PC / MAC

Dark Hermetic Order (Intelligent Games) [PC – Cancelled]

Dark Hermetic Order is a cancelled first person action adventure game that was in development around 1996 by Intelligent Games as a sequel to Azrael’s Tear, planned to be published on PC by Williams Interactive. The team was mostly known for such titles as Imperium and Dune 2000, but unfortunately many more of their projects never saw the light of day (Bloodline, Flying Circus, Conjure, King of Wall Street, Deadline News, Cops & Robbers). In Dark Hermetic Order players would take the role of a secret agent with magic powers, who infiltrates a strange cult to eliminate their leaders.

Some details about the development and cancellation of DHO were shared online by former IG’s employee Jason Redway:

“After the release of PGA European Tour Golf and the subsequent course discs Jason moved on to a project that was already in progress with Intelligent Games. This project was called Dark Hermetic Order (DHO) and was underway for Williams Interactive. It was a follow-up to the recently released Azrael’s Tear and would be Jason’s first commercial product utilising his 3D skills. Using 3D Studio, Jason created several rooms and became a senior member of the team over the year that followed. Unfortunately during a management re-shuffle at Williams Interactive DHO was cancelled and work stopped. During the next year Jason worked on several prototype projects and some cancelled demos including Subbuteo, Need For Speed 2 and Flying Circus.”

“Previously we had a 3D adventure game (Azreal’s Tear), a golf game (PGA European Tour) and the recently completed Waterworld – this one was the closest that we had experience of combat strategy gaming. Initial ideas were that we would use the 3D engine we had produced Azreal’s Tear and the recently cancelled Dark Hermetic Order to create the first realtime 3D RTS. With this brief I was tasked to create a short atmosphere setting video that we would present to Westwood.”

A single screenshot from Dark Hermetic Order was published in a few gaming magazines such as PC Player Germany, but we hope one day someone could find footage or even an early prototype.

Thanks to Alex for the contribution! 

Atma: The Mythic Light of India [PC – Cancelled]

Atma: The Mythic Light of India is a cancelled adventure game that was in development by Vinayak 4D Games around 2000 / 2001, planned to be released on PC. Gameplay would have been similar to Myst, but set in India and you would play the role of Indrani (the queen of the gods in Hinduism) following a mystical storyline for personal enlightenment. Players would move through different Asian locations and mesmerizing landscapes (Atma was one of the early games built on the Unreal engine), resolving mind-bending puzzles.

As we can read from an old press-release:

“Together with her husband Indrani ruled the extraterrestrial city of Amaravati until the demon, Prince Venadatte, dressed up as a royal guest, gave the royal couple a false nectar of gods. After drinking it, Indra lost his divine power and was imprisoned by Venadatte in a crystal cell. Indrani managed to escape to Earth. There appeared the Valley of Saints located on the slopes of the Himalayas. Now he must do everything he can to return, free his husband and defeat the demon. The plot of the game is full of Indian culture and customs. At every step you can see the fascination of the artists with the Far East manifesting itself in the form of known concepts such as Karma, meditation, Shakti, Yoga, etc.”

We don’t know what happened to the game but after a while it just vanished along with the team. As it happens often with these lost games we speculate they were not able to find a publisher interested in the project and without money they had to close down the studio.

Thanks to Josef for the contribution!

Images:

Videos:

 

Sabotage (Insane Logics) [PC – Cancelled]

Sabotage (not to be confused with “Sabotage 1943” by Replay Studios, which later became Velvet Assassin) is a cancelled stealth FPS that was in development by Insane Logics between 2001 and 2003, planned to be released on PC. The game was set in a sci-fi world dominated by large corporations and players would be hired to sabotage these groups by infiltrating their buildings. It seems the Lead Game Designer for this lost game was Marc-André De Blois, who later worked as Lead Game Designer for Prince of Persia – The Sands of Time.

A playable demo was released online in 2003 and you can still download it on FilePlanet:

“This Demo version of Sabotage by Insane Logics contains 2 playable levels (level 1 & 5). Level 1 is at 80% of completion (lighting and textures are not complete). This first level takes place in the old sewers system of a gigantic complex owned by a bio-genetic corporation. This is the only way to infiltrate the complex. Level 5 is at 50% of completion (game play balance, lighting & textures are not complete). This level gives you a better vision of what the game will look like, a modern setting of a multinational bio-genetic corporation.”

We don’t know why Sabotage was never completed, but as it often happens with these projects we speculate the team was not able to find a publisher interested in supporting their project. As far as we know Replay Studios never released any other game and vanished after the cancellation of Sabotage.

Some screenshots saved from Old-Games and FactorNews.

Images: 

Cheeky Monkey (Rage Games) [PC – Cancelled]

Cheeky Monkey is a cancelled action adventure that was in development by Rage Games around 2000 / 2001, planned to be released on PC by Epic Games. From the remaining concept art and 3D model it looks like the game was set in some kind of “Asian dark fantasy” world, with japanese / chinese buildings, demon monkeys and flying islands.

As far as we know Cheeky Monkey was never officially announced by Rage nor Epic and we were not able to gather any more details about the project. If you know someone who worked on this lost game, please let us know!

Images: