20 AMBITIOUS Games That Never Got Released

[@duelmaster62000]

I was actually hopping to see Scalebond on here. The idea that your dragon could evolve differently depending on how you progress/grind enemies sounding really interesting.

[@wamerteen780]

YES YES YES YES!! I thought I was the only one. A game where Monster hunter World meets How to train your dragon with DMC genes. 🥲🥲🥲

[@digitalbarrito3555]

Just want to point out that 2017's Prey wasn't a follow-up to the Original Prey in any way shape or form. The only thing those two games have in common is the name Prey, which Arkane was forced to use for brand recognition since the publisher had no faith in a new IP.

[@gabedp21]

Which probably pissed off more people than it made happy.

[@digitalbarrito3555]

@@gabedp21 Oh Absolutely. Fans of Prey expected actual Prey because of the name and what they got was not Prey, or Prey 2. Hell, from what I've understood, even Arkane themselves were rightfully unhappy with being forced into using Prey's name for no good reason.

[@toughluck8012]

That game was dope

[@RayvenTheNight]

Remember the trailer for the original prey 2?

[@digitalbarrito3555]

@@RayvenTheNight Oh I do, and I will never not be upset that we never got Prey 2. That's one of those trailers you watch and go "Woah, they made this game, literally, specifically, just for me" I wanted Prey 2 so bad.

[@deepoetryjay]

I’m very surprised ScaleBound wasn’t on the list. An action RPG where you tame, customise and fight alongside your own dragon? And everyone’s dragon would’ve been unique in style and abilities?? Still burns we never got that game

[@foxracing8973]

That sounds amazing 😩

[@LprogressivesANDliberals]

FUK YEAH I WAS GONNA SAY THAT. As a kid that trailer got me hook line and sinker!

[@rjdresner]

Dude for whatever reason almost NO ONE remembers Scalebound. I always feel like I’m crazy whenever I bring it up.

[@DTraiN5795]

Yeah I wanted this

[@denji94]

Scalebound looked so damn good!!

[@Garmango]

Star Wars 1313 and Prey 2 hurt most for me. Others that hurt were Gotham by Gaslight and True Fantasy Live Online, an old MMORPG by Level-5 which, as a non-fan of MMOs, I was super excited for.

[@dundercontrol]

I really wish we were getting 13-13 over whatever slop Ubisoft is gonna release this year. It's funny how Microsoft pretty much killed the Prey 2 reboot as well

[@bobtom1495]

No, Bethesda killed Prey and Prey 2. Prey 2017 is an ambomination that isn't Prey....

[@danielflanard8274]

​@@bobtom1495 It is neat to see people hate on good games because they feel slighted by them in some perceived way.

[@Lawrence_Talbot]

I can think of half a dozen Star Wars games. Thanks Disney for killing the franchise

[@adamwest8711]

To be honest, it was struggling way before Disney.

[@All-Outta-Gum]

@@adamwest8711 how do you mean?

[@antonindvorak14]

1313 being cancelled still hurts my heart

[@Lawrence_Talbot]

@@adamwest8711 not even remotely. Go look at hows many stars wars games we got back then Vs now. In 10 years Disney has given us like 4 games excluding Lego games. Pretty pathetic

[@mikejames4910]

​@@Lawrence_Talbotcosts

[@oooeee5556]

0:33 Nemesis system isn't just "oh wow defeated boss returning". It's literally tiny stories between randomly generated enemies. Each time you interact with them, it will change on later encounters with them and bunch of crazier stuff.

[@MauseDays]

yee i reemeber haveing a nemiss that eventuly could pop up anywhere at any time like majimia in Yakuza. eventuly he was like a cyborg becouse I kept cutting him in half. and I got that rare one where they can comeback even if you sliced off their heads. It was super cool.

[@REDEEMERWOLF]

Nobody said it wasn't dude why are you so defensive

[@SlyRyFry]

It still blows my mind they were making it for a batman game at first, as successful as those lord of the rings games were a batman game in that engine with those mechanics would've been massive. And idgaf about batman fr

[@nehemiahpouncey3607]

The nemesis system so powerful WB Game won't let it fall into the wrong Hands.😂

[@chrisstucker1813]

This isn’t a video about the nemesis system.

[@jamilgame]

For me it was Eight Days and Getaway 3, both on PS3 and from London studios as well.

[@Guardian220]

I remember those cancellations ... E3 2005 was a year of disappointment. Killing Day PS3 was also canceled along with those games. Still smh lol.

