Cancelled video games project
This project concerns cancelled games in the range of 1995-2005.
Section: W
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Wardog
Wardog is a cancelled PC game by Rebellion Developments Ltd.
It was to be a third-person action based on the 2000AD comics.
Expected release date: Q2 2002
PC PowerPlay issue 63 (August 2001)
Jack Wardog is a slave who has had his memories erased and an explosive placed into his skull.
Should Wardog fail a mission his head literally explodes.
This is to ensure his loyalty to the Endtrail Enclaved.
Your quest is to uncover your past for you are surely framed for your crimes.
Combat would be real-time with some turn-based action at individual parts of your enemies.
So like the V.A.T.S aiming system but years before Fallout 3.
The game was originally an third-person shooter with over-the-shoulder aiming.
Then around 2002 the game was shifted to have an isometric viewpoint.
Not sure why. Maybe to capitalise on the trend of action RPGs of the time.
PC Zone issue 106 (September 2001)
PC Zone issue 112 (February 2002)
Wardog was cancelled around 2003 or so for unknown reasons.
Maybe it couldn't find a publisher. Maybe it was to finish Judge Dredd: Dredd vs Death.
All we got were the tie-in comics from 2000AD.
old version screenshots: https://web.archive.org/web/20010603154309/http://www.rebellion.co.uk/games-wardog-screens.html
new version screenshots: https://web.archive.org/web/20020605220437/http://www.rebellion.co.uk/games-wardog-screens-3.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20010603152756/http://www.rebellion.co.uk/games-wardog-index.html
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Werewolf: The Apocalypse
Werewolf: The Apocalypse was a cancelled PlayStation, Saturn, and PC from Capcom.
The game started off as a tabletop RPG of the same name.
Expected release date: Q2 1996, then Q3 1996, then Q4 1996, then Q2 1997, then 1998, then Q1 1999, then Q1 2000
Electronic Gaming Monthly issue 79 (February 1996)
Electronic Gaming Monthly issue 83 (June 1996)
The game was to be a 3/4 isometric view like Shadowrun.
You would have played as a shapeshifting man and taken on the typical monsters, like wendigos and rabbits.
The plot would revolve around Ryan McCullough, a teenager who learns of his werewolf heritage.
He is a part of the White Howlers, a race of werewolves.
They have vowed to prevent the destruction of Earth.
The Wyrm is loose and wants to destroy the world. You must destroy the Wyrm.
GamePro issue 85 (August 1996)
Electronic Gaming Monthly issue 87 (October 1996)
You must battle the evil forces of The Black Spiral Dancers with a myriad of weapons.
You can fight them in human form with weapons that wouldn't look out of place in Quake.
You can transform into Crinos (wolf-man form) to savage them, or transform into Lupus (wolf form) to maul them.
There is a karma system in the game that rewards you abilities depending on the path you take.
Evil actions reward you with offensive powers, whereas the more moral path rewards you with defensive powers.
Next Generation issue 55 (July 1999)
Electronic Gaming Monthly issue 137 (December 2000)
Capcom cancelled the game in console versions in 1997 due to slow development.
The game went from straight action to an action RPG, and progress barely happened.
Then ASC went out of business in 2000, taking the game with it.
The PC version was making progress but the developer DreamForge Intertainment went bankrupt.
No other company picked up the game for finish it. Years of work for nothing...
The Sega Saturn prototype was released in 2009.
http://hiddenpalace.org/Werewolf_(Jun_14,_1996_prototype)
Gameplay of the Saturn prototype
http://au.ign.com/articles/1999/09/28/werewolf-the-apocalypse
http://au.ign.com/articles/2000/01/08/asc-games-jumps-over-moon-disappears-with-cow-and-spoon
http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Werewolf:_The_Apocalypse_(Capcom_game)
https://web.archive.org/web/19990219122139fw_/http://www.ascgames.com:80/werewolf/index.html
http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2009/12/capcoms_werewolf_the_apocalyps.php
https://www.unseen64.net/2009/12/14/werewolf-the-apocalypse-saturn-now-leaked/
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Wet Corpse
Wet Corpse is a cancelled Nintendo 64 and Sega Saturn game from Vic Tokai.
