New Cancelled Games & Their Lost Media Added to the Archive

Hannibal [PC – Cancelled]

Hannibal was a video game in development for PC by Arxel Tribe from 2001 to 2003 (and possibly 2004). Intended as an adaptation of the film of the same name by Ridley Scott (itself an adaptation of the eponymous book by Thomas Harris), Hannibal would put the player in the shoes of FBI agent Clarice Starling as she tracks down the infamous cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter after his escape from confinement.

Arxel Tribe, which was part of a merging of development and publishing companies known as The Arxel Guild, had been founded in Slovenia sometime in the early 1990’s by architects Matjaž Požlep and Diego Zanco, starting its life as a multimedia company with one studio in their home country and later joined by another in Paris, France. They initially produced software and computer animated graphics for the architecture industry and larger companies such as L’oreal, but their experiences in this field left them with a desire to expand their artistic expression to video games. After attempting to raise funds for this purpose for over a year without success, they were finally given the opportunity to develop Pilgrim: Faith As A Weapon in 1996, an ambitious graphic adventure project which saw them collaborate with Brazilian author Paulo Coelho and French writer/cartoonist Jean Giraud, better known around the world as Moebius.

Described as an “author game”, Pilgrim would come out in 1997 to a fairly positive but somewhat divided critical response, with reviewers praising it as an artistic achievement that dealt with complex themes, while also pointing out several technical and gameplay issues, such as bugs, outdated design and visuals and occasionally bizarre puzzles and writing. However, Arxel Tribe would go on to become well-known in this genre in the following years, releasing several more point-and-click/adventure titles from that point forward that were considered improvements on Pilgrim by critics, including two more based on Coelho’s work and even one under Alfred Hitchcock’s name.

After this string of releases, Arxel Tribe would announce the development of two new ambitious projects that would differ from their typical formula in 2001: Mistmare, a fully 3D RPG based on an alternate reality medieval Europe (seemingly co-developed with a studio named Sinister Systems), and Hannibal: The Game, an adaptation of the movie by Ridley Scott that had been released earlier that year.

Hannibal was a direct sequel to the 1991 film The Silence Of The Lambs, in which FBI cadet Clarice Starling consults with the incarcerated serial killer Hannibal Lecter, a former forensic psychiatrist who cannibalized his victims, in an attempt to understand and catch another murderer, nicknamed “Buffalo Bill”, who has been killing women and taking large pieces of their skin. During this time, Lecter, who has already figured out the identity of the killer, requests conversations with Clarice about her personal life and traumatic memories in exchange for his cryptic help, something that results in a strange relationship of mutual fascination between the two. In Hannibal, ten years have passed. Lecter is on the loose in Italy and Clarice is dragged into the search by a parallel plot to take revenge on him by a wealthy and deranged third party, the billionaire Mason Verger.

According to Arxel Tribe, the opportunity to develop the adaptation presented itself through a good relationship with Universal Studios and a strong love for Thomas Harris’ works among their team. Hannibal would be played from a first-person perspective and would have predominant elements of horror and adventure. Although a licensed game, it does not seem like it would feature the likenesses or voices of Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore or any other actor from the film, but all the environments were based on key scenes and environments seen in it, taking place in either the United States or Italy.

The story would be told through flashbacks, represented by six levels. During a particularly infamous scene towards the end of the film and book, Clarice finds herself under the influence of drugs and in a vulnerable position. It is in this state that she starts exploring her memories in order to find out if her life really is, as Lecter claims, parallel to his own.

The game would follow the source material closely, but Hannibal was to go beyond the confines of this chapter of the Hannibal Lecter saga as there were plans to explore both the protagonist’s and antagonist’s past through plot points and locations from the previous books Red Dragon (which would also be adapted into a movie for the second time in 2002, following 1986’s “Manhunter”) and The Silence Of The Lambs. This meant that characters such as Will Graham, the FBI profiler who first uncovered Lecter’s crimes, and killers Francis Dollarhyde and Buffalo Bill would make an appearance, along with many other recognizable names. The game would also attempt to tell the story of Lecter’s early life and explore the events that triggered his disturbing tendencies, something that would only be done by Harris himself in 2006 with the last book in the series, Hannibal Rising.

