Games get announced, we get very interested in the game and then they get cancelled, here are some that never got to a release date.
Here’s a question, if a game is on Steam’s Early Access and releases 0.0.1, is it a considered a launch or is the full version of the game considered a launch? ‘The Day Before’ made it to Early Access and was canned four days later, does it count as a launch.
Police 10-13 (also written as Police 1013)
Fans wanted a Police simulator, Police 10-13 by Wingman Games promised to be that very game and fans poured money into the game via the website’s ‘Project Blue Line’.
It was billed as ‘The Ultimate Police Simulator’ and that may have helped fans get amped up about it.
The development was closely scrutinised, and it was discovered that a lot of what was shown were pre-made assets that anybody can buy online and there was a high turnover in developers.
Battles between Wingman Games and YouTubers continued until one day, everything was shut down, never to return.
It was said that a new team had taken over and there was the occasional sign of life on X, but they never revealed themselves adding to the mystery.
The internet moved on, but we never forgot the game and it is thought that no game maker has come close to being ‘the ultimate police simulator’.
Star Trek: Secret of Vulcan Fury
The 1990s was a boom period for Star Trek video games, we got games Starfleet Academy, and we were treated to a trailer for Star Trek: Secret of Vulcan Fury.
Unfortunately, the game was cancelled in 1999, and it was estimated that the game was only 5% completed when it got cancelled.
This game would have been the last game that featured the entire Star Trek cast.
In the 2010s there was a thirst for city builders and Civitas came along and we were shown some game footage and then suddenly it was gone, FB page shut down, the website was stopped, if it wasn’t for a few found emails, the game’s existence may have been a myth in the mind.
The Day Before
‘The Day Before’ was a highly anticipated game that opened in Early Access on Steam.
Sections of it resemble the game The Division, some players hardly encountered a zombie though the above player encountered a mini horde of them, a zombie shot in the head didn’t do much to stop them at first.
Basic items were broken such as money totals and there were multiple breaks and failures plus there was no melee in the game, a big no-no in games like this.
As you can see it frustrated people, maybe a little overdramatic in the above video, in the end the game company closed down four days after the release and Steam refunded everybody who brought a copy but not before half the buyers had already asked for a refund, some players continued to use the game until the servers shut down a while later.
Race to Mars
Race to Mars by Intermarum was a game that users hoped would be like Buzz Aldrin’s Race into Space, but it barely lifted off the ground.
The game had more holes in it than a showerhead and a promise to get the game moving forward again was not met by developers.
There was no tutorial to guide players, there were sections of the game that either had placeholder text or artwork and they had no function at all.
Players in the game go bankrupt no matter what they build or try to do and the game crashes in the end, it even crashed when loading saved games.
Intermarum abandoned Race to Mars and decided to try again with Space Company Simulator, they gave RTM owners a copy of this new attempt and claimed refunds were given out though several people refute the refund story.
The game got further along in development than Race to Mars, but the plug was pulled on it without so much as a goodbye, the game is still for sale for $29.95 perfect for those who don’t read the reviews or read the status of the game.
This business making game got quietly paused in February 2023 with the news written in the patch notes of V0.10.
‘It is with a heavy heart that we have decided to put a pause to the development of City Block Builder.‘
Gone just like that without a formal goodbye but it still lives on in Steam selling for $14.95.
Before that, they had said that ‘City Block Builder is a genre-blending tycoon game with micro and macro-management elements. Build your own business empire through an immersive game with easy to learn, but hard to master mechanics.‘
They had a great idea, I played a game as a restaurant owner, and it was fun, but it was buggy, and the game animations were not complete.
They’re trying to make a game again with ‘Becoming Pablo‘ and it looks like they are taking their time to get this game right.
This game is not to be confused with Star Rangers, the 1995 game.
‘Star Rangers is an open ‘sandbox’ of the local solar system incorporating NASA content, with an emphasis on surviving and thriving on worlds other than Earth. The game has been in private alpha on Steam for several weeks, for vocal members of its fan base.‘
It turned out that this game never got out of Early Access and it is hard to find somebody who can now play the game as all tests crash at 1% loaded.
The teaser trailer sounds like they borrowed ‘Potato, Potato, Potato’ from The Wiggles song ‘Hot Potato’.
The idea of the game was interesting, but the game was just simply in the wrong hands.
This police game got off to a decent start but problems with Unity and a lack of sales ensured that this game never got a full release.
It got to version 0.1115 and offers a range of short missions from interrupting a break and enter to going to an illegal casino, taking on a domestic violence situation and even a jailbreak.
There is one level where you get to take on zombies in a subway station, pretty cool but as said the game never got past V0.1115.
DarkWhite_Raven and Tiggy's Game Reviews 