Survival Horror

Virus [PSX – Cancelled]

Virus is a cancelled survival horror game that was in development by Sony Interactive Studios America for the original Playstation. Players had to repel an alien virus that invaded a military ship, messing up with human tecnologies, transforming inanimate objects into dangerous enemies (as a big spider-copter hybrid). Virus by SISA should not be confused with Alien Virus, another game that was planned for the PSX by International Computer Entertainment /Vic Tokai (and only released for PC).

Virus was never released for unkown reasons. If you know someone that worked on this game, please let us know!

Here’s the original press-release:

Sony Imagesoft proudly announces the upcoming release of the first computer bug you’ll want to buy, Virus. The PC game version of Virus will debut today at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) hel d in Los Angeles.

Based on the coin-op version of the game — which will be released by Betson Entertainment Technologies later this year — Virus is a first-person arcade-style shooter game that takes place on a hi-tech and heavily armed battleship.

“We’re excited to bring Virus to the PC and PlayStation soon after its arcade release,” said Kelly Flock, president, Sony Imagesoft. “As Virus is originally an arcade game, we’re striving to have tons of fast-paced action with some bizar re creatures lurking around every corner; it will definitely be a kill or be killed game.”

The story line of Virus takes place after the ship’s telecommunication system picks up an alien virus which infects not just the crew and the electronics, but the entire vessel. The virus physically fuses and combines everything it infects into flesh an d metal monsters. Apache helicopters grow spidery legs; crewmen meld with their instruments of death; giant wasps grow machine guns; and, the entire ship is turned into a massive living, thinking war-zone with the player trapped inside.

In Virus, the player will have to fight his way through six sections of the ship, confronting a wide variety of grotesque mutants along the way. For added action, Virus will also have a two-player cooperative mode. The PC version of Virus will ship on two CD-ROMs for IBM-compatible computers and is slated for a Christmas release. A Sony PlayStation version is scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 1996.

Celine was able to find some images in CD Consoles #8 and Top Consoles #5 magazines.

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Sadness [Wii, WiiU- Cancelled]

Sadness is a cancelled horror game that was in development by Polish video game developer Nibris for the Wii. Frontline Studios had previously signed a deal to co-produce Sadness. However, as of March 17 2007, the companies parted ways due to “artistic differences”. Set in pre-WWI Eastern Europe, Sadness would have followed the story of Maria, a Victorian era aristocrat who has to protect her blind son Alexander after their train derails in the countryside. Their subsequent adventures were based on Slavic legends. [Info from Wikipedia]

After years of development issues, in February 2010 Sadness’ website was closed and the game was officially cancelled, probably because they never found a publisher interested in the project.

Some music tracks created for the game were leaked online, as we can read on Polish Music Blog:

Polish game music blog Gramuzyka has come into possession of thirteen unreleased tracks by composer Arkadiusz Reikowski from Sadness , proving there was actual work done on the game. It seems this music was to be included in a demo version of the game that never saw the light of day.

Some more details were translated by Olga from different Polish sources, such as Gry Online, My Nintendo & Gram:

– Started as a wii game, but the development moved to wiiU after Nibris was disbanned in 2010. It was picked up by two american development teams, HullBreach Studios and Cthulhi Games, who had „some part in making the original”. They wanted to keep the game close to the original vision, but the work was practically started from scratch, changing a lot of technical aspects.
– Maria’s (the protagonist) full name was Maria Lengyel
– The train derailment takes place „somewhere in eastern Europe”, but another source states it was specifically Ukraine.
– Aleks wasn’t blind from the start; he lost his eyesight in the derailment, which also caused him to suffer from narcolepsy, schizofrenia and nyktophobia (fear of darkness).
– Aleks’ behavior was supposed to get more and more unsettling as the game progresses
– The game’s visual style is described as „gothic” and „lacking in color”, using only shades of gray.
– Actual fights with monsters were rare; instead, the player would have to use stealth, exploration and „other actions” that would help in the protagonist’s survival.
– Wii version was 3D and made on the gamebryo engine, while the WiiU version was made in 2D on the unity engine.
– The WiiU version put greater Focus on puzzles and „RPG-esque elements”
– Maria Lengyel was a polish-hungarian aristocrat
– Maria was supposed to lose conciousnes after the derailment. When she wakes up, she sees men dressed in black killing off the other survivors. Her husband and two other children are dead, her third child, Aleksander, is missing. Grieving Maria goes to find her son.
– Apparently, there were multiple plot synopsises: One is the above one, the second one has Aleks losing his sight, and the third one stated that Aleks was Maria’s brother, not son.
– Frontline Studios based in Bydgoszcz was allegedly to co-produce the game
– Nibris apparently didn’t have a publisher chosen
– FOG studios from Kraków was responsible for marketing.
– Game was planned for the end of 2007, but was pushed to 2009. There were periodic updates about the development going well.
– The game was allegedly supposed to be featured on E3 2009
– After removal of the site, a part of the team started Bloober Team, while the rest of the team is coordinating the European Game Center (Europejskie centrum gier) in Kraków
– The train at the start was heading to Lvow
– Some sources say the game took place before WWI, but this source says it takes place during it.
– Everything was done with the wii remote, forsaking menus for a seamless experience
– There was a rumor that the music was to be composed by Piotr Rubik, a fameous polish composer.
– Aleksander was eight years old
– Cutscenes were planned, but its unclear if they were made on the game engine.
– NPCs that the player could talk to were planned.
– Eight endings were planned, each one with a different message. Player’s actions were judged, the most important were ones concerning Aleks, how the player treated him and took care of his physical and mental well-being.