Arxel Tribe would explain that this was done to avoid a feeling of déjà vu for people already familiar with the story, and they would further expand on the existing narrative by introducing other sub-plots and characters of their own creation. For example, Clarice never goes to Italy in the film, but would do so in the game. Lecter and Verger would also not be the sole antagonists as Clarice would be able to seek out several other criminals wanted by the FBI during her search. She could bring these in as side objectives, and they would range from simple gang members to white-collar criminals, with promotional texts also mentioning the opportunity to solve “pending criminal enigmas”.

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Structuring the game in this manner meant that Hannibal would offer both scripted action sequences and detailed investigative mechanics. In order to catch these criminals, Clarice would be able to collect DNA evidence, analyze autopsy results, cross-examine suspects and even interrogate them, in a mixture of gameplay styles that would possibly resemble Condemned: Criminal Origins, a game released by Monolith Productions in 2005 that also mixed First Person action with sequences of forensic analysis. The plot surrounding the pursuit of a serial killer was similar as well, as would be the ability to contact the forensics team.

It seems the connection does not end there, as the LithTech Jupiter engine had been licensed from Monolith Productions for use in Hannibal as well. However, the game would feature several improvements to this framework developed by Arxel Tribe themselves, such as advanced graphical tweaks and other mechanics relating to a stress, or “Anxiety”, system. This system might have worked in a way similar to what was later seen in games such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent or Call Of Cthulhu: Dark Corners Of The Earth, as it would introduce limitations to the player’s vision and other forms of perception as Clarice’s stress grew. According to an interview with the developer:

” (…) The player will have to deal with the Clarice (sic) ‘Anxiety’ by closely watching an Anxiety meter. Her anxiety will increase according to several factors: her level of injury, reprimands from her hierarchy in case of police blunders or by some actions which will get her closer to the Hannibal’s (sic) philosophy, to name only these few examples.”

They would go on to offer more details:

“In game, the anxiety provokes alteration regarding the general environment. Concretely, the player will “feel” what Clarice feels under anxiety: distance distortions in real time like vertigo, faces of non player characters will seem more aggressive, the orchestration of the music will turn frightening and few other features will throw the player deeper and deeper into a state of paranoia. Of course, the higher the level of anxiety will be, the stronger the consequences will be and the more the player will be on the verge of blundering and moral dilemma.”

Judging from this and other pieces of information available, it seems that Clarice would, for example, be free to kill any suspect instead of arresting them (and the game would feature quite the arsenal of weapons for this purpose), but this type of action would contribute to her stress level and would drive her closer to Lecter’s mentality. Although the developer mentions “consequences”, whether or not this choice in morality would have any impact on the direction of the story or the ending the player would receive is unknown. Arxel Tribe would mention, however, that in addition to the anxiety penalties, killing suspects would also cause the player to miss out on important clues, as dead suspects would obviously be immune to interrogation. It was for this reason that one of Clarice’s starting tools was a taser, and she would have the ability to call in backup as well.

Clarice’s FBI badge would also be a usable item, and its use was linked to another system the developer would call “Willpower”. In short, Willpower was a variable statistic used by NPCs which would determine their behaviour when confronted by the player and in what manner. This would add an element of unpredictability to every encounter, as NPCs could react in different ways depending on whether Clarice showed them her badge, approached them while undercover or pulled out her gun.

Health would be another mechanic that would differ from what is usually expected from First Person Shooters. Utilizing a system of localized wounding, Hannibal would require the player to procure and use different types of items and medicine, such as bandages and sedatives, in order for Clarice to give herself proper first aid. Once again, a similar system would only be seen years later in Call Of Cthulhu.

Another part of the game that would be mentioned but with virtually no details to accompany it was a multiplayer mode, as Arxel Tribe claimed that they were still working on the concept. Considering that Hannibal seemed significantly more slower paced and mechanically complex than other shooters of its day, this would certainly have been another highly ambitious feature.

Unfortunately, Hannibal would ultimately never see the light of day. Details are scarce and sometimes conflicting, but according to info from french website NoFrag, the game had been finished before Arxel Tribe’s Paris studio, the one behind its development, faced financial difficulties and went through massive layoffs in the summer of 2003. A former Arxel Tribe developer, who offered some clarifications in the YouTube comments under a video he posted showcasing Hannibal’s level design, claimed that Hannibal was “95% done” but that the “investors went bust”. Again in the website NoFrag, it was also claimed that the reason Hannibal did not come out in its original November 2003 date (which had already been changed from Spring of that year) was because Arxel Tribe were forced to admit that the game was not yet ready for release. All that is known for sure is that the game, for whatever reason, had lost its publisher by this point.

Both Strategy First and Mindscape seem to have been attached to the project as publishers at different points in time, but it’s somewhat unclear when these partnerships began and ended. The remains of Arxel Tribe’s Paris studio would announce the reschedule of the release of Hannibal for the first quarter of 2004, no doubt in a last attempt to try and secure some other way to bring the game to store shelves, but nothing else about the game was heard and it soon became another forgotten title, lost to time and the new generation of gaming technology.

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Former CEO Diego Zanco would eventually tell NoFrag in 2005 that the aging game would never be released as they were ultimately unable to find an interested publisher, likely due to the fact that, by that point, it was a movie tie-in that was now three years removed from the release of its source material.

Additionally, Mistmare, Arxel Tribe’s RPG which also used the LithTech engine, would see a release in July 2003 but was met with overwhelmingly negative and mixed reviews due to a large amount of technical and gameplay issues. It was published by Strategy First, which could suggest that they were also going to publish Hannibal, and upon seeing Arxel Tribes’ first foray outside of the graphic adventure genre end in disappointment, decided to cut their losses and not take the same risk with Hannibal. If, instead, Mindscape were the ones in line to publish it, this hesitation could have been the case for them as well. However, this is all speculation.

The Arxel Guild released a couple more games in 2003 and while it appears they still operated in Slovenia as late as 2005, by 2004 their website had disappeared. After the cancellation of Hannibal, it seems that Arxel Tribe either chose or was forced to restructure, leaving the gaming industry entirely and rebranding itself as Art Rebel 9. They returned to their multimedia roots, still led by Matjaž Požlep to this day.

Article by thecursebearer, thanks to Rewak and Daniel Nicaise for the contribution!

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Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned [X360 PS3 PC – Cancelled]

Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned is a canceled action-adventure role-playing  game that was developed by Propaganda Games for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC platforms and published by Disney Interactive. It was an open world game based on the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise.

Set before events of the first movie, the game was to follow James Sterling, a pirate captain whose main mission was to travel across the Caribbean Sea to make a reputation for himself. Although little was unveiled about the story, it was intended to be independent from the films’ main arc and included new characters.

The game was first revealed before E3 2009 with an interview of Alex Peters, game director from Propaganda, thanks to IGN:

“Disney Interactive Studios and Propaganda Games are working on Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned, an action RPG set in a huge open world. The story takes place before the Pirates of the Caribbean movies with an original plot where players step into the shoes of a new pirate beset with all manner of nasty enemies. Moral choices, character building, and a supernatural world await. We’ve got the first details on the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC game, courtesy of Alex Peters, Game Director for Armada of the Damned.”

IGN: Can you tell us a little bit about the plot? Who do you play as and what is the overall goal of the game?

Alex Peters: “The story of Armada of the Damned takes place before the events of the Pirates of the Caribbean films, so we have a great opportunity to expand on the rich and diverse history and mythology that already exists in the universe. The character at the start of the game is a young pirate setting out on his maiden voyage with the goal of becoming the most respected — or feared — pirate captain in the Caribbean.”

IGN: Are you set to play as a specific character with a predetermined look or is there going to be a character creation system so that I can make my own unique pirate?

Alex Peters: “The current plan is that the character initially has a predetermined look, but throughout the game the choices the player makes during gameplay will change the character’s appearance. Some of these changes will be story-related and quite drastic and some will be much less serious, allowing the player to create a more unique character.”

IGN: Is the bulk of the game on sea or are there significant portions of exploration on land?

Alex Peters : “The exploration will be a mixture of both land and sea and it’s up to the player to choose how much time they spend in each.”

IGN: Since this is an open world, I’m assuming that exploration will be a big part of the game. What sorts of things can I do when veering away from the main quest?

Alex Peters: “We want to entice players to explore hidden coves, mysterious inlets and intriguing islands. The people of the Caribbean have their own stories and while their lives are certainly affected by the events that transpire in the main story, they often have more immediate or personal concerns. Since the player is cast in the role of a pirate, they may choose to involve themselves in situations that pique their interest or serve their own purposes.”

