Some games get canceled before they reach a state of what the developer feels comfortable calling “completion”. If we’re lucky (or unlucky, as the case may be), there’s some sort of early version available to play. You can find a trove of these unfinished prototypes and incomplete could’ve-been-masterpieces on Game Jolt. Just filter your search results by the “canceled” status; the range of quality is even… broader than in Game Jolt’s New Releases section.
Here are 5 canceled games that can inspire equal parts excitement (at the concept and/or execution) and disappointment (at the cancelation).
The Wanderer by leeham9 (Flash)
Even in its current, unfinished state, just about anyone can enjoy The Wanderer. It reminds me of a brutal Legend of Zelda. The developer proclaims that it’s primarily inspired by Dark/Demon’s Souls. The mélange is tasty but it’s merely a snack. At least the developer hasn’t ruled out working on the game again sometime in the future.
You Are the Horse by DaNeel (HTML)
Over the relatively brief period of time he’s been active, DaNeel has become one of the most consistently interesting developers on Game Jolt. His games seem like they spring directly out of his subconscious and onto my computer monitor. You Are the Horse is the same in that regard, but DaNeel couldn’t figure out where to go with it after the opening handful of screens, so he decided to put the horse out to pasture.
Reflected by punchcrab (Windows download)
It’s a refreshing combination of exhilaration and relaxation to be soaring above the world in a hot air balloon. I know this not from real life but from Reflected. The developer doesn’t consider the game complete because there is no specific win condition or ending, but it’s a very full experience. Besides, the obvious “goal” is to fly your balloon through the key-shaped opening between those two mountains in the crevasse (you’ll know it when you see it)!
cabin shed by spudoogle (Unity Web Player)
I find the the works of spudoogle raw, beautiful, and surreal. I can only compare them to the creations of thecatamites and cicadamarionette. 4 out of 5 of spudoogle’s “games” have been marked as canceled, which makes them perfect for this column. Perhaps they were canceled because they lack traditional game-like elements. Games like cabin shed are more like explorable environments or three-dimensional paintings. I’m not so sure that pasting gameplay mechanics onto them would improve them in any way.
Nault Nipp by eoeoeo344 (Unity Web Player and Windows download)
Only 1 of this rather mysterious developer’s 5 fascinating games is tagged as complete; 3 of them are in development; the other, Nault Nipp, is straight-up canceled. Despite its status, the game offers an experience that feels complete; it has a large area to explore and a series of objects to find (books of music for the giant piano, of course). As you can see from the page header and the screenshot above, it’s quite beautiful. It (along with spudoogle’s stuff, now that I think about it) fits pretty squarely in this newfangled subgenre of walking simulators and voidscapes, I’d reckon.
Do you know of any cool canceled games that are still worth a look? Sound off in the comments!
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