Psygnosis

The Fallen [PSX PC – Cancelled]

The Fallen is a cancelled action adventure game that was in development in 1995 / 1996 by Sensory Deception and it would have been published by Psygnosis for the original Playstation and PC. Sadly just few screenshots were found by Celine in CD Consoles magazine issue #19 and Edge magazine issue #33.

Below you can read the story / setting of the game, as announced at E3 1996:

The Lords are the law enforcers of the future, maintaining their own brand of vicious law and order in cities across the U.S. The Fallen are their prey, the drop-outs from society who fall foul of The System and want to find their own way without rules. When the two meet, only chaos can follow.

Play Lord or Fallen in this huge and minutely detailed strategic adventure which takes you from coast to coast across America and offers so many real-life options, you’ll think you’re there. And with bribery, corruption, gambling and violence all on the agenda, there might not be the place you want to be.

Some of the promised features:

  • Unique characterisation system introduces realistic characters capable of complex interaction.
  • Fully textured real-time 3D graphics.
  • Non-linear structure allows the player to dictate the action strategy.
  • Huge array of fully interactive vehicles, weapons and special objects.
  • Combat includes hand-to-hand fighting, vehicle ramming and use of futuristic weapons.
  • Multi-player options (PC version)

Even if we don’t know much about the project, from this description it seems that the gameplay could have been somehow similar to a futuristic Grand Theft Auto. The Fallen was cancelled for unknown reasons, maybe because it was too ambitious for 1996.

If you know someone who worked on this game and can share some more info or media, please let us know!

Thanks to Celine for the contribution! Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

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ResQ [MD/G – Cancelled]

ResQ is a cancelled 2D shooter / action game that was in development by Tempest Software for the Genesis / Mega Drive. The project was almost finished when the publisher, Psygnosis, decided to pulled it out: even if ResQ was never officially released, a rom of the game was leaked online and can be easily found through Google.

The look and feel of the game seem taken from an Amiga project, probably because the team was inspired by the Bitmap Brothers graphic style back then. Other inspirations were games such as R-Type (for the ship) C64 version of Turrican, Super Ghosts and Goblins (for the centurion) Starwing/Starfox (for the 3D bonus game).

As a former graphic designer of Tempest Software wrote:

The Game was programmed on 486 PC’s by Bill Pullan and Pete, while  Jason used Deluxe Paint II and III on an Amiga 1200 with RAM upgrade for Graphics and Animation. Bill actually worked on an Amiga title before RESQ, “Bill’s Tomato Game“.

Thanks to Jason and Celine for the contributions!

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Parasite (Ar’Kritz the Intruder) [PSX – Cancelled]

Update: this game was later released and renamed to Ar’Kritz the Intruder for PC only! The Playstation version was never released.

Parasite is a cancelled side-scrolling action adventure that was in development by Virtual Studio (while other sources report that it was created by Sony Interactive or Psygnosis / Sony Studio Liverpool) and it was going to be published in 1996, for the original Playstation and PC. Even if it looked nice and it could have had a fun gameplay (somehow similar to  Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee maybe?), in the end the project was canned for unknown reasons. As we can read in the original press release:

Parasite is a film-noir  thriller with a twist. In it you play an ordinary guy thrown into extraordinary circumstances – possessed by an alien law enforcer, you’re forced to walk the mean streets in search of  undercover extra-terrestrials.  But as the alien slowly mutates your host body, you’d better help him solve this one quickly, before you shape-shift beyond recognition.

Parasite features two quests in one, as you balance your own need for an
antidote with the relentless demands of the alien who’s got an agenda of his own.

Featuring a fully rendered 3D city to explore (with over 300 screens of, this dark adventure game explores an alternate reality where Raymond Chandler meets William Gibson.

There are not much more info on Parasite, but Celine was able to find some more  screens in Game Pro issues 75 and 79.

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Blood Bowl [PSX/PC – Cancelled]

Blood Bowl is a cancelled sport / action game that was in development by Psygnosis for the original Playstation and PC in 1998. The gameplay could have been something like Speedball or Mutant League Football. The project was stopped when the company went into financial troubles, before being bought out by Sony. It’s interesting to notice that Psygnosis’ Blood Bowl was probably based on the board game of the same name and two other Blood Bowl games were released by other companies in 1995 and 2009.

Thanks to Celine for the contribution!

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