IGN: The film is set in a sort of pseudo-reality. But obviously during the time of pirates, the sea was a warzone for a variety of nations. How are those nationalities playing a role in this game and will you be free to pick you allegiances?

Alex Peters: “Throughout the course of the game, the player will interact with the nation powers who inhabited the Caribbean at that time and their loyalties will change based on the choices made over the course of the game.”

IGN: The press release says there are moral choices to be made. How extensive is this and how does the morality system work?

Alex Peters: “A major focus for this game is choice. Players will have to decide how they interact with non-player characters, what they decide to do and where they travel. Morality in the pirate lore is a bit of a gray area and our game will take advantage of the various choices the player will have to make.”

IGN: How important is your crew and what goes into assembling one to take your ship to sea?

Alex Peters: “A pirate captain is only as good as his ship’s crew. With that said, we will allow the player to personalize their crew. These choices will affect their character’s success or struggle.”

IGN: One of the key elements to any RPG is having a good dialogue system. How will this work in Pirate of the Caribbean? Are there multiple dialogue choices or is it more traditional?

Alex Peters: “We’re committed to making conversations in the game entertaining. We’ve created a script that takes advantage of an entirely new story set within the world of the Pirates of the Caribbean and wholeheartedly embraces the tone and humor players expect. RPGs are all about choices. Players that want to cut to the chase are able to do so, and those who wish to explore every angle can weave their way through the dialogue, pursuing areas that interest them.”

On the same period, Kotaku added:

“The game is an action RPG on an epic scale. Alex Peters name checks games like Oblivion, Dragon Age, and Fable, saying that Armada of the Damned definitely fell on that end of the scale, through not quite as action-oriented as Lionhead’s game. The game of course features a great deal of sea combat as well, allowing the player to sail from island to island, building their crew and taking on other ships in dynamic combat.”

The following year, the game was the subject of numerous previews by various media which had the opportunity to play the title, scheduled for February 1, 2011. For example, Gamesradar wrote:

“The combat and land exploration looks uncannily similar to Fable II. The swordfighting has been designed to be as accessible as possible, allowing you to mash at buttons, but also to create unique combos by adding flintlocks and magic attacks to the mix. The main story quest has an obvious path to follow, but there are also loads of side missions which introduce you to the likes of voodoo priestess Tia Dalma, long before she joined Jack Sparrow’s crew.

But what sets Armada of the Damned apart from other action RPGs is the ability to sail the high seas. There’s a huge area of the Caribbean to explore, and you directly control your ship the Nemesis, just like you would a boat in GTA. You’re free to travel almost anywhere in the world right from the beginning. We’ve seen the pirate city of Tortuga and it looks great. You’ll also be able to visit the merchant outpost Port Royal, and Alex Peters also hints that no Pirates game would be complete without supernatural locations like Fiddler’s Green and Davy Jones’ locker.

Captain Sterling certainly comes close to ending up there at the start of the adventure. On his maiden voyage to the Caribbean, the young pirate is sunk and all but drowned by the insane Spanish admiral Aldonado. However, he miraculously survives and vows to strike back. How you wreak your revenge is a matter of many important choices, and this will eventually decide the fate of Sterling’s soul.

Rather than going down the old route of making ‘good’ or ‘evil’ decisions, there are ‘Legendary’ or ‘Dreaded’ acts. Legendary acts involve stuff like swinging on a chandelier to escape a mob of guards while delivering one-liners and grinning through your sparkly gold teeth. Basically, anything that Jack Sparrow would do will also enhance your reputation as a pirate lord.

Dreaded acts are based on double-crossing, choosing not to help people and general acts of violence and cruelty that would make most people shiver their timbers. They’re also the kind of thing that could earn you a skeletal face like captain Barbossa.

Actions influence your character’s appearance as well as his fighting abilities. At his most ‘legendary’ Captain Sterling is decked out in gold finery and sports a dashing haircut. The most dreaded Captain Sterling is covered in barnacles, has a skeletal frame and uses the anchor that dragged him to his drowning place as a weapon.”