[@VoidSC]

Always appreciate it anytime you guys upload. I was surprised that Wild or Beyond Good and Evil 2 didn't even get bonus mentions though!

[@zachwhitehorn7926]

I’m not even a huge Starwars guy past the original trilogy, but 1313 got me excited 😢

[@imAlexB]

Scalebound. Oh what could have been for Xbox & Platinum Games!

[@Doominater799]

Nice video. 2 videos in one day is a blessing thanks for making such great videos

[@TheGumpyGump]

I had forgotten about Agent. Thanks for bringing back that giant what-if that I will think about for weeks.

[@joeblow5214]

The Mercs 3 game that was rumored. The mercenaries series has place in my heart.

[@Alskie666]

YES! Wish I could play mercenaries 2 on my xbox I loved that game. Ever see the gameplay for merc 3? Its out there.

[@Marksman3434]

I still feel bummed about StarCraft Ghost even after 18 years since it was canned

[@Mitsurugi2424]

I feel that way about Prey 2. And then angry that Bethesda killed.

[@factotums]

Why Blizzard decided to go all in on a cartoonish live service FPS instead of, anything else, but primarily a new StarCraft game has baffled me for years.

[@TheXelum]

Still mourn over Darkborn. It looked so fine. Playing a Bad Monster was always my Dream :D

[@brettbeyer73]

Lucas Arts: "Hey, Disney! Since you're buying us, look at all these projects that will make you money!" Disney flushing everything they don't understand: "What, now?"

[@brandon7219]

I was waiting for StarCraft Ghost! I got to play that at Blizzcon 2005. It was so much fun!

[@jaqdup7076]

Surprised Beyond Good and Evil 2 didn’t make this list. Announced in 2016-2017 (I think) and aimed for seamless interplanetary travel with realistic scale. It looks great.

[@Safetytrousers]

It's still on Ubisoft's website as a game that will come out. It certainly hasn't been officially cancelled.

[@youtbw]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the follow up to American McGee's Alice: Madness Returns, it was titled "American McGee's Alice: Asylum", it would have served as a prequel to the original game (American McGee's Alice)

[@WhyHighC]

I'm stunned already after #20...This is gonna be a banger!

[@David-ud9ju]

If I'm being picky, number 20 shouldn't even have been in the list, because that ambitious game did get released - they just reskinned it as LotR.

[@logieagogie]

Perfect timing! Gameranx dropping a new vid on my break is clutch.

[@dfsw]

This is your boss. Your break was over 45 minutes ago, get back to work.

[@logieagogie]

Ooopss :)

[@paulnolan4971]

Only if you drive stick

[@4thSurvivorStands]

I remember being excited for an Xbox 360 vampire game called “Harker”. It seemed like you played as Jonathan Harker and killed vampires in Draculas castle, but other than being in a Game Informer magazine and a couple short videos it was buried and impossible to find info on now. The vampires were so cool looking too

[@sadxsap2268]

There was a DareDevil game in development for ps2 I believe that was open wolrd. DD could grind on telephone wires and do acrobatics. For the time it looked great . Think it might have been activision. There’s also some cool gameplay from a Darth Maul game that never saw the light of day.

[@rjhorne1993]

Thank you, I have been waiting for an update on Project Wright (Darkborne) for such a long time. I was so excited for that game. Sad to see it went away.

[@jettblade]

Star Craft Ghost would have been a pretty fun game and would have opened the door for Blizzard to do more things with their properties. Its a real shame that it didn't go any where.

[@williamyoung9401]

I'm glad you mentioned Star Wars 1313. When I heard that game got cancelled, I almost cried. 😢 (I did actually cry when I heard Starcraft Ghost was cancelled, lol...).

[@samhall2130]

I think you are nailing it with some of these videos lately, I had no idea about about some of these games that we never got to see

[@yeah_yeahwhatever]

Yeah, that Prey announcement had Cash's cover of Rusted Cage, too! It was super badass!!! It would've smoked the version of Prey that we got.

[@nomercy8989]

I still remember Project Offset. That game looked like it was 10 years ahead of everything else back in 2004 or so.

[@stayingfitandfocused]

13:44 sounds sick man

[@calikings420]

gameranx... the source of my happiness

[@CSSuser]

That LMNO at #9 sounds so nice man... What a bummer. :(

[@Doc_Valparaiso]

I can imagine it playing as sort of an Alan Wake style road trip. It would've had to have been somewhat linear. But, I could see it having several decent sized hub areas. I think of Alan Wake (the first one) because of the excellent storytelling, world building, and overall great production. Even if the combat didn't set the world on fire it was still good enough to keep you hooked. I was kind of shocked by the scope of some of the areas in Alan Wake (which is around the time LMNO would have came out) for it's time.

