In this age of gaming, releases that are entirely faithful to what they promised upon announcement are few and far between. It’s well known that many titles are majorly downgraded when it comes to the day of release, whilst others rely on player feedback to actively enhance their products through updates.
Some, however, fall flat completely and are never even released. Whether they’re officially canceled or in production limbo, there are extensive lists of rumors, unfinished projects, and demos that, unfortunately, never saw the light of day. Sony’s flagship 2013 PlayStation 4 hinted at some exciting projects during its fruitful first few years, but inevitably, a few of them never surfaced.
8 Deep Down
Though never officially canceled, the fact that the 2013-announced dragon-slaying, cooperative adventure has announced almost nothing regarding the game’s status in the past decade is devastating. A short visit to the few gameplay presentations of the fantasy title published by Capcom should reveal why it’s a shame that it never came to light.
Four-players coop in an adventure slaying dragons with inventive tornado weapons to deter dragon’s fire, impressive graphics and particle effects that still hold up today, and what looked like extensive lore and genre-blending gameplay. We can only hope we’ll see more of Deep Down in the future.
7 Whore Of The Orient
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Best known for collaborating with Rockstar on L.A. Noire, the unfortunate demise of videogame company Team Bondi wasn’t helped by their eagerly anticipated follow-up. The project, whose use of the term “Orient” caused a major backlash in China, was set to be mechanically similar to L.A. Noire, in which realistic facial programming was to be used again.
Whore of the Orient was to be set in Shanghai, 1936, examining the political imbalance between the East and West. This politically heavy game had some gameplay leaked, which looked very similar to L.A. Noire’s duck-and-cover combat system is something that would have been great to see if it weren’t for the studio closing its doors.
6 Silent Hills
Of course, this was to be included on this list. Though Kojima is almost certainly up to something Silent Hill-related, the void of nothingness that came after the incredible tease that was P.T. in 2014 was painful.
Due to ongoing issues between the legendary Metal Gear Solid-founding Hideo Kojima and publishing titan Konami, the horror experience leaded by Norman Reedus faced an untimely end when the two parted ways. P.T. has since become a sought-after cult classic, with PlayStations with the demo still installed going for hundreds online. This singular demo was renowned for being horrifying, encouraging players to think outside the box, even requiring them to speak aloud so their controllers could hear them to progress the game.
5 Gnomageddon
The fact that a game called Gnomageddon could’ve existed should be enough of a reason to be upset about its demise. Unfortunately, developers Sony San Diego focused their efforts on top-down fighter Kill Strain — and that game's eventual collapse led to the disintegration of Gnomageddon.
Gnomageddon was set to be a League of Legends-esque MOBA, seeing you strategize, control and deploy all classes and ranks of garden gnomes as they scrap in gardens. The creativity displayed in early gameplay looked wholesome and inventive, with the gnomes using sprinklers, potted plants, and miniature pickaxes to their warfare advantage.
4 The Modern Zombie Taxi Co.
Games don’t get much more comically original than The Modern Zombie Taxi Co. In 2015, Sony Santa Monica revealed gameplay of this whacky FPS VR game, which gave players the opportunity to drive zombies around a London-like world.
Players had to meet the various demands of their passengers along the way whilst punching them away in case they obstruct their view of the road. This Crazy Taxi, Dead Rising mashup looked set to be a cult classic, given the goofy ragdoll physics, destructible maps, and diversity of undead on offer. Unfortunately, the project fell eerily quiet and nothing more was revealed about it.
3 Star Wars 1313
Always majorly anticipated are games that expand on the canon and lore of beloved series. Star Wars is inarguably near the top of such a collection, with its legacy becoming increasingly dynamic and innovative. This is why when a gameplay demo for 1313 was revealed in 2013, anticipating fans were devastated at the cancellation of the project shortly after.
The game would have seen you control Boba Fett as he explored the criminal underbelly of Coruscant, blending third-person shooter gameplay with explosive, Uncharted-style set pieces. Unfortunately, Disney's integration with LucasArts caused the project and company to suffer the consequences.
2 Human Element
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Back in 2012, former lead at Infinity Ward Robert Bowling announced his new project called Human Element. Under the new studio Robotoki, the game was set to be an experiment in the evolution of cross-platform gaming, allowing players to enhance their console experience by using Android devices integrated with the gameplay.
Human Element was a planned online multiplayer game set 35 years after a zombie apocalypse with players adapting their skill sets to survive and thrive. Attribute-based choices would influence the skills you had throughout the game, making encounters with other players unique and unpredictable. After numerous setbacks, however, including a shift from the Ouya console to next-gen consoles, the project was dropped and Robotoki was shut down.
1 Project Rap Rabbit
Though rhythm-game icon Parappa the Rapper got its remaster in 2017, it wasn’t what fans of the series were after, which was a whole new game. Project Rap Rabbit was set to be just that, an extension of studio NanaOn-Sha’s freestyle, quick-time-event classic.
On paper, the project looked and sounded great, with players being taken to 16th century Japan to play as Toto-maru the Rabbit. Utilizing an array of masterful emceeing abilities and the capacity to learn new words from your rap battle rivals, the project unfortunately never achieved its Kickstarter goal, making it redundant and placed on indefinite hold.
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