IGN, for it’s part, said:

“Although the game is set in the Pirates of the Caribbean universe, the events of the game transpire well before the first film and revolve around a new hero: Sterling. This young adventurer had dreams of fame and fortune — having been raised by a poor father — but Sterling is, surprisingly, killed on his first voyage through the Caribbean. Through the intervention of certain supernatural forces, Sterling is brought back to the world of the living and is given a second chance to fulfill his fate.

The idea of “choosing your fate” takes center stage in Armada of the Damned. Early on in the game, players will decide if they will play as a legendary hero, or a dreaded one, but the gameplay will remain flexible. In other words, players can still make the occasional “good” or “evil” decision, even if that decision opposes their original selection. But Sterling will ultimately end his journey as a legendary captain or a dreaded one.

This defining choice extends into several aspects of the game — it doesn’t just influence the story. Sterling’s appearance, personality, weapons, attacks, quests, and even the game’s endings are all affected by the player’s choice. The legendary Sterling is a showboating, handsome adventurer, while the dreaded Sterling is haunted, dark, and uses supernatural power to decimate those that stand before him.

The dynamic between these two paths was demonstrated perfectly in a set of two trailers, where Sterling narrates his experiences after he wakes up on a beach. In the first legendary trailer, Sterling’s voice grows richer over the course of the video, building up confidence and momentum until he announces himself as the legendary Captain Sterling. The second trailer starts the same way, but the moment that Sterling regains consciousness after his fatal accident, his voice sounds unsettled. Vengeful. You can slowly detect a haunting echo in his voice, which becomes more guttural and menacing over time.

Seeing trailers is good fun, but seeing the game in action is what it’s all about. The first part of my extended demo covered the land battle portion of Armada of the Damned, which looks a little bit like Fable. Sterling has a light and heavy attack, and he can string a series of four strikes together to form a basic combo. Timing the button presses accurately will cause Sterling to end the combo with a powerful bonus strike, which plays out in slow-motion (for the win). This adds a bit of a timing game to the combat, which is a welcome feature. Sterling can also grab his opponents and infect them with a curse, which is basically a weakening spell. This curse can then be transferred to all the other enemies in the area if Sterling performs a finishing move on a cursed opponent.

Of course, all of Sterling’s various attacks, special moves, and animations change depending on if the player selected the legendary path or the dreaded path. The special moves were of particular interest to me, as they play on the nature of Sterling (be it legendary or dreaded) and they look sweet in the process. Legendary Sterling can perform a technique, for example, where he tosses a jug of rum into the air and shoots it, causing flames to pour over the baddies underneath. On the other hand, the dreaded version of Sterling uses a giant anchor as a special weapon and can smash it down to the ground, causing ghostly waves to erupt from the earth.

To make this intriguing system even more appetizing, players will be able to upgrade these skills in a number of different ways, tweaking their version of Sterling to their liking. If players want to use a very specific set of skills, they are free to pour experience into just those techniques and maximize their efficiency.

The second section of the demonstration focused on sea combat. It is another fundamental element of Armada of the Damned. Players can view the action from a distant perspective (with the camera hanging a ways back from your ship) or from right behind Sterling’s shoulder as he mans the wheel.

When it comes to the actual combat, players can attack an opposing ship’s hull, sails, or crew. By balancing these three attack types together, players can sink a ship, disable its movement or weaken its crew to ease the process of boarding. This seemed like a great way to set up the battles, and with a Gears of War style reloading mechanic which rewards players with accurate timing, there’s going to be a lot of skill and strategy to employ when fighting on the high seas. Sterling will even be able to use special techniques while sailing — similar to the ones he uses on foot. During my demonstration, the dreaded Sterling summoned a massive tempest above the enemy ship and called forth a tremendous bolt of lightning that split the hull clear in half.

Sailing isn’t all about blood and steel, though. Players will be able to explore almost all of the Caribbean, filled with hidden caves, trade routes, bustling towns and more. According to the developers at Propaganda, Armada of the Damned could last up to 100 hours if players decide to tackle all the available side quests.

The final two sections of my tour of the game were shorter, but still just as interesting. I had a walkthrough of Tortuga, where the day/night cycle was shown off, and I also met with one of the developers behind Armada of the Damned’s sound design. Propaganda wants to make sure that the musical themes from the movies are treated tastefully and only used on occasion. There’s plenty of stirring original music to be found in Armada of the Damned, with special markers built into the system to allow the tracks to transition seamlessly from one section to another.”

