BioForge is an action adventure game released for MS-DOS and developed by Origin Systems in 1995. Set in the future, the player controls an amnesiac cyborg trying to escape the research facility in which they are being held prisoner.
Immediately after the release of BioForge, the Origin studio quickly, in just two and a half months, made an addon called BioPlus (a.k.a. BioForge Plus). This kind of promptness was explained quite simply. The BioForge itself was originally much longer – it had to be cut for ease of distribution. The part that went under the knife formed the basis for BioPlus. However, that very “quick” failed Origin: the addon was so full of bugs that there was no question of its viability.
We can read more about it from Bill Armitrout (former worker from Origin) in theminiaturespage.com:
A “quickie” project. We had nine weeks to put together a new adventure to tack onto the end of the original BioForge game. Let me stress right here that nine weeks is an insanely tight deadline! The project was a wild ride, with millions of obstacles and emergencies (including artists in the hospital, half the programmers pulled off for another project, and so forth), and we set a new record: BETA in 10 weeks. Unfortunately, the game never shipped (the executive product left the company, and all of his projects were cancelled).
BioForge 2 was also part of the company’s plans, but the development process did not go beyond the oral discussion of the concept between the designers. Origin planned to build it on a new engine, and the plot again revolved around the heroes of the first part. But in 1995, Origin suffered a financial crisis, and the BioForge team was laid off.
And from the same source:
I took over the BioForge license at Origin, and had the chance to put together a Dream Team to make the next-generation technology. Many of my old Serpent Isle guys came back, and I was also able to recruit some top-grade new talent. We had finished the design and were working on the art when the company halted the project, and diverted us onto…
Some information is taken from «Игромания» magazine, 03 (114) 2007
UPD (17.08.2022): early Gauntlet video and intro movie were found (Thanks to Daniel Nicaise)
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(4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)
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There are also 2 videos on Youtube, first one is the opening cutscene : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVFpdg-5xu8 and there is also this gameplay video showing some kind of arena where you could practice combat moves, still according to Bill Armintrout : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1CYpVMKfmA
Thank you for contribution!