[@alanjunker9215]

Bitter about Silent Hills is an understatement. I'm absolutely heartbroken over it!

[@fsociety.dat101]

That PT demo scared the shit out of me, and it was just a tiny demo. Imagine what they could have done with a full game!

[@Phalanx4004]

Also just have to mention: legacy of kain dead sun Probably wasn't looking to be that great story was, but I love this series and I think deserves to mention.

[@QuanHoang-q3s]

Honestly, friend, it's been fantastic. The new features on 4ra are just what we needed

[@rhatikeo]

i'll never forgive Disney for destroying starwars

[@xVDRx]

In all fairness, George Lucas ruined it a ton of times before Disney got hold of it.

[@fsociety.dat101]

​@xVDRx movies 1 to 6 were fine. (Apart from Jar Jar). I liked the extended universe too.

[@FratinandMadrik]

As an extension to this, you could make a "X cancelled games that turned into other games", where, as you mentioned with the Shadow of Mordor games, some massive elements from cancelled games turned into other, massively popular games. Like how Project Titan turned into Overwatch

[@alwayswrite2011]

"City of Titans". Immediately after the closure of all "City of Heroes" servers, a Kickstarter was started to fund a game built by people with a true love of CoH. I'm still getting updates, although they've become incredibly infrequent. I think they bit off more than they could chew, since making an MMORPG with a bare bones crew is next to impossible.

[@khrisbreezy3628]

Would love to see "ambitious games that released too late" Reminds me of an N64 game that released in 2001 called Aidyn Chronicles the first mage. Had pretty middling reviews but as I replay it, this game could've had a serious cult following, but alas, it's really obscure and only has a small following these days. Like, only a few hundred on a subreddit kind of cult following.

[@InnerSunshine]

Another game like that is Galleon, made by the original, earliest Tomb Raider team, Toby and freinds. The world is massive. The combat and puzzles continue and expand early Tomb Raider tropes. It has NO third act at all. just stops. What it does have is IMAGINATION. The original TR team invested their money in an IP and gameplay they loved and it really shows.

[@garyballard179]

Aidyn Chronicles was awesome for the time.

[@Claypidgeon162]

I always thought it'd be interesting to continue the Nolanverse Batman with a video game, playing as Nightwing/"Robin". You could introduce Batgirl and her hangups over not being the "favorite" of Jim Gorden's children as revealed by Two-Face, and you could even bring back The Joker with the right voice actor.

[@AaronLevine-t3j]

Nolan said years ago that he only planned on doing a trilogy and left it open ended in case someone else wants to pick the story back up to do as they please.

[@HienNguyen-i6g8z]

I agree, the new game modes on 4ra are so engaging. I’m hooked!

[@D25Bev]

I'm still pissed about The Getaway 3 for PS3 getting cancelled.

[@foxracing8973]

To know that there was going to be a Pirates of the Caribbean game similar to Fable...ugh my heart just got completely crushed. That would've been so badass.

[@fantazjo]

if i'm not mistaken at some point there was supposed to be JADE EMPIRE 2

[@AdamIsUrqed]

There was, but it was cancelled mainly due to pressure from EA for BioWare to take their shrinking dev teams and focus on Dragon Age and Mass Effect. It was going to be a sequel set hundreds of years in the future where magic had gone away for most of that time but was making a comeback, completely built off the bad ending from JE. Mark Darrah has a video on his KZbin channel about it. Acvording to him, they even had a fully functioning demo of the game before it was stamped out of existence.

[@sacredsock8031]

a follow up; "X games that did (finally) get released, but couldn't live up to the hype" I'm thinking DaiKatana, Duke Nukem 4 and Homefront 2

[@Jasonrak123]

Fable legends would have been so good

[@DaoQuang-w4v]

Meeting new friends through the 4rabet has been great. It’s such a vibrant community. Without 4ra, our gaming nights wouldn't be the same. It's been a real lifesaver.