Sadly, on October 2010, Disney Interactive took the decision to cancel Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned, reducing the staff at Propaganda Games from two teams to only one. It was relayed by Kotaku:

“Disney’s upcoming action role-playing game Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned has been canned and that the studio behind the game are laying folks off today, Disney confirmed to Kotaku today.

“Disney Interactive Studios confirms the cancellation of the Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned video game which was scheduled to be released in 2011,”Angela Emery, Disney Interactive Studios’ vice president of communication told Kotaku today. “As a result of this decision, Disney Interactive Studios completed a restructuring of Propaganda Games, affecting one of the studio’s two development teams. The studio is still in active production of TRON: Evolution, the video game, which will be released on December 7, 2010 with additional DLC (downloadable content) support following the game’s release.”

We’re told that Vancouver-based Propaganda Games, which is also working on Tron: Evolution, let as many as 100 people go this week, including most of the Pirates team and some of the Tron team. The remaining team members from Pirates were shifted over to help put finishing touches on Tron, we are told.

This latest news seems to back up rumors we’ve been hearing since early September about turmoil at Propaganda Games surrounding disagreements with upper management at Propaganda and their parent company.”

After the release of Tron: Evolution, Disney decided to shutdown permanently Propaganda Games in January 2011. Some musical scores initially written for the game were implemented in Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game. To this day, the license is still dormant after this huge debacle and we were only able to get some mobile phone games. Eventually, players who are fans of piracy can nevertheless still try to console themselves with Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, which shares some game design ideas that should have been implemented in Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned.

Article updated by Daniel Nicaise

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Turok 2 (Propaganda Games) [PC, Xbox 360, PS3 – Cancelled]

Turok 2 is a canceled first-person shooter that was developed by Propaganda Games and published by Disney Interactive from 2007 to 2009, probably for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 systems. It was the sequel to the reboot of the Turok game series released in 2008.

Little information exists on Turok 2 since the game was canceled before its official announcement in January 2009. As indicated by Kotaku, it seems that it was the economic crisis of 2008 which was the reason of it’s cancellation when Disney Interactive, owner of Propaganda Games and the Turok’s license, decided to lay off 70 Propaganda employees and cancel the game:

“Sources tell us that Vancouver based Propaganda Games is in the process of laying off approximately 70 employees. That reduction in workforce is likely closely tied to the cancellation of Turok 2, a title never officially announced by Disney, but one of two projects that Propaganda was working on, we’re told.”

Steve Wadsworth, president of the Walt Disney Internet Group, later said:

“As you can imagine, given economic conditions, every industry has been impacted on a global scale. In response to this challenging business environment, we have examined ways in which we might be able to work more efficiently. The elimination of existing positions that we communicated today was a necessary step that we had hoped to avoid.”

We can speculate that the gameplay would have been similar to the 2008 reboot with some never-before-seen additions, like new environments (swamps, desert areas) or new enemies in the series like renegade soldiers named Savage or creatures called Ork, as can be seen from the many concept arts that subsequently leaked onto the net, and hosted by the Turok Wiki Fandom. Another novelty would have been the addition of new firearms like the assault rifle, apparently already planned in the 2008’s game before being cut in the end, and the Jak, a modified version of the well-known cerebral bore, firing this time projectiles allowing to control for a certain period of time the enemy in order to be able to neutralize other threats, as we can see it in action on a raptor on one of the rare in-game screenshots. A multiplayer mode was also planned.

In June 2015, Tim Lewinson, who was senior designer and associate game director at Propaganda until his departure, spoke briefly about the game during an interview for duke64nukem.com:

D64: In percentage how far along was Turok 2 before being canceled?

T.L.: “Without putting too fine a point on it, we were moving out of pre-production and making significant headway on a vertical slice. In development terms, that refers to a small level that provides a polished core gameplay experience. The expectation is that a tiny portion of the game is brought to as near a ship state as possible to properly demonstrate how new features will work, etc.”

The same month, director and animator Jeremy Brown posted on his Vimeo account a short teaser for the game as he himself explained under the video:

“Years ago I worked on a game that was canceled. This is the trailer I had in mind for it while we were working on the game, and nearly a decade later, I made it for fun.”

On the 25th June 2022, Youtuber Matt McMuscles was able to get in touch with former Propaganda’s art director Daryl Mandryk, who shared some new information about the game and what precisely happened during that time:

“The basic idea for Turok 2 was that it took place some time after the events of the first game, on the same planet. But now the human elements had all gone feral and crazy for some reason. It mainly took place in a badlands/desert area environment. I think the team had learned a hard lesson about how difficult it was to pull off a jungle environment on the Xbox 360. So it had a sort of Mad Max meets Jurassic Park feel. The big hook was going to be the return of the cerebral bore, which would allow the players to control dinosaurs and wreak havoc. We had this prototyped and it was awesome! The project was basically put on the back burner when Disney needed a studio to develop the movie tie-in game for the new Tron. I don’t think Turok 2 was officially cancelled, but after Tron: Evolution was shipped the studio was really focused on its other project : Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned. And many people were moved over to work on that. I think Disney felt this was a better financial bet than the Turok sequel. Regardless, within a few more months the studio was shut down and that was that.”

Since the cancellation of Turok 2, the series has stalled, although we were able to see remasters of the first two games by Nightdive Studios, released in 2015 and 2017 respectively.

Article updated by Daniel Nicaise

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Urban Race (10Tacle Studios) [Xbox 360 / PC / PS3 – Cancelled]

Urban Race is a canceled multiplayer parkour racing game developed by 10Tacle Studios Belgium (formerly elseWhere Entertainment) for PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, in 2008.

The creation of Urban Race began on the remnants of Totems, a parkour action-platform game in development at 10Tacle until June 2008, when the financial problems of their parent company forced them to do a major restructuring towards online games and online worlds, as we can read on the Planet-Adelpha forum:

“(…) 10Tacle AG suffered quite a lot due to Elveon cancel, Totems being late and more over wrong investments here and there. So 10Tacle was out of cash, without a CEO and investors were not happy at all. With the new CEO, investors decided to change company’s orientation, focusing only on online games and online worlds, they had already a project in mind.”

“In the meantime as we saw that the financial situation was becoming critical at 10Tacle AG, the company decided to create a small spin off project based on what’ve being doing on Totems for 3 years, we worked on a project called Urban Race, a multiplayer parkour game yet very different from an esthetic point of view but really the same movement engine behind Totems.”

Using the technology initially created for Totems, Urban Race was a fast-paced on-foot racing game where players can use techniques from the sport of Parkour as well as aggressive attacks on other racers to complete a mad dash through ancient ruins.

Shortly before its cancellation, an anonymous source who worked on the game further explained some concepts to the French website Factornews:

“First of all, the game is intended to be a good quantity of fun where up to four players compete in races taking place both on the rooftops and in alleys, or on the docks. Thanks to the engine developed for Totems, the characters move easily around the scenery, jumping over grids and obstacles with ease.

Although this is a running race, there are ways of doing takedowns during the race, such as pushing an opponent against the wall, or grabbing them by the leg when they start climbing a wall. Obviously, each successful takedown gives you a good chunk of adrenaline (useful for making big jumps or even more impressive takedowns), on the other hand if you undergo a takedown, you will lose a little of it.

In addition to the classic racing modes, the circuits also contain their set of objects. Mario Kart fans, this game could have been for you: use the paint bucket to obscure your opponent’s view, send a Chihuahua bite their ankle, or drop stuffs on the road, just to block the path. These objects also allow crazy game modes like “King of the Chihuahua” (the one who keeps the furball as long as possible wins), “Take me down” (eliminate your opponents with takedowns, the last one in contention has won) or even “Paint it black” (Each paint pot used fills part of your opponents’ screen, when the screen is full, you are eliminated).”

Unfortunately still plagued by financial difficulties, 10Tacle Belgium closed in August 2008, due to a lack of publishers, definitely cancelling Urban Race during the process.

Article updated by Daniel Nicaise

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Totems (10Tacle Studios) [Cancelled – Xbox 360, PC]

Totems is a canceled action/platformer game developed by 10Tacle Studios Belgium (formerly elseWhere Entertainment) for 10Tacle Studios, from 2005 to 2008, for the PC and Xbox 360.

Made by former developers of the game Outcast, Totems was an action/adventure game mixing modern day world events with the fantasy of native American religion where the player controls Gia, a parkour expert, who inherits various powers from four different animal totem spirits.

