Wicked! is a cancelled action adventure that was in development by VIS Interactive for Nintendo 64. The team also worked on “Earthworm Jim 3D” and “Tom and Jerry in Fists of Furry” for the N64, but Wicked would have been one of their few original IPs. It seems the game could have been an action adventure with magical settings, inspired by such TV series as “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch”.
Images from a VIS Interactive pamphlet shown some of the characters designed for this canned game:
Huge thanks to Kirk Ewing and Iain Roberts for the contribution!
The project was never shown to the public, but a design doc was found by video game collectors some years ago (if you have a copy of this document, please let us know!). There’s also an updated concept art for Wicked!’s protagonist (Jenny), drawn by Paul Simms with the following note:
“Jenny’s not bad, she’s….. Wicked. An old, old N64 demo character brought up to date”.
Wall-E 2 is the cancelled sequel to Helixe’s Nintendo DS game based on the eponymous Disney Pixar movie. The team was a division of THQ that focused on Nintendo’s portable consoles, and previously worked on other DS tie-ins such as Ratatouille, Cars, The Incredibles. This follow-up would feature local coop multiplayer using the DS wireless connection, with multiple playable characters from the movie. Helixe was shut down by THQ in November 2008 and Wall-E 2 was canned along with them.
A couple 3D models from the game levels are preserved below, to remember the existence of this lost DS game.
Paparazzi is a cancelled photography adventure game that was in development in 2005 by Widescreen Games for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. This project must not be confused with the European conversion of “Simple 2000 Series Vol. 53: The Camera Kozou”, which was renamed “Paparazzi” by 505 Game Street.
As far as we know Widescreen Games’ Paparazzi was never officially announced, and only a single image with a 3D model made for the game, alongside a tiny screenshot, are preserved below, to remember the existence of this lost game. We can read further details about the game on the now-defunct website of its developer:
Will you walk into the hall of fame?
Paparazzi is a 3rd person action adventure game mixing 1st person snap-shooting.
Leisure Suit Larry‘s and its humorous universe meets the wisecrack world of showbiz tabloids.
Storyline:
As a common people who is fed up with your common life, you want to be part of the glittering Jet Set system.
But you can’t afford it due to your miserable condition and look!
To achieve rapidly this scheme, the best way for you is to become a photographer working for the tabloids press.
As a rookie, you will make your way in the infamous world of informers, unscrupulous magazines and fierce competition with others paparazzi.
Unique Selling Points:
A real adventure where the player manages his own career in the funny and original universe of the paparazzi and tabloids.
A real action game where you have to take the right picture at the right time.· Unveil the dark side of the show business.
Breath-taking actions and infiltration phases: bribe a bouncer to enter a private night-club, escape from a private property chased by guard dogs, spy and collect data as a party sponger, spread rumors in the showbiz, impersonate a rich producer and chat up with airbrained chicks….
Numerous worldwide and famous locations : Beverly Hills, Miami, St-Tropez, Nice, Monte Carlo, Ibiza, Gstaad….
From the simple buoy to the speedboat to hunt a yacht; from a simple tree to a copter for aerial snapshots, make it bigger!
Upgrade your camera with new devices : light intensifier, optical zooms, thermic goggles, digital cameras…
Cell-shading graphics to caustically illustrate this universe.
Easy-to-use controls and intuitive interface to take your snap shots and control your character in the various settings and situations.
If you know someone who worked on this game and could help saving more details or screenshots, please let us know!
Hab-12 is a cancelled, third-person action-adventure game in-development at Ratloop from 1998 to 1999. The company was founded by 5 people, one of which being Lucas Pope, who would go on to make Papers Please and Return of the Obra Dinn. Ratloop started out making the full-conversion Quake mod Malice while under the name Team Epochalypse, then moved on to something much more ambitious.
Hab-12 was to be their next game, a sci-fi adventure about surviving various hostile environments. A documentary about the game was released on Youtube by Massimiliano Camassa discussing many aspects of the game and it’s development. Camassa was given access to many development materials including the design document and 2 demos of the game, one from 1998 and the other from 1999
Hab-12’s gameplay would have been a mix of classic 2D adventure games, like the Monkey Island series, and a more traditional third person shooter. Camassa’s documentary also discusses how media and the public viewed the game:
“Tomb Raider was the game most people thought of upon hearing that Hab-12 was an action adventure game. Yet, Hab-12 is a slower-paced, cinematic, puzzle-based adventure game experience. The demo is highly scripted and after playing the demo and studying the game design document the rest of the game would likely have a similar game structure.”