[@ArtflPhenix]

dude how about Scalebound the microsoft Xbox-exclusive game developed by Platinum games. if that was not canceled maybe xbox could have recovered from the xbox one failures that still have ramifications today. still hoping that one day we have an epic dragon riding/companion game someday

[@andybrown4284]

They could fill a list ten video with xbone exclusives that microsoft cancelled

[@HhhhHhhh-x1r]

The social features on 4rabet are awesome too. Chatting with teammates during the game adds another layer of fun

[@TheHanyou]

Your description of Banjo X is basically the FF7 Remake lol

[@kentcross258]

Hahahah I was looking for this comment. Literally exactly the description of ff7 remake. I love gameranx and Jake. But some things have me shaking my head 😂 like do they even play games. (That’s a joke)

[@TheKalmier]

had to scroll to far to find this. granted, banjo would have done it first.

[@evanhannah8770]

I will never forget silent hills remember seeing that trailer and being hyped norman reedus was perfect for a silent hill game

[@KirbyOnCronic]

Scalebound still hurts.

[@MicIsMyNick135]

There was a shooter called "They" which was announced by CD Projekt in 2007 that got me hyped for a wile. They promised you only had one gun that could be upgrate to any type you want to play. The whole alien setting and the story remindes me at Prey (2006) and I was very sad when it got cannceled.

[@ghostparker1987]

ScaleBound

[@jakeandrews99]

Was very surprised this game wasn’t listed. Was very much looking forward to this

[@mikael8276]

Elder scrolls 6

[@Frostiemango10]

14:43 ahem ravenfield

[@musicgamerlover]

Honestly, I never liked the nemesis system. When I defeat a boss I like it stay defeated, personally I find it boring when they keep coming back again and again. But that's just me.

[@MrrHouse]

Knack 3

[@Bacon_Grease99]

Lmao

[@Spartan8676]

💀

[@DroosterH]

Please stop.

[@MrrHouse]

@@DroosterHnah

[@dougr8646]

Gamer ainks? Or game rancs?

[@VietCuongNguyen-r4x]

The live match viewing and instant replays on 4ra are a game-changer. So much more excitement!

[@ngoanngoan-g3l]

Absolutely, bro. The best moments on 4ra are when we all play together and have those epic wins

[@bole6263]

Can't wait to see what updates from 4ra come next. They always manage to surprise us with something amazing

[@MioInTheLandOFaraway]

The cancelled game that still makes me sad is The Lord of the Rings: The White Council. Basically it seemed like it was going to be something like an Elder Scrolls game, but in the LOTR universe.

[@thecatfather857]

There was even going to be a Game of Thrones RPG like that. (Not talking about the existing one) Bethesda was approached to make it, but they turned it down. Because they were already making Skyrim.

[@bodax1069]

I’m surprised Scalebound wasn’t mentioned. I was full sent on purchasing an Xbox 1 just for that game

[@marcbarber1231]

Not mentioned here, but I saw a build of Starcraft: Ghost at E3 (RIP) that had a 4-on-4 mode where you had a competitive payload map where the payload was a flying Terran building. Also lost to time.

[@waylonoconner9121]

Being an old school gamer I remember loads of cancelled games: Ultimate Journey on the NES, Mortal Kombat on the PC Engine (never began development but was in talks at one point), Dando for the Sega Genesis, Dream Land of Giants for the SNES, Conan The Barbarian for the Atari Jaguar, Sonic X-treme for the Saturn, loads of games for the Playstation and from that point on. But some that stick out to me are Ultima Online Origins (Ultima Online II), Castlevania Resurrection on Dreamcast and Sadness and Project HAMMER for the Wii. Lots of great games we

[@Yoder023]

#1 is #1 for a reason I never heaed of it, but im so hyped and exactly the game i want.... Then i remembered the purpose of this list 😢

[@BottomtoothGaming]

Came here for Starcraft Ghost. Not disappointed 👍

[@MSFTJustice]

10:42 I remember playing a portion of Star Craft Ghost at a gaming convention that blizzard had a both at. 4V4 PVP matches

[@nisferatu]

The fact that Star Wars 1313 wasn't number 13 on this list is, frankly, inexcusable

[@marti883n]

Hi Jake, keep up the good work. Always stay as honest as you are.

[@gameranxTV]

Hey

[@midwestyle]

Throwback: Warrior's Lair. The Vita's version of Diablo. Was gonna feature cross platform, player made dungeon creation. Sony cancelled it 3 months before release and the devs said it was 99% done.

[@me_tanmay]

Have you guys played IGI series, seriously underrated and damn good stealth 1st person shooting, but swithing to 3rd person when climbing or story telling, very good story as well.

[@tadeogil5787]

I will NEVER forget about Prey 2. I still watch that cinematic trailer and gameplay from time to time. Just to think about what could have been.

[@michealhill7275]

StarCraft: Ghost. Wow. You just made me feel 12 years old again. I remember all the gaming magazines covering this and then absolute silence...

