Andrew Spencer Studios

Urban Decay [PC – Cancelled]

Urban Decay is a cancelled action game that was in development by Andrew Spencer Studios and it would have been produced / published by Psygnosis for PC. The project was to be an ellipsoid game like Ecstatica, but it was put on hold at one point to focus on Ecstatica 2. When they went back to work on Urban Decay the design switched to a traditional polygonal engine from which no images have surfaced yet. Relationship with the studio went south after this and the game disappeared forever.  Pcloadletter sent an e-mail to Ken Doyle, that graciously replied and says in his own words:

I did work on it. The ol memory’s a bit dim but basically various issues assailed and eventually sunk the project. Firstly the main creative and design force behind the game, a guy called Eamon Butler left to pursue a successful career at Disney. He became frustrated with endless requests for design and style changes. It was originally due to be an ellipsoid game but later changed over to a more regular poly look for the sake of realism. Urban Decay was shelved so work on Ecstatica 2 could begin. We returned to Urban Decay but the studios relationship with Psygnosis soured and that was that. Studio closed and we all moved on. That’s about it. Hope this helps.

Some more info on Urban Decay can be found at Games That Weren’t (web archive, the site is currently down). Also, check the video from Ecstatica to have a better idea about how the game would have looked like in motion.

Thanks to Pcloadletter and derboo for the contributions!

Images:

Video from Ecstatica: