It’s been a while since my last post about canceled games, but I’m so interested in the topic that I’ve made another list, and you might see a couple more of these posts yet.
So here we go with another quintet of unfinished gems—canceled games which nonetheless, as per the current Game Jolt rules, have some sort of a playable build available.
Incursion (Windows, Mac)
{% pullquote The trailer really builds up the hype. %}
You might be familiar with the exceptional but divisive work of Peter Moorehead, the developer responsible for the short, narrative-focused adventure games Stranded and, more recently, Murder. Well, Incursion is the “lost” Peter Moorehead game. It promised to be “A text-based adventure for the new age. Based on a revolutionary concept for non-linear storytelling” embellished with chunky, handsome pixel art. It appeared to be headed in the direction of being a Tolkien-esque fantasy full of tropes that get turned on their head. Alas, only the barest of prologues was completed. What we have is still lovely.
MOCURO (Flash)
You should know going into MOCURO that it is all set-up and no payoff. When you reach the point at which development ceased, all you get is a friendly note that, sorry, there’s nothing else to see (which is, however, refreshing to see). The architectural background art is striking, but the character sprites and other elements seem to be placeholders. The story, as far as it goes, is enthralling. You arrive in a strange town that’s overseen by an all-seeing eye and are immediately invited to a public execution. Just as you’re getting embroiled in an underground plot, that’s all she wrote. What could have been is still bewitching.
Rainbow Panther (Windows)
Created back in 2013, this is essentially the hub area for what was to be a tongue-in-cheek, action packed parody of—and homage to—Batman. You get to bumble around the Panther Cave as the Rainbow Panther and practice your crimefighting moves. It’s a solid style and set of mechanics, and developer Zack Harmon is “modifying the idea into a multiplayer roguelike, about a band of antiheroes travelling the galaxy in search of audiences—still under the slapstick name Rainbow Panthers.” So I’ll be looking forward to that.
Dimension Spark (Windows)
Dimension Spark is (the demo for) a character and story-focused game in the guise of a classical platformer. Although lacking in juiciness, you can tell that a lot of work and a lot of love went into making it. So it comes as welcome news that all of that has not gone to waste; instead, it has become the foundation for the Westlouia project.
LeMission (Windows)
2014’s LeMission is a little like Hotline Miami, in that it’s a top-down shooter about infiltrating rooms guarded by enemies that can kill you in a fraction of a second. But there is a large focus on using your guns and bombs to penetrate various walls in just the right places, so you can take out the hyper-aware guards without overheating your weapon or blowing yourself up.
LeMission could have been great, and this early version is already damn good. Alas, the game’s cancellation was the direct result of a hard drive disaster, and continued development (of this version) is impossible. However, I would love to see the project rebuilt from scratch using the latest edition of GameMaker and expanded with all of the features and levels that were planned for the original (that’s not too much to ask, is it?) Please, TendUere, at least consider it!
4 comments