Thanks to Unvaluablespace, UserdanteAndrew, Olga and Anonymous for the contributions!

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Campfire [PS2/XBOX – Cancelled]

Campfire: Become Your Nightmare is a cancelled “reverse survival horror” that was in development in 2003 by Daydream Software, for the original Xbox and Playstation 2. The project was going to be an open ended action game, in which the player would had take the role of a serial killer, to massacre tourists and youngsters during their holydays in the woods. As we can read in the official press release:

What if you were the hunter instead of the hunted? What if your sole purpose in life was to cause misery, death, and pain to anyone and anything you encountered? Now you have your chance. So begins Daydream Software’s brutal “reverse survival horror” game, Campfire. Based on contemporary slasher flicks, Campfire allows players to choose from four different serial killers (Vincent Voucher, Mac Douglas, Louis Winterstorm, and Mannie the Clown) so that they may use them to wreck havoc on the unsuspecting populace of an out of the way campground.

Campfire vanished without any official announcement, but it’s possible that Daydream never found a publisher interested in the project.

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Resident Evil Zero 0 [GC – Beta]

Resident Evil 0 is the prequel of the first Resident Evil. It was originally developed by Capcom for the Nintendo 64, but at the end it was ported and released on the Gamecube. In October 2009, Tyrant of resident-evil-beta.de discovered many beta backgrounds and some removed items in the trial disc of the game.

Also, Trebla Yevrah noticed other unused items in the japanese trial version:

If one has the proper tools available, they can view many unused and early versions of items in the Japanese demo of Resident Evil 0. Using GCNrd, I modified the item slots and browsed through the values. As one would expect, most of the items that can be uncovered cannot be obtained ordinarily in the demo, but the majority of them are found in the finished product.

An unused hand grenade is present in both the trial and the final version of RE0. I was curious to see the state of this item in this early version of the game, but although the model and icon are still present, it cannot be equipped (like the released game). Actually, almost all weapons are unusable in the trial if you hack them into your inventory. The only ones operational are the handguns, knife, and hunting gun. The only exception, or at least, the only other equip that won’t freeze the game, is the shotgun. Your characters can hold it, but the weapon model itself is unfinished with no textures to speak of, and it cannot be fired.

Almost every item that can be examined has a slightly different texture when compared to the final game. One prime example is the key card used to operate the brakes on the train. I have tried using some of the key items in their proper place on the train, but they either don’t work, or freeze the game. For example, the hook shot can’t be used in the window that normally leads to the roof.

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The Crucible: Evil Within (The Box/The Ritualyst) [Cancelled – PS3/Xbox 360]

The Crucible: Evil Within, AKA “The Box” or “The Ritualyst” originally was a Silicon Knights-developed (developer of Eternal Darkness and Too Human) open-world horror pitch for PS3 started in 2004, which was accepted for full production by Sega in March 2005.

“Silicon Knights has a rich history of developing great games that push hardware technology, so we expect this relationship will result in a powerful, new, and highly commercial franchise.”
Simon Jeffery, President and COO, SEGA of America

In 2006, Sega revealed some game details in an online survey. Until then, the game was internally known as “The Box”. The survey however led to “The Crucible: Evil Within”. Later, however, it was renamed to “The Ritualist” instead.

“An open free-roaming action horror game where the player undertakes a terrorizing journey of suspense, fear, power and discovery, and where every decision has multiple consequences… Uncover an ancient chest with unimaginable power that seduces you into evil, sin and corruption.”

Court documents from Silicon Knights’ legal battle with Epic Games reveal that The Box was initially planned to be finished by February 27th, 2007. It was later amended to extend the delivery date to November 4th, 2008. In August 2008, Sega decided to cancel various external projects, including Aliens RPG: Crucible, Aliens: Colonial Marines (later restarted), Cipher Complex, and The Box. However, Silicon Knights was able to find a new publisher with THQ, which also dropped the project in early 2009. As a kind of compensation, team members of The Box were asked to help on Vigil Games’/THQ’s Darksiders.

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