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Arcturus (BlueInca Studios) [XBOX, PC – Cancelled]

Arcturus is the name of a galaxy revolving around one of the brightest stars, and at the same time the game from BlueInca Studios, laid on its stocks in the summer of 2001.

The plot told how two alien races, when colonizing the aforementioned galaxy, unexpectedly discovered the existence of each other. Humanity was not in the game, but both races behaved in a very human way: instead of solving the matter peacefully, they started a fight.

In the distant future, a war between the Lumerans and the Xizons rages on.
You play Torah and can choose as either faction and lead them to victory in campaign missions.
Victory will mean more resources to build your ships and better your people.

The Lumerans are the weaker outnumbered faction but they have powerful abilities.
The Xizons are the militaristic faction with ambitions of conquest.

Military operations in Arcturus were supposed to proceed as follows: the attacking side sends a flotilla of fighters to the enemy’s planet, smashes enemy aircraft, and then moves on to the next territory – and so on until they capture the enemy’s capital. Battles in space were absent as a class – apparently, the aliens took care of the fleet as a memory.

Thus, the player played two roles. In the role of the so-called Leader, he was directly involved in battles. The accompanying equipment also fought with him. The authors promised a wide range of weapons, from miniature fighters to huge dreadnoughts.

The game was unique in that you move ships around in third-person like an RTS.
Different ships to order around include gas collectors, patrol ships, and unit carriers.
During combat you play from a first-person perspective.

There was to be sixteen single-player non-linear campaign missions (8 for each faction?).
There was also going to be deathmatch multiplayer, likely online play.

Between battles, the player was engaged in the development of his race, organizing the extraction of resources on controlled planets, conducted research and formed detachments, which then accompanied him in battle. In short, the idea was original, but it seems that the developers themselves did not fully understand how to bring it all to life. Arcturus stayed afloat for just over a year, and then added himself to the plaque of canceled projects.

In 2004 development was halted due to funding difficulties.
In 2005 the website removed the message about financial trouble but remained dormant.
Arcturus and BlueInca faded away.

Some information is taken from «Игромания» magazine, 03 (114) 2007, and https://unreleasedgames.miraheze.org/ website. 

Hardwired [PC – Cancelled]

Hardwired from Novalogic was about postapocalyptic world filled with smugglers and gangs in Mad Max style. Player will be in role of a smuggler that will transport various goods on the black martket from zone to zone. Police or pirates will try to prevent player from doing it, so for the player will be important in what condition is players vehicle, known as Panzer, a mix between hovercratf and tank. After succesfull mission payment is done and player will be able to upgrade its hovercraft.

Game was going to be made after a cult novel of the same name, Hardwired, by Walter Jon Williams from 1986.

Novalogic set up a new studio in London to develop Hardwired.
Game was sadly cancelled mainly because
Wired magazine started a lawsuit against developers , where name Wired was the main concern. More info is on a screenshot in gallery of an article from 1997.


Only a few beaufiful concept art screens now remain from this interesting game. 

Defenders (Digital Fun Studio) [PC – Cancelled]

Defenders is an unreleased tactical slasher set in an alternative medieval world (announced in 2002). The main character at one point decides that “it is impossible to live like this”, leaves his homeland and joins the crusader detachment. As part of a detachment, he fights the Vikings in England and takes part in the first crusades.

As we can read news on gamez.ru  for 17.10.2003:

The protagonist of Defenders lives in a village in a small European country. At one of the stages of his life he decides to devote himself to a military career, joins a crusader unit and leaves his homeland, setting out on a distant, full of dangers adventure. On his way the young warrior is waiting for fierce clashes and large-scale battles, he will visit a lot of interesting places and meet amazing people, see distant countries and encounter mystical, fantastic creatures described in ancient myths and legends.

 

The developers highlight the following key features in the game Defenders:

  • An interesting story that tells the story of a medieval warrior’s martial journey.
  • Four large-scale episodes: England (battles with the Vikings), Germany (the beginning of the Crusade), Asia Minor (storming cities, suppressing rebellion) and Jerusalem (march on the city and its storming).
  • Simple, intuitive interface.
  • Optimal and logical character generation and development system.
  • Carefully designed physics and character animation.
  • Realistic damage system.
  • A unique approach to single-player mode construction: the player gets an opportunity not to stand above the battle, but to be in the very heart of it.
  • Large-scale battle scenes.
  • Dynamic squad battles.
  • An elaborate model of squad mates’ behavior, the ability to influence their behavior.
  • Large arsenal of cold, stabbing and percussive weapons.
  • Dynamic multiplayer game, inheriting the basic principles of the best representatives of the genre, but with a significant number of additions and innovations.
  • Possibility to pass the game together (in cooperative mode).
  • Special arenas for multiplayer matches between units controlled by several players in multiplayer mode.
  • Support of a wide range of video gas pedals.
  • High-quality modern graphics and atmospheric music and sound design.

 

Defenders will be released in Q4 2004.

In terms of gameplay, it was supposed to be something like a “knightly” Medal of Honor. The player fought in the same formation with other knights, carried out the orders of the commander, and subsequently received a whole squad under his command. The project was promising, but due to technical problems it never came out.

Information is taken from gamez.ru website and Igromania magazine, issue 02(113) 2007

There are absolutely no screenshots or materials about this project on the Internet, only mentions in magazines and sites like this. If you have something, let us know!