Agartha is a cancelled horror adventure that was planned by the French software house No Cliche (author of titles like Toy Commander) for the Sega Dreamcast. Development began in 2000 and the game promised to have an interesting plot and gameplay:
During the winter of 1929 in a Romanian village that was partially destroyed by a landslide that occurred during a mysterious earthquake, a subterranean city exists called Agartha. This is where evil is being kept prisoner and is desperate to escape. Kirk the human hero will encounter a series of characters from villages, the living dead, fanatics from an evil sect, monsters, demons, solider monks, priests, archangels and the Sentinel who is the ultimate personification of evil. As Kirk you can decide to save as many innocent people as possible or to trigger the arrival of chaos on earth. As Kirk’s morals waver between good and evil, this ambiguity changes the aims of the adventure and the narration of the story.
Agartha’s gameplay was probably going to be similar to Alone in the Dark, D2 and Silent Hill, players had to explore the snowed mountains and villages, resolving puzzles and fighting against monsters / demons that lived in there. The game progress was influenced by the players’ choices, which could have decided whether to help innocent people and seal the evil town, or let them to die and help demons to destroy our planet. An online mode of some sort could have been planned too.
No Cliche’s horror adventure could have been an awesome addition to the Dreamcast’s library, however in 2001, Sega went out of the console business. Sadly No Cliche had to cancel Agartha, close down and laid off most of its staff.
Thanks to Hey Hey for the contribution!
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