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The real horror in the game industry is when projects get canceled especially in a genre as wild and creative as horror. Throughout the history of video games, there has been no shortage of canceled titles. Still, the ones below could have been genre flagbearers if they were given a chance. Here’s to what could’ve been– the best canceled horror games that never were and won’t be joining you on Halloween.
8. Sadness
[Updated on October 12, 2024 – Added four new entries along with revisions]
Sadness was originally intended for the Wii back in the late 2000s. Even for a teaser artwork and concept, it was already groundbreaking as it was. The main pitch was a horror game that explored paranoia and narcolepsy. It was a result of PTSD through the lens of a post-WWI family. The game was also supposed to be rendered in a bleak monochrome filter, something not a lot of video games dare to do these days. Alas, it never saw the light of day.
7. Nightmare Creatures 3: Angel of Darkness
Nightmare Creatures 3: Angel of Darkness was touted as being the game changer for the series when Kalisto Entertainment first began talking about it in the early part of the 00’s. The doomed title was to feature an all-new heroine with the ability to change into a beast with the aid of her raven to combat Adam Crowley’s sinister monsters.
It was originally destined for release in 2003 and was to revolutionize the series with higher production values, better visuals, and design. When Kalisto Entertainment filed for bankruptcy, the game was picked up by Ubisoft and the promise of a quality entry for the series grew. Unfortunately, it only stayed in development for a few more years before the execs at Ubisoft killed it off in late 2004.
6. Ghost Theory
Announced in 2016, Ghost Theory had quite a groundbreaking idea. It was supposed to be a ghost-hunting detective story, similar to what Alan Wake 2 is right now. They were even supposed to be funded by Crytek back in the late 2010s, but nothing came out of the deal, sadly. Now, Ghost Theory is but a mere ghost of dead ideas murdered prematurely by corporate finesse.
5. inSANE
Guillermo del Toro has developed a reputation for announcing and hyping a game only to have it canceled before it ever sees the light of day. inSANE was one such title. With plenty of development time in between (around three years del Toro said), inSANE was meant to be the first title in a trilogy of survival horror games.
Del Toro was quoted as saying, “With this new series of video games, I want to take players to a place they have never seen before, where every single action makes them question their own senses of morality and reality.”
4. Winter
Winter was the Wii’s answer to the Silent Hill franchise which, at the time (2007), was waning in popularity. Someone had to take the reins for the survival horror genre. Winter was poised for it. It was practically Silent Hill with snow and more conventional survival mechanics. What could’ve been a series pioneer was regrettably canceled cold by its development studio.
3. Sundown
The second of three ill-fated Guillermo del Toro projects on this list, Sundown was the first game in which he announced his collaboration. On paper, the game had a great-sounding concept.
Del Toro told Hollywood Reporter, “Players will start as a typical person on an average day. As everything goes terribly wrong, in order to survive they must learn to form alliances with various beings and to change their role as each new challenge calls for different abilities. We want to create a real beginning, middle, and end to the game and to each set piece of the game too,” del Toro said. “I want to make some of the atmospheric elements in the game very, very scary.”
Several years after its cancelation, del Toro described the game as being eerily similar to Left 4 Dead.
2. Allison Road
Continuing the trend of Silent Hill-inspired games getting canceled, Allison Road adds another notch to the post. Another tombstone on the graveyard. Allison Road apparently wanted to continue what P.T. (Silent Hills) catalyzed, but like its prime inspiration, it too met the same fate. As usual, they had funding issues and the development studio had to pull the plug despite a rather strong showing.
1. Silent Hills
When players first completed the PSN downloadable trial game P.T., they were greeted with the message that they had just completed the playable teaser for the then-unannounced Silent Hills to be developed by Kojima Productions and star catholic zombie killer, Norman Reedus. P.T. itself delivered more than enough scares and creep factor. But directors Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro promised even more in Silent Hills.
Unfortunately, with Kojima’s messy break-up with Konami and their decision to move toward mobile games, it’s almost certain we’ll never see what Kojima and del Toro had in mind for Silent Hills. At least we still have P.T. on the PC thanks to some Samaritans. It’s quite possibly the most iconic canceled horror game ever.
