dangerous and beautiful magical realm known as Draconis. Sadly, the game never came to fruition due to creative disputes.
3 Alice: Asylum
American McGee's Darkest Dream Never Saw the Light
American McGee's Alice
- Released
- December 5, 2000
WHERE TO PLAY
The third entry in the acclaimed Alice trilogy was never greenlit in spite of the tenacious efforts of American McGee, yet its impressive proof-of-concept design bible makes it clear how much passion the team at Spicy Horse had for the game, and what a tragedy it is that this game never saw the light, alongside other canceled McGee projects like his twisted re-imagining of The Wizard of Oz.
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The game would have seen Alice heading back to Wonderland to pair up with her adorable toy rabbit, facing off against her shadow-self and tearing through the dark dreams of her enemies, before ultimately founding an orphanage in honor of her deceased family and finally finding happiness.
2 Star Wars: Battlefront 3
The Galaxy-Hopping Adventure that was Never to Be
Star Wars Battlefront II
- Released
- October 28, 2005
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Pandemic Studios
- Publisher(s)
- LucasArts
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox (Original)
Star Wars fans have had many promising canceled games to mourn over the years, with the most infamous of these being Star Wars 1313 and the third game in the original Battlefront series. The project was canceled when Disney bought Lucasfilm, meaning that players missed out on the chance to take to the stars once more for fantastic land-based combat and high-energy space battles.
The setback by no means killed fans' love, however, and the beloved franchise lives on through reboots and several spin-off titles.
1 Silent Hills
The Haunting Legacy of P.T. Lives On
P.T.
- Released
- August 12, 2014
- ESRB
- m
- Developer(s)
- Kojima Productions
- Publisher(s)
- Konami
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
- Platform(s)
- PS4
A mysterious teaser slithered onto players' screens in 2014 in the form of P.T., and to this day, this psychological nightmare is regarded as one of the finest pieces of horror in gaming. Inquisitive fans unlocked the game’s secrets to discover that it was in fact a playable teaser for Silent Hills. The canceled project would have brought together legends Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro for a game starring The Walking Dead' s Norman Reedus. This star-studded trio would later reunite to bring players Death Stranding.
The teaser was pulled from the PlayStation store and is no longer available, making consoles with a copy of the demo installed rare treasures that have historically sold for big bucks.
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