New Cancelled Games & Their Lost Media Added to the Archive

Daybreakers (Trilogy Studios) [Cancelled – Xbox 360, PS3, PC]

Daybreakers is a cancelled episodic time-traveling first-person RPG that was in development since 2006 by Trilogy Studios, planned to be released for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. The company was founded by game industry veterans who worked in such companies as Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, RockStar Games and Vivendi Universal.

In Daybreakers players would have been able to explore different time-periods to find a solution to save our doomed world. The game was talked about by major websites such as IGN and Playstation Universe:

“The world is falling apart with war, disease, insurgency, and starvation rampant among humanity. The only hope lies with the Nexus Corporation, a U.S. funded group using volunteer convicts as experimental guinea pigs in an operation called “Project Daybreak.” Utilizing Project Daybreak, the Nexus Corporation studies time travel to find the means to cure the world of its problems.”

“Developed by Trilogy Studios, Daybreakers puts players in the role of undercover US secret operative Nolan Reeves who is asked to enter the world of the criminal underground, joining the Nexus Project and time traveling in order to find three escaped convicts. Upon returning from his task, Reeves finds that the only people aware of his mission, of his existence – have been killed. From this point forward he must rely on the ability to manipulate the relationships with those in the world around him: inmates, factions, and the corrupt officers and officials who permeate Nexus Island.”

“We would like to be the first team to truly monetize the online gameplay of first-person shooters,” Pole proclaimed. “It hasn’t been done. First-person shooters traditionally have not done a very good job of rewarding players. The way they reward players is that you run through a level, shoot everything on the level, finish the level, and you go to the other level and get a bigger gun. Our goal and our objective is to get a player a sophisticated and very detailed level of gameplay that hasn’t been delivered in first-person shooters by offering gamers a moment-by-moment reward system versus a level-based reward system. All these RPG elements that we mentioned will allow players to build upon their characters so they can see how well they are doing.”

“Instead of describing the game as an open world title, he told us that Daybreakers was a “dynamic world simulator“. He added that the game would feature more interactivity and more of a sense that the player’s actions have consequences in the game world. “I think that’s where games need to go, especially first person shooters,”

The first Daybreakers’ episode was planned for 2008, but the project quickly vanished and was never completed. As far as we know Trilogy Studios worked on a few social games before closing down around 2010.

Thanks to Daniel Nicaise for the contribution!

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Jack the Ripper (Cryptic Studios) [PC – Cancelled]

After launching Star Trek Online and some Champions Online expansions in 2011 Cryptic Studios worked for a few months on an unnamed adventure game based on the Jack the Ripper murders. A small team created an early prototype of the Whitechapel district in London, set in the 19th century. This would have been the main explorable area in the game, where players would investigate murders, talk with NPCs and resolve a series of related quests.

This project was never officially announced by Cryptic Studios and it was canned in just a few months. There’s not much information or media available: just a series of screenshots from the Whitechapel prototype, preserved below to remember the existence of this lost game.

Thanks to Crov for the contribution!

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Perdition (Velvet Games) [Nintendo DS – Cancelled]

Perdition is a cancelled third person shooter that was in development by Velvet Games and would have been published by Bauhaus Entertainment for Nintendo DS. Players could have been able to shoot down hordes of zombies in single player or coop mode, using many different weapons and items. Could this have been the “Left 4 Dead” for Nintendo DS fans? Unfortunately we’ll never known

In the end Perdition was canned and never completed but in October 2021 Forest of Illusions released a playable prototype online.

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Ashen 2 (Torus Games) [Cancelled – N-Gage]

Ashen 2 is the cancelled sequel to N-Gage’s obscure FPS, in development by Torus Games around 2004 / 2005. It seems the game was officially announced by Nokia, but there is not much information about it online, just some 3D models shared by a former developer. We can assume Ashen 2 would have been similar to the first game, with big maze-levels to explore, full of demons and other enemies to shoot down.

Possibly because of the N-Gage failure on the market, Nokia and Torus Games canned the project and Ashen 2 was never completed.

Thanks to Michael for the contribution!

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Warhammer 40.000: Agents of Death [PC – Cancelled]

Warhammer 40.000: Agents of Death is a cancelled FPS that was in development by Mirage Media (mostly known for Imperium Galactica and Mortyr) in the late ‘90s, planned to be published on PC. The game was about the confrontation of 3 heroes against the ruler of a certain planet who sold himself to the forces of chaos. Before the beginning of each level, players could choose between one of the 3 protagonists, while the other two would have been controlled by the AI.

Levels had different objectives following the game story and one character could have been more useful than the others depending on the mission. For example if you had to kill one specific target without alerting the other enemies, a sniper would be the best choice. Instead in a mission with dozens of enemies to kill, someone with a huge fire-power could be the best choice.

Mirage Media was working on Agents of Death along with Mortyr 2 and both games used their homespun three-dimensional engine, which (according to the developers) made it possible to create an incredibly realistic and detailed world. Unfortunately they were not able to complete the project and in 2000 Agents of Death was scrapped.

It seems a playable alpha version of the game was leaked online many years ago: if you still have a copy of this, please let us know in the comments below!

Thanks to Josef for the contribution!

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