Like many adventure contemporary to Hab-12, puzzles were a major part of the demos, even starting with one. Miray, the game’s protagonist, would be stuck in a venus flytrap-like plant and would have to swing from side-to-side to escape. Other puzzles in the demos included having to distract monsters to sneak around and maneuvering around a giant slug alien’s breath to survive.
Cassan’s documentary reveals how Ratloop intended to make Hab-12’s plot stand out. To achieve this, the devs intended to focus the game’s story on the ever-changing relationship between the down-to-earth Miray and the outlandish biological A.I PAX. After a cataclysmic event occurs on board The Sentient, a research ship, Miray would have to make his way through all 12 habitats (or Habs) in order to escape. The documentary summarizes the game’s story with a quote:
“Hab-12 is all about man vs. wild, but also a remarkable story about a normal guy and an unhinged bio-computer.”
The games levels were intended to take place acrossthe 12 habitations, with each hab featuring a different ecosystem for Miray to overcome. Revealed in screenshots and demos were an autumn-like red forest, an icy cave system, a swampy area with gigantic trees, a volcanic area, and more. The variety in level design was quite impressive for the era, and Miray was to have several costume changes to reflect the surroundings. These levels were also planned to be intensely detailed and impressive, the documentary even shows how amazed publications were with the red forest level, saying “Every leaf is rendered. Every damned one. That’s how good the graphics engine is.”
Despite the game impressing media outlets with its graphics and gameplay, the project failed to find any publishers. Hab-12’s ambition, along with Ratloop’s relative inexperience at the time, was what ultimately killed the project. The project was planned to have a sequel and a novel adaptation written by a member of the team. Ratloop now exists as 3 companies, Ratloop inc, Ratloop Asia, and Ratloop Games Canada. Ratloop Canada is currently working on the turn-based FPS shooter Lemnis Gate.
Article by Alex Cutler, thanks to Jackgrimm99 for the contribution
Siren in the Maelstrom is a cancelled fantasy adventure that was in development by Silicon Knights in the late ‘00s, but never officially announced. The title of this lost project was leaked online in different ways, when Canada Telefilm (an organization that lists projects approved for government grants) announced they would invest into Silicon Knights for their new game “Siren in the Maelstrom”. As we predicted at the time, unfortunately the game was never released.
Siren in the Maelstrom was again mentioned in a disastrous legal case between Epic Games and Silicon Knights. As we can read on Wikipedia:
“On May 2012 Epic Games defeated Silicon Knights‘ lawsuit (opened in July 2007) and won its counter-suit for $4.45 million on grounds of copyright infringement. Silicon Knights was directed by the court to destroy all game code derived from Unreal Engine 3 and to permit Epic Games access to the company’s servers and other devices to ensure these items have been removed. In addition, the studio was instructed to recall and destroy all unsold retail copies of games built with Unreal Engine 3 code, including Too Human, X-Men Destiny, The Sandman, The Box / Ritualyst, and Siren in the Maelstrom.”
Maelstrom (maelström; [ˈmeɪlstɹəm]) is a north-european word used to indicate powerful water whirlpool, produced by opposing currents or a current running into an obstacle. Many of these maelstroms are located near the Norwegian coast and knowing Silicon Knights’ history with the Norse mythology, many fans speculated Siren in the Maelstrom would also have been set in Vikings folklore.
Unfortunately the team never showed any official screenshot from the game, but some concept art is preserved in this page, to remember the existence of this lost project.
In May 2014, following the loss of the court case, Silicon Knights closed their office and filed for bankruptcy. As far as we know, files related to Siren in the Maelstrom had to be deleted, so it could already have been lost forever. As Epic Games had access to Silicon Knights’ server, someone may have saved parts of their cancelled games. We can only hope one day someone could be able to share more screenshots, footage or details from these projects.
If you know someone who worked at Silicon Knights on Siren in the Maelstrom and may help us to save something more from the game, please let us know.
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