Admit it, you stopped scrolling because of the title.
Expected release date: Q4 1996, then 1997
Electronic Gaming Monthly (July 1996)
Mean Machines issue 45 (July 1996)
The game plays like a Resident Evil horror game.
You wake up in a lab on an operating time, already dead.
Your quest is to find out what happened.
To do so you must overcome puzzles, creatures, and police.
All of whom don't take too kindly to walking corpses.
Magazine 64 issue 5 (May 1998)
Development for Wet Corpse began on both the N64 and Saturn.
The N64 version was cancelled before the game's first announcement.
Also, the game is apparently meant to be W.E.T. Corpses.
What that stands for is currently beyond me.
In December 1997 the game was quietly cancelled.
So quietly news of the game's fate wasn't known until a gaming magazine contacted Vic Tokai.
The reason given was either 'none' or something about Nintendo being forceful.
Vic Tokai stopped making video games soon after the game's cancellation.
They became a dedicated telecommunications company.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokai_Communications
http://www.nesworld.com/n64-unr-wetcorpse.php
https://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/10/wet-corpse-saturn-cancelled/
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Wildwaters
Wildwaters is a cancelled N64 game by Looking Glass Studio.
It was to be a kayak simulator.
Expected release date: Q4 1999, then May 2000
Nintendo Magazine System (Australia) issue 76 (July 1999)
You could choose between six different characters, each with three unique kayaks,
There would be six different courses, each with unique obstacles.
These obstacles include rocky cliffs, rapids, and waterfalls.
There was to be at least five different game modes.
Arcade, Time Trial, Championship, Finals and Versus Battle.
The game vowed to have realistic physics and great praphics.
Official Nintendo Magazine UK issue 82 (July 1999)
When Looking Glass Studios went defunct in May 2000, this title went with it.
In 2012 the game was discovered on a prototype cartridge and uploaded by Team Carrot.
https://hiddenpalace.org/Wildwaters_(Jun_15,_1999_prototype)
https://www.ign.com/articles/1999/05/13/introducing-wildwaters
http://gilgalegrouik.free.fr/index.php?level=album&id=40
https://www.unseen64.net/2010/01/29/extreme-kayak-n64-cancelled/
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Wish
Wish is a cancelled PC MMORPG by Mutable Realms.
It was a very ambitious effort that failed to see fruition.
Expected release date: Winter 2004, then 2005
Hyper issue 126 (April 2004)
Wish was touted as the first Ultra Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (UMMORPG).
Rather than dozens of worlds for a few hundred players each, it was to be one massive world.
Over 10,000 player at once!
Rather than a traditional static quest system, the dynamic quests would be given live by GMs.
The story line was to be delivered live.
This would lead to the world of Wish constantly changing.
To compensate for the huge instanced world, sacrifices in design had to be made.
Players moved via point and click, and combat required continuous button presses.
Players progressed in skills by apprenticeship at NPCs.
Your skills would degrade over time when not used, though there are floors they won't surpass.
PC Zone issue 152 (March 2005)
Mutable Realms launched a 2.0 beta test. The results were not encouraging.
A lot of people tried out the game and never came back.
The bottom line is that the game would never profit with such low sustainability.
Wish was cancelled eight days after the beta 2.0 launch.
Mutable Realms went defunct shortly after the cancellation announcement.
Timeline:
March 17th 2003: game announced
January 9th 2005: game cancelled
https://web.archive.org/web/20050122090646/http://www.mutablerealms.com/
https://web.archive.org/web/20031106120300/http://www.homelanfed.com/index.php?id=12975
https://web.archive.org/web/20031002233035/http://vault.ign.com/articles/431/431019p1.html
https://www.engadget.com/2013-11-23-the-game-archaeologist-the-bizarre-death-of-wish.html
https://v1.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/issues/issue_62/366-The-Great-Digital-Hype
https://www.ign.com/games/wish
https://www.gamespot.com/games/wish/
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Witcher
Witcher is a cancelled PC game by Metropolis.
It was to be the first adaptation of the based Witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski.
Expected release date: 1997/1998
Edge issue 50 (October 1997)
The game was to be a 3D action game, which was outside the comfort zone of the studio.
