Where Games that never got released go to Die
When you really think about it, the number of video games that were planned, prototyped, or even partially or 99% developed (Like Star Wars Battlefront 3) but never released probably outweighs the number of games that actually made it to store shelves and into players’ hands. It’s pretty wild when you consider just how many ideas have been pitched, how many lines of code were written, how much concept art was drawn, how many meetings were held — all for games that ultimately got shelved, scrapped, or straight-up forgotten. For every iconic title we’ve played to death, there could be ten others that never made it past a tech demo, got lost in publisher drama, or quietly disappeared after a studio closed its doors forever. Some were probably masterpieces in the making; others, absolute disasters we’ll never have to suffer through — but either way, they’re all part of this massive, unseen graveyard of gaming history.
Table of Contents
Once there was a Bear and a Bird
A game that fans of Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie have been dreaming about for over two decades, and one that never truly materialized in the way we all hoped. After the original two games cemented Rare as a powerhouse of charm, humor, and collectathon excellence on the N64, the third entry seemed inevitable – until Microsoft swooped in, Rare got bought out, and the bear and bird were never quite the same. What we did eventually get was 2008’s Nuts & Bolts. It has its fans (God knows why) but it honestly felt like such disrespect to fans of the originals. It appeared as though they started work on Banjo-Threeie worlds and got super petty and just ended up turning it into a car making sim. The game pokes fun at the audience but in a way where I wasn’t laughing along – just holding back the tears.
Spun and deep-fried out of existence
Well Activision has done it again. They took our hearts and crushed them into oblivion. I guess they just enjoy disappointing us. Crash and Spyro are two of the most beloved , if not THE most beloved on the OG Playstation and putting them together, I guess some CEO just didn’t think it profitable. Instead of making every 90s kid’s dream come true, they just decided to sell another overpriced skin in Warzone. This dream is dead, buried, spun to the side and set ablaze for good measure.
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A avalanche of fan service
After the titanic release of easily the greatest game ever made—kidding, kidding—but hey, I do genuinely love these little big-nosed rascals. Snowboard Kids just hits different. The soundtrack slaps, the gameplay somehow scratches that same competitive itch as Mario Kart, and there’s this charming simplicity that keeps pulling me back in, even all these decades later. There’s just something magical about watching these pint-sized maniacs launch down a slope, drop a frying pan on a rival, and fly off a jump with that goofy cardboard charm. I still hold out hope we’ll see our Snowboard Grandkids someday – ideally in a true sequel that sticks to the papercraft-style look of the originals, just with a gentle glow-up for the modern era. Honestly, it’s the kind of game that could so easily get made today, but no one seems to care quite as much as I do. So here’s my vow: if PlayRatedGames ever gets the bag, I’m personally throwing down the funds to bring Snowboard Kids 3 to life.
To Infinite and Beyond
Specially a Director’s Cut of Ken Levine’s original vision for the project. While Bioshock Infinite was released to critical acclaim, it wasn’t exactly what was promised. I was surprised at just how much was changed and what a source of contention it is to this very day. Even if you look at the trailer, it seems like it was almost intentionally misleading. In the trailer, Elizabeth is about to be hanged as a heretic- in the final product, she was the literal daughter of the prophet. Originally she was supposed to be much more involved with combat, there was supposed to be a more open world approach and alternative endings depending on the players actions. Due to behind the scenes drama, this wouldn’t be the case. Maybe we’ll find a dimension when this game did come out and delivered everything it promised and more.
I’ll never let go Jak
We don’t necessarily need one – but man, I’d love to see a new Jak and Daxter game in the 2020s. I’d be grinning like an idiot the whole time. Naughty Dog has gone on record, even before Uncharted took off, saying the series had run its course – but I think enough time has passed. We’re talking two decades since their last real adventure, and with all the advances in game design and tech, the duo’s wild mix of platforming, gunplay, and chaotic energy could really shine today. Give us that classic Jak 2-style open world, with slick hoverboarding, ridiculous weapon upgrades, and some bonkers eco-powered abilities. Daxter yelling dumb one-liners while chaos unfolds around them? Never goes out of style. And with the right tone – somewhere between nostalgia and fresh attitude – it wouldn’t even have to reinvent the wheel. Just let the boys rip through a dystopian city again and we’re golden.
Ghouls be gone!
So Grabbed by the Ghoulies was Rare’s first step on to the sixth generation of gaming. To put it mildly it was a bit of a misstep. The original game did end on a cliff hanger and a sequel was planned. While it has its fans it wasn’t particularly warmly received and its sales were woefully underwhelming. Needless to say a follow up was canned indefinitely. Not much is really known about it, all we had to go off was it was to take place in Ghouls-ville. If they had the time to really listen to the fans and take steps to improve the formula this could have been the big hit Rare was hoping for. Sadly, this is one Ghoul that will likely never rise from the grave again.
