Beta + Cancelled FPS Video Games - Page 9 of 68

Utopia Industrial is a cancelled mission-based First Person RPG / Shooter planned to be a sequel to Utopia City, which was in development by Parallax Arts Studio around 2004 when the first game was still unreleased. Gameplay could have been somehow similar to Deus Ex, with missions you could resolve by using stealth or by shooting down every enemy on sight.

In this lost sequel players would have been able to explore new areas in the industrial part of the Utopian world and the virtual universe, trying to avoid harming the civilians and find the best way to take down a new terrorist group. As we can read on the old Parallax Arts website:

“After the destruction of the central city of Utopia, it became known that it was not the end. The information that there was a secret experiment in the industrial part of the Utopian world appeared. A terrorist group was at the head of the process. The group’s intentions failed in the real world, thus they try to fulfill their plans in the virtual universe.
The heart of the experiment was the following. Many of the people who made their way to Utopia were deprived of their wills and plunged into a deep dream. Their consciousness was greatly influenced in order to make them suffer and be horrified.
Images being created by the test people’s subconsciousness materialized and put on an air of a virtual body in a secret laboratory. The visualized monsters were kept in a special polygon where they were self-perfecting in order to make their “souls” tone with their appearance. Further, the monsters are planned to be directed to the real people’s dreams in order to deprive them of sleep and to drive them mad. “

At the time Parallax Arts were also working on 4 other projects: Utopia City, 1171, Caravan and Liquidator 2: Welcome to Hell. Only Utopia City and Liquidator 2 were published and after releasing Exodus from the Earth in 2007, Parallax vanished.

Thanks to Daniel Nicaise for the contribution!

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Microsoft, Others, PC / MAC, Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony, Xbox 360

Severity (Escalation Studios) [Cancelled – PS3, Xbox 360, PC]

monokoma

29-12-2021

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Severity is a cancelled eSport-focused FPS that was in development around 2007 by Escalation Studios (later renamed to Bethesda Game Studios Dallas) in cooperation with John Romero and funded by the Cyberathlete Professional League. It was planned to be released on Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

As we can read in an old article published on FiringSquad:

“Mustaine told us that he already has a group of about 10 team members working on Severity and plans to expand that team to about 20 members in total.
Mustaine isn’t revealing much about the game itself at this stage but he did tell us that the game will be a mix of modern day and futuristic themes in terms of weapons and level settings. While the game will not have a lengthy single player experience except maybe for tutorial levels, he did say they did plan for AI bot play for people to practice offline.
Of course, creating a game for pro gaming tournaments means adding more features that will make the game better not just for the players but also for the spectators. In addition to support for tournament ladders and detailed stats for players, Mustaine told us that Severity has plans to expand its options for spectators, including in-game cameras that can be controlled by commentators and finding ways to display important stats to the spectators in order to get them more fully involved in the matches. Mustaine compared what they wanted to do to how professional poker matches became a huge draw among the general public thanks in part to how TV had commentators and stats for the poker matches. As far as Severity’s game modes, Mustaine told us that they are planning to have modes with different player speeds, different game physics and different weapon loadouts.”

Some more details can be found in an interview published by PSU:

“PSU: There have been beliefs floating around that the game will play exactly the same as Quake III Arena. If there’s a game with a similar gameplay style to Severity what game would it be?
Angel: It will not play identical to Quake 3 or any other game, but Quake 3 is definitely one of the major inspirations for the development team. Severity will have very unique characteristics and a rich visual environment, but it will also be a faced-paced game.
PSU: Will there be the ability to have cross-platform gaming? i.e. PlayStation 3 vs. Xbox 360 vs. PC gamers?
Angel: That is absolutely the plan!”

It seems Severity’s development was already canned or slowed down in 2008, as told by John Romero to That Gaming Site. Later Escalation Studios denied the game’s cancellation, but in the end it was never released anyway. After working on small projects such as Samba de Amigo on Wii and Doom Resurrection for iOS, in 2012 the team was acquired by 6waves Lolapps and then sold to ZeniMax Media in 2017 after they helped with the development of Rage and Doom reboot.

Thanks to Daniel Nicaise for the contribution!

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Others, PC / MAC

Refusion (Gumpanela) [PC – Cancelled]

monokoma

03-12-2021

2 Comments

Refusion is a cancelled multiplayer FPS / RTS hybrid that was in development for PC by Gumpanela Entertainment between 2005 and 2013. The concept behind the project was to let players fight as a unit with FPS gameplay or to become the leader of the team playing each battle as in a Real Time Strategy game. Imagine epic online VS matches between hundreds of players and AI-controlled units, moving in real time on a small-scale planet (40 x 40 km), using vehicles, entering into buildings and destroying the environments with explosives. An ambitious project indeed.

We can find some details about Refusion on Gumpanela’s old website (now closed):

Multiplayer: The game is mainly designed for the massive multiplayer mode. Up to 100 players can join the Battle at any time during the action. The aim is clear – vanquish the enemy! We also provide AI to help you in the roles of Fighter or Master.
SinglePlayer: The game can also be enjoyed by solo players. You can select either Skirmish or Campaign and discover the whole history of Human and Skoroman so that the prophecies can be fulfilled.
As A Fighter You Can: Choose between different classes; Control a great variety of units – ground, air, naval; Get your own unit – just come over to the proper military structure, press the button and than unit is there for you; Live longer on the Battlefield – more playing-time, less waiting-time; Listen to your Master’s orders. You will know where the enemy is, where to go, which group to join and what your personal task is. In the end, it’s your decision!
As A Master You Can: Play the full RTS game with real live units; Organise and manage your Fighters – they need you and you need them; Rely on your Fighters’ intelligence and incorporate their ideas in your tactics; Command huge numbers of units and build extensive bases; Lead great battles and obliterate your opponents.

Featuring:

Two Races against each other. Human versus Skoroman.
Unseen Battle Realm of 40×40 km, with no borders – just like a normal planet works.
Unique union of FPS and RTS game technology;
State-of-the-art FPS quality in physics and graphics;
Extensive, borderless game environment;
Massive units and buildings;
Epic battles, hundreds of units engaged;
Full and/or partial destructibility of units – for example, a car without a wheel will still be able to move along;
Open Games – you can join any game any time – the system’s auto-balance feature will keep everything in order, both Master or Fighter, no matter who joins in.

They also shared many screenshots and details on their Moddb account:

“Imagine yourself playing as a Master in classical RTS like Starcraft or Total Annihilation and your friend in the role of a Fighter playing his own FPS like for example Battlefield DC. And this all is happening in the same time at the same place. Isn’t it a brilliant idea? The best thing about this all above is the shared experience but for each player from perspective seen from a different point of view.
The Master builds bases and units, takes care of resource management, researches global upgrades and leads the whole battle, exactly as if he was playing a normal RTS game. As soon as he builds barracks, the live FPS players can join the game as Fighters and use everything Master has built, including usage of units he has created.
Through cooperation a great game come to existence, where the Master sees everything from a bird’s perspective and leads the battle globally. A Live Fighter has his own head and judgement of the situation, he sees the battle in local perspective and is able to solve some situations better than Master could ever do. Fighter can also invite a few AI controlled units into his team and command them on the battlefield according to his current needs.”

After a development update in 2013, Refusion quietly vanished.

Thanks to Daniel Nicaise for the contribution!

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Videos:

N-Gage, Others

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

monokoma

10-11-2021

No Comments

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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Others, PC / MAC

Warhammer 40.000: Agents of Death [PC – Cancelled]

monokoma

10-11-2021

5 Comments

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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