New Cancelled Games & Their Lost Media Added to the Archive

Terminal Reality was riding a strong wave in the early 2000s. Fresh off the success of Nocturne and the Blair Witch titles, the studio’s next project, BloodRayne, was shaping up to be a bloody, stylised action game.

However, researcher Susan Flint recently found out that Terminal Reality was quietly involved in several projects behind the scenes, some of which were cancelled under mysterious circumstances. One of the most obscure among them was Guardian City: The Forgotten.

Available material shows us that Terminal Reality planned to collaborate with Khameleon Entertainment on what appears to have been an action-oriented game rooted in horror. And hear this, too: the project would not have used the studio’s Infernal Engine. Instead, Terminal Reality developed a bespoke engine specifically for The Forgotten.

What ultimately happened to the project remains unknown. Flint notes, however, that The Forgotten was at one point intended to appear as a cameo character in BloodRayne. It is unknown which platforms the game was targetting, but it could have been the PS2.

Credit: Susan Flint

Fracture was an interesting third-person shooter on the PS3 and Xbox 360. What do you do when you’re surrounded by enemies from every corner, and they’re gunning for you relentlessly? Worse, you’re about to die! Well,  fear not because the developers answered that by making you own the battlefield.  Lack of cover? No problem, you can just raise the ground to protect you. Can’t reach a higher place? No stairs? No problem, raise the ground.

Considering the lack of documented info on this game, here are some beta content and concept art of the game:

E3 2007 footage:

• In this phase of development, the protagonist was known as Mason Briggs
• Different running animation
• Different suit
• Different HUD
• Different guns, weapons icons, and SFX
• Different map design

Possible Early 2008 Footage

• In this phase of development, the protagonist’s name remained Mason Briggs. Lawrence’s voice was also different here.
• Different running animation
• Some different gun SFX compared to the final game
• Different enemies?
• Different map HUD
• The deformation bar is a bit different
• The armour bar is on the bottom right, instead of the bottom-middle of the screen. Also, it’s quite different.

David Siller, creator of several games such as Aero the Acrobat, Maximo, and Crash Bandicoot, once pitched an interesting project titled The Secret Life of Guido. Very little is known about the game today, or what platform it was targeting, but based on what Siller shared seven years ago on his now-deleted Twitter account, The Secret Life of Guido was briefly conceptualised shortly after he left Universal Interactive Studios and before joining Capcom.

The project was envisioned as a funny parody of Super Mario. It starred “Guido,” a fix-it man who spent his days repairing broken machines sabotaged by pesky “gremlins.” After work, Guido would take a siesta—and while sleeping, he would dream of becoming a heroic character inspired by famous video game icons, much like Don Quixote. Each dream would place him in a “Special World,” culminating in a boss fight. Upon victory, Guido would wake up, only to repeat the cycle.

Siller didn’t intend to stop at parodying Mario alone, but planned to lampoon several iconic franchises, including:

• Ghosts ’N Gudio (Ghosts ’n Goblins)

• Bionic Guido (Bionic Commando)

• Tomb Guido (Tomb Raider)

• Guido Fighter (Street Fighter)

• Resident Guido (Resident Evil)

• Gudio Bandicoot (Crash Bandicoot, duh!)

• Mega Guido (Mega Man)

• …etc

Despite sailing smoothly at first, the project eventually fell apart due to a conflict between Hanaho Games and the investor funding it. According to Siller, the game was intended to be marketed by Capcom, with then–Capcom USA president Bill Gardner reportedly taking a strong liking to the concept.

What makes the project even more special is that Siller enlisted Sybersoft—now known as Rocket Amusement—run by his brother, Ron Siller. While the game never came to fruition, a video and several pieces of concept art have been found, helping preserve the existence of this curious and largely forgotten project.

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