[@isaacwest276]

Dang I've been thinking in the last few years about how Marvel needs an arena game with destructible environments (ideally more than 1v1, I know there's an Overwatch-styled one coming out I'm not too interested in). It would work well in a live-service event, as there's so many stories to tell in the Marvel universe it will be a supreme challenge to run out of new ideas.

[@Hugo-BB]

I think some of these should be made in today's modern age. I think Sony could pick pick up a few of these games as they need a few new games under their belt, in my opinion.

[@Ford17x]

I only pre ordered 1 game in my whole life and still play that game to this day, the best game ever made, Wreckfest!!!

[@skullsunderer4090]

1313 broke my heart! Another Star Wars game I remember looking forward to was Republic Commando 2, but I've given up hope a long time ago. Sad to see all these amazing ideas get canceled.

[@SGTDread12]

I was really REALLY wanting Ever Quest Next!!!

[@TruongNguyen-t8r6i]

We should get the whole group together this weekend. Playing on 4ra is always a highlight.

[@i3kel]

I would have put eight days up there, one of the most hype trailers back in the day

[@Kopenits]

Maybe it doesn’t fit the ambitious part of the title, but the be game that always comes to mind for me is Republic commando 2/ Imperial commando. First games ending left it wide open for the sequel we never got.

[@Embrace_the_darkness]

Make a video with 10(or more) flawed masterpiece games

[@yesterworld21]

Haven't watched yet, but gotta put in a bet for "Deep down". I go back to the trailer to listen to the music from time to time.

[@jimmyfoster7505]

If I remember correctly, there was a psp Star Wars Battlefront game that had the ability to fly between space and ground combat that was released. Hopefully, that wasn't some fever dream from back in the day

[@Padraig3D]

Nice way to sneak in the GTA 6 2026 release bit... Excellent!

[@skynet0912]

With the entire C&C series, i always wanted a Renegade style game again, but where you also play the RTS parts! My idea was to play the game as an RTS like normal, but if your army was ever in danger on the RTS front, or you were just bored, you could then take direct control of any unit on the map, and play as them in first person. And then if you die as a unit, you get sent back to the RTS gameplay. The downside is that if you play in first person, you leave base management up to the AI, with only a few preselected playstyles to choose from on how you want it to play when in control, like turtle, conserve ressources, spam cheap units or build up base defenses...

[@Animechargeblog]

Scalebound is the game I was most hyped for, and so sad to see it simply cease to exist. Such cool concept, and the footage looked amazing. Still don't know what happened.

[@HạnhBùi-q6m]

The challenges and quests on 4ra keep things interesting. There's always something new to achieve

[@stanettiels7367]

🔥🔥Jakey’s on fire🔥🔥

[@Pyriel_NZ]

You forget to mention that Xbox Dragon game where you shared a heart/soul or something with a dragon and fight together and do quests.... Man I was gutted when that was cancelled.

[@gregoryjames3287]

Dark Born would have been my jam. It sounds so absolutely cool. Can some devs make that, please!?

[@GiangNguyễn-w4b]

Meeting new friends through the 4rabet has been great. It’s such a vibrant community

[@Non-Negotiable]

The only thing I got on this is unreleased maps for UT99 and a lot unfinished. Spent hours upon months making a map that would never to be used on an online server. Still have many that are popular to this day surprisingly last I checked. I couldn't imagine being a dev. For a studio spending months if not years on something that was never published. Heart breaking tbh even at my scale. Great episode Gameranx.

[@StaredownGames]

I just watched a video that was all AI voiced. I'm here to wash away my sins. Also, "Next over at number 13, stop" - COMMERCIAL - pure gold.

[@DalazG]

Eight Days! I feel like the only one that wishes this got released. It looked like an epic co-op central action adventure game. The leaked footage looked incredible (and I'm not speaking about the pre rendered footage)

[@StaredownGames]

I was SO ready.

[@DalazG]

@@StaredownGames agreed. No one gives it enough attention. To this day, i don't see any buddy cop action co op adventure games anything like it coming out

[@idgaffub]

I love seeing these games leak fully semi playable online

[@chrisgraham1781]

I remember the maker's of Fable wanting to make a game called BC I was looking forward to it but it got cancelled.

[@Kazuma0915]

I never play horror games but that PT still hurts to this day. It was so good that its such a heavy loss to know that it got cancelled when everyone is waiting for it to come out.

[@Giligussy]

Everquest next would have been amazing😍 If it was possible xD