A moment of silence
Sadly corporate greed and drama has struck again. Silent Hills was intended to be the big comeback this series was desperately hoping for. The demo/teaser, PT, was regarded as one of the scariest games ever made. That was just the freaking demo, can you imagine if Kojima and Del-Torro were given the free reign to helm this project and make their vision come true? This could have been a 10/10 game ! While Silent Hill eventually did make its grand return with the SH2 remake and other announced titles, this game is not forgotten and people are begging to put this back into production. The people have spoken Konami!
Let the lightning strike thrice
Infamous 3 feels like one of those sequels that’s just sitting there—not impossible, not out of the question, but weirdly ignored. Sucker Punch has been busy with their Ghost of Series but inFamous had such a strong identity: gritty superpowers, moral choices that actually affected gameplay, and that slick comic book presentation that set it apart from the crowd. Second Son was solid, sure, but it always felt like a soft reset instead of a proper continuation of the original legacy. There’s still so much you could do – new cities, new conduits, or even revisit Cole’s legacy in a future where his impact has shaped an entirely different society. Sucker Punch is off making Ghost of Tsushima games, but man… you can’t tell me there’s not something still glowing deep in the Infamous fanbase. And if we never see this? Can we at least get an Infamous remastered collection of some kind, for Pete’s sake?
Forever left in the shadows
The Darkness is one of those cult-hit franchises that never quite got the mainstream love it deserved. The first game was dripping with atmosphere—gritty, brutal, and soaked in that unique early-2000s darkness (pun intended). Controlling the Demon Arms felt like a power trip in all the best ways. Then came The Darkness II, which flipped the visual style into a bold, cel-shaded comic book aesthetic and cranked the action up to eleven without losing the twisted heart of the story. The whole mental hospital sequences were very enjoyable and kept me guessing what was real or not. That reality-bending “am I crazy or is the Darkness real” question added a whole new psychological edge that deserved even deeper exploration. There’s so much story potential left on the table – Jackie’s inner war, the origins of the Darkness itself, the fallout of trying to control something so ancient and evil. A third game could wrap things up properly, balancing the madness and the character-driven drama in a way few games do anymore. Let the man finish his damn story.
You can’t keep ignoring me forever
I bet Snowboard Kids 3 is more likely to see the light of day than this. For whatever reason, Sony just wants to pretend Bloodborne never happened—but we won’t let them forget. Bloodborne is one of the most badass, stylish, and genre-defining games to ever release. The atmosphere is untouchable. The combat – aggressive, fast, and endlessly satisfying. It took the Souls formula, turned it on its head, and created a nightmare-fueled masterpiece that people are still begging to play at 60fps. And yet… silence. Nothing… No remaster, no sequel, no PC port – just radio static while fans scream into the void. It’s baffling. This game deserves more. Not just because it’s FromSoft doing what they do best, but because it carved out a unique, horrifying corner of the genre that no other title has quite captured since. Give us a sequel, a remaster—anything. Just don’t let it rot in the Hunter’s Dream forever.
Half-Life 3
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Stuffed in a locker and forgotten
Credit: Rockstar Games
Bully was one of my favorite games of all time on the PS2. It was everything you pretty much expected, a juvenile clone of GTA in all the best ways. We would go around making friends, talking to girls, pulling pranks, starting feuds between different cliques, it was a blast. While the fan demand is strong, Rockstar just never got around to revisiting this title. Focusing on other high priority titles like GTA and Red Dead shelved any prospect of a future title. While the original is widely available, it would be pretty cool to check up on James and see him all grown up.
Still standing by
I’ve talked about this before (see article), but man—Titanfall 2 had some of the worst launch timing in FPS history. Sandwiched between Call of Duty and Battlefield like a middle child at Thanksgiving, it never really got the attention it deserved at the time. Ironically, it could’ve wiped the floor with both of them—mechanically, stylistically, and especially in terms of campaign quality. That single-player story had no business being as good as it was, and yet here we are, years later, with just about everyone retroactively agreeing it’s one of the best FPS campaigns of the entire PS4/Xbox One era. The multiplayer? Absolutely cracked. While I still miss the ranking system and certain mechanics from the first Titanfall, the sequel was fast-paced, vertical, and flat-out exhilarating – pure adrenaline wrapped in a mechsuit. It’s baffling that we haven’t gotten a proper third entry. But hey, Respawn seems to be all-in on Apex Legends now, and Titanfall 2 feels more like the cool older brother who moved out and never got invited back for dinner. Still… I’m standing by. Always will be. Titanfall 3, if you’re out there, drop in whenever you’re ready.