The game was revealed a day before the Leipzig’s Game Convention 2007 as we can read on Gamesindustry:

“Darmstadt, August 22nd 2007 – Today 10TACLE STUDIOS AG and 10TACLE STUDIOS BELGIUM officially announce the development of TOTEMS for PC and Xbox 360.

Inspired by the urban sport “Le Parkour“, TOTEMS is a super-heroic platform game with tactical elements that let the player magically transform the world and story to their own style and skill. This third-person 3D action adventure offers non-linear gameplay in a highly interactive environment and is designed to be accessible to the widest audience while offering depth for the core gamers. The player character as well as the enemy is able to use the environment to full extent thanks to the innovative Semantic Environment Sensing System (SESS). Super-heroic movement and combat come alive in a never seen before manner. The Belgian developer’s proprietary NeoReality Engine sets new standards for next-gen platforms and provides an unparalleled atmosphere and experience. Based on an elaborate and original mythology, TOTEMS offers an exciting new world to explore.”

“The PC and Xbox 360 release is scheduled for 2008.”

It was showed during the convention in which Gamespot managed to write a preview:

(…) Gia’s expertise in parkour comes from one of the four totem spirits whose powers she’s able to use. Her agility comes from the monkey spirit, her speed comes from the cheetah spirit, and her combat skills come from the bear spirit. We weren’t told what powers the songbird spirit will afford you, except that they have something to do with creativity. Interestingly, each of the four spirits is mapped to a different face button on the Xbox 360 controller, and so each button can be used to perform a massive number of different moves depending on the context in which you press it.

Using only the monkey button during our presentation, the player was able to navigate a number of different obstacles, including high walls, columns, wide gaps, and narrow ledges. The animation was seamless, and the one-button control system is purportedly possible because of how aware Gia and other characters in Totems are of their surroundings. This was demonstrated to us in a number of different ways. When slowly moving toward the corner of a rooftop, for example, Gia automatically stopped and leaned over the edge to look down, and when left standing idle next to a low wall, she casually brushed her hand along the top of it.

The anthropomorphic tigers that attacked Gia at one point were also very aware of the geometry around them, and were incorporating parkour-style wall jumps and the like into some of their own combat moves. Like Gia’s, their moves were occasionally superhuman, including cat leaps and muscle-ups worthy of the Agency operatives in Crackdown(…).

Unfortunately, nearly one year after it’s announcement, 10Tacle Studios filed for bankruptcy in the beginning of August 2008, shutting down 10Tacle Studios Belgium and cancelling every projects within the studio. We learned via Planet-Adelpha that the development was stopped in March of the same year and that the team had decided to make a similar game using the technology initially created for Totems with Urban Race, also canceled:

“10Tacle AG is in a big financial crisis and it is not over yet. Here at elseWhere Entertainment it has been 6 months since they don’t pay us. The company took on its personal cash and contracted debts in order to keep paying the employees until 2 months ago (since June in fact). So it has been two months since we’re not paid which is a difficult situation for everyone here and Yves Grolet had to take a decision, we couldn’t wait much longer for the money of 10Tacle. So Yves decided to close the studios.”

“From the business and development point of view, Totems was paused (heavy) end of March due to cash issues of 10Tacle, we were doing the vertical slice demo. We had quite a lot of things to show and positive feedbacks. I guess you saw the problem with Michele Pes and stuff, 10Tacle AG suffered quite a lot due to Elveon cancel, Totems being late and more over wrong investments here and there. So 10Tacle was out of cash, without a CEO and investors were not happy at all. With the new CEO, investors decided to change company’s orientation, focusing only on online games and online worlds, they had already a project in mind. So for the team the last 6 months were quite depressing and there was a lot of uncertainties, some people left the company.”

“In the meantime as we saw that the financial situation was becoming critical at 10Tacle AG, the company decided to create a small spin off project based on what’ve being doing on Totems for 3 years, we worked on a project called Urban Race, a multiplayer parkour game yet very different from an esthetic point of view but really the same movement engine behind Totems.”

After that, several former developers returned to Appeal Studios, including former CEO Yves Grolet, currently developing Outcast 2: A New Beginning for THQ Nordic.

Article updated by Daniel Nicaise

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