It was to be mainly action with a bit of RPG elements, like leveling up.
However, the cumbersome 3D nature of the game made developing it sluggish.
Next Generation issue 35 (November 1997)
The game was abandoned after some dev team members left.
The project fell apart and it would take too much time and money to finish it.
To stay afloat, the game was cancelled to work on marketable games.
Metropolis managed to craft just one playable chapter before abandoning it.
Don't count on any playable prototypes: the CDs allegedly don't work no more.
CD Projekt acquired the Witcher license in 2002, and later Metropolis in 2009.
Out of the dust emerged a wonderful series of modern Witcher games.
Gameplay demo
developer interview with game footage
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-06-16-the-witcher-game-that-never-was
https://www.unseen64.net/2010/09/17/the-witcher-1997-version-pc-cancelled/
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Witchwood
Witchwood is a cancelled PS1, Saturn, Jaguar, and PC game by Team17.
It looks like Zelda, it plays like Zelda, but it isn't Zelda.
Expected release date: 1995, then 1996, then 1997
Official UK PlayStation Magazine issue 5 (Easter 1996)
The game was coded for PC and Amiga before dropping the Amiga version.
At the time Team17 was porting most of their PC titles to PS1 and other consoles.
The game was a top down RPG in same style as Link to the Past or the first Alundra.
The plot was generic; something about a young boy needing to destroy an evil witch. Yawn.
It was to be a welcoming addition to the new 5th consoles.
Witchwood was probably cancelled to focus on The Speris Legacy, an Amiga exclusive.
Since then some things have been discovered.
The game's composter, Bjørn Lynne, has posted the OST on his website.
A tech demo for the DOS version has been found. All links can be found below.
From the Team17 sampler VHS
http://kultcds.com/Games/index.php?page=game&game=59
https://www.lynnemusic.com/witchwood.html
https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26042
https://www.unseen64.net/2015/08/03/witchwood-team-17-cancelled/
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Wrath
Wrath is a cancelled PC game by Future Primitive.
It was to be an edgy 3D third person action adventure game.
Expected release date: Q4 1998
You play as Cud Savage, ex-Green Beret Major and ex-boyfriend to Misty Waters.
She was a strip-show girl who got murdered and her death got pinned on you.
Having escaped from prison, your goal is to find out who killed her, and the deeper truth...
Being an escaped convict makes you a target for everyone.
You must take out the cops, the mob, and those who wish to keep you quiet.
There was to be over 30 types of enemies to slay.
There was to be ten levels to fight through.
Some of these include San Francisco, a gold-mine, a Las Vegas casino, and more.
Along the way they'd be over twenty types of vehicles to ride in, from cars to bikes to tanks.
Wrath was cancelled around late 1998.
Future Primitive went defunct, only having published Ted Nugent Wild Hunting Adventure. Pffft.
https://web.archive.org/web/19970704192129/http://www.future-primitive.com/wrath/index.html
https://web.archive.org/web/19990128150531/http://www.avault.com/previews/flash/wrath.asp
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/postal-killer-stalks-gamers/1100-2462932/
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Wreck'n Krew
Wreck'n Krew is a cancelled PS2, Xbox, and GameCube game from C4 for publisher DarkBlack.
It would have been a next gen version of Blast Corps.
Expected release date: 2003
G-Force issue 10 (February 2003)
You would play as a member of a rag-tag team of demolition experts.
There is Bombastik, Krew Kut, and six other playable characters.
Your task is to take down Arnie, the former child star who looks like Gary Coleman.
Gameplay revolved around masterful use of every character's abilities.
Every playable guy has a set of unique skills.
Complete objectives while smashing up everything.
The game had wacky humour, explosions, goofball characters, and a cheesy plot.
What's not to like?
Wreck'n Krew was cancelled when DarkBlack ran out of money and closed up shop.
They also cancelled Asylum.
https://web.archive.org/web/20030507121304/http://www.aoqw08.dsl.pipex.com:80/wrekin_krew/overview.htm
http://www.ps2home.co.uk/wreckn-krew/
https://www.unseen64.net/2009/06/14/wreckn-krew-xbox-gc-ps2-cancelled/
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