Capcom’s hidden gem
Credit: Metacritic
Power Stone 2 is my all time favorite Dreamcast game. It was very popular and well received. Why wasn’t there ever a 3rd?! The second game was an epic, fast paced, 4 player, mayhem inducing good time. Imagine if they had expanded upon that? They give the characters more fleshed out backstories, actually include real endings, more weapons, more characters. This would have been amazing, sadly it never came to be. Thankfully, the first and second games are included on a compilation collection, so maybe if they see the fan demand, our dreams just might come true.
Keeping us in the dark on this one
Let’s talk about the Perfect Dark remake – because honestly, this one had a lot of people hyped, and then a lot of people worried. I’ll be real: I wasn’t a huge fan of Joanna Dark’s redesign in the latest reveal. It didn’t feel like her and for some reason the gaming industry keeps trying to make pretty women unattractive. The edge, the cool factor, that early-2000s secret agent attitude just got lost in translation. But still, that’s no reason for the whole project to vanish into development limbo. This is a franchise that deserves a second shot, especially with modern tech. The original Perfect Dark had big ideas—gadgets, stealth, sci-fi conspiracy stuff—and was way ahead of its time back on the N64. There’s so much potential to bring that back with a clean, modern polish and a tighter, more cinematic story. The bones are there. Just keep the gameplay sharp, the tone grounded, and for the love of all that’s covert and classified – Just make her hot again, give her a better haircut and pick the project back up.
The journey doesn’t continue
This was supposed to be the 3rd chapter of the original Oddworld Quintology, however due to financial shortcomings and mismanagement from EA, this was canned. Seeing as production never started, next to nothing is known about it- the setting, the style of gameplay, or what the main character even looks like. There is some concept art on the Oddworld wiki, but none of it was finalized due to the game barely getting past the concept stage. I would say maybe someday, but due to the underwhelming reception of Soulstorm, the future for this series looks increasingly bleak.
How thrilling …
Thrill Kill. Interesting to note, while unreleased, it’s widely available to play online. This was a 4 player fighting game that was shelved due to its extreme violence and themes. Some of the characters in this are so delightfully off the wall- a deranged dwarf, a homicidal mail-man, an inbred redneck cannibal and a lawyer who went rogue and made it his mission to clean up the streets. This begs for a remake, NetherRealm Studios would knock this out of the park, let another ultra-violent fighting game get its time in the sun.
The gaming industry could use this … and a drink
A modern Conker game would be absolute gold if done right—a full-blown, no-filter parody of today’s gaming culture, and honestly, the industry’s ripe for it. Imagine Conker waking up in a buggy, unfinished AAA title, getting pestered by a tutorial that never ends and achievements that pop up for literally everything. “Congratulations, you opened the menu.” The villains could be greedy execs, microtransaction goblins, and a boss fight against a loot box that eats your wallet. Side characters could include a washed-up streamer raccoon addicted to clout, a Soulslike owl that mocks you every time you die, and an influencer fox constantly begging you to like, comment, and subscribe. Every level could spoof something – from battle-royale burnout to bloated open worlds with 300 identical side quests. Throw in a parody of mobile games where Conker gets stuck in an energy timer hell and has to “wait 24 hours or pay $9.99,” and you’ve got something special. Crude, chaotic, and cathartic – Conker would roast modern gaming to a crisp. We need our cute little mischievous squirrel back as much as the bear and bird.
Throw this dog a bone
Another game that is severely SLEPT on, amiright? Sleeping Dogs had one of the most surprisingly fleshed-out stories and cast of characters in any open-world crime game—not just cheap GTA knockoff energy, but something with actual weight and emotional stakes. Wei Shen wasn’t just your average tough guy—he was genuinely torn between loyalty, identity, and survival, and it made for some damn compelling storytelling. The hand-to-hand combat? Still some of the most satisfying in the genre. I’d love to see those stakes taken even further in a proper sequel—more cities, more moral dilemmas, more neck-snapping spin kicks in tight alleyways. But nope. Instead, we get absolutely nothing. Not even a hint. Maybe the sequel’s called Sleeping Cats and it’s just been napping this whole time. Wake up, Square Enix. The people are ready.
Watching … waiting …
Darkwatch. Another game that no one really talks about anymore (see article). It’s a shame the sequel was cancelled, because I genuinely