Have you ever wanted to play a video game so bad but suddenly, from out of nowhere, the developers cancel the project and never release the video game? Yes, then this list is for you.
A lot of video games have been cancelled when the development was almost finished; we saw the screenshots, the characters, and even the gameplay but for mysterious reasons the company cancels the project, that is normal… Painful but normal, and the saddest thing is that we knew, just be looking, that many of those games would be a success.
Tonight, we are going to rank the 10 best cancelled video games, let’s begin.
10. Crash Bandicoot: Evolution
The Crash Bandicoot series played an important part in older gamers’ childhoods, and when the fifth game, Crash Twinsanity, was released, it became clear to all of us that the game was unfinished, and this makes sense when we know that Crash Twinsanity was originally Crash Bandicoot: Evolution, a more serious game planned to take Crash to a more sci-fi setting.
It was because Ratchet & Clank that Crash Bandicoot: Evolution had to be cancelled and the state of the final product implies that Traveller’s Tales weren’t given enough time to perfect the game.
9. Prey 2
The follow-up to the 2006 science fiction first person shooter was going to take Prey to a whole new direction with the setting being swapped from a spaceship to an open world set on an alien planet. Both the gameplay and the trailers hyped the Prey fans, but news about Prey soon went quiet until 2014 when Bethesda told us that Prey 2 was cancelled.
The reason behind this is because Bethesda wanted to buy out the developers but the studio refused and the contract expired before they settled on any argument, but according to some people, the production was a nightmare.
8. Mega Man Universe
Mega Man Universe was going to be something like Super Mario Maker, but it never saw the light of day. This video game was planned to release sometime in the early 2010s for both the PlayStation Network and the Xbox Live Arcade, it was planned to let the players to create their own characters and their own levels with the same gameplay of Mega Man 2 but in March 2011, Capcom told us in an official release that Mega Man Universe was going to be cancelled.
They didn’t give us a lot of information, they simply said that the decision was due to various circumstances, that’s it.
7. Scalebound
I remember watching the trailer of this video game and saying that surely this would be an amazing video game but sadly we will never know that.
Marketed as an amazing JRPG experience developed by PlanitumGames, Scalebound was something like a Monster Hunter game; you team up with other players in order to fight gigantic monsters with dragon companions.
But then, in January 2017, Microsoft decided to cancel the video game because, according to them, the game didn’t live up to the standards, what a mess. PlatinumGames have expressed that they would like to release the game some day in the future.
6. Thrill Kill
I place Thrill Kill on the 6th spot not because it was a great game, but because it was a highly controversial video game. Originally, Thrill Kill was supposed to be an Aztec sport game for the PlayStation, but Virgin Interactive pressured developers Paradox Development to double down on the brutal violence and add taboo-breaking content.
They eventually needed to tone down the content to lower their rating on the ESRB but because of matter of time and Electronic Arts buying Virgin Interactive, Thrill Kill was cancelled and was transformed into Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style.
5. Doom 4
Everybody loves Doom, is a great franchise because the objective is very simple: kill demons and other evil monsters. The fourth entry, Doom 4, was intended to be a reboot of the series and was planned to be released in August 2007 but sadly a lot of setbacks were suffered throughout the development until it was cancelled and later replaced with 2016’s Doom.
In 2015, Pete Hines expressed that the main reason why Doom 4 was cancelled was because they weren’t happy with the game because it was becoming too similar to Call of Duty.
4. Star Wars Battlefront III
The first two Star Wars Battlefront games were highly successful so it was a matter of time until they decided to release a third part.
Originally developed by Free Radical Design, Star Wars Battlefront III was going to be even better and bigger than the previous ones, which would have been astonishing for the sixth-generation consoles but bad thing started to happen and the worst news arrived: Free Radical Design cancelled the video game.
You want to know that is the worst thing? Star Wars Battlefront III was already 99% finished.
3. Gotham by Gaslight
Almost every Batman video game was poorly received before the release of the universally acclaimed Arkham series, except for the Lego games. And before Rocksteady Games decided to create Batman video games, Day 1 Studios looked to change the landscape and create a Batman video game that everyone would love.
Gotham by Gaslight was a Batman video game that despite being cancelled, gameplay footage can be found on YouTube, and its gameplay, graphics, cape mechanics, and setting received praise. I am totally sure that if this game had not been canceled it would be amazing.
2. Star Wars 1313
The second Star Wars cancelled is Star Wars 1313, a game that raised eyebrows and was widely anticipated because it was revealed that this video game was going to have a mature rating.
Originally, the game focused on bounty hunter Boba Fetter in the criminal underworld of Coruscant and also the game was focused more on fast-paced gadget and weapons-based combat rather than lightsaber and Force-based combat.
Star Wars 1313 is not cancelled per se, it remains on hold and it can be revived, but many people assume that it was cancelled.
1. Silent Hills
Probably the most famous cancelled video game of this era; Silent Hills was going to be the ninth installment in the acclaimed Silent Hill franchise but it was cancelled due to conflicts between Konami and Hideo Kojima, and the development of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, in April 2015, one year after the critically acclaimed P.T (Playable Teaser) was released.
The cancellation of this game drew criticism from journalists and fans of the franchise because it was heavily anticipated because of how acclaimed P.T. was. After the cancelation of Silent Hills; Kojima, Guillermo del Toro, and Norman Reedus reunited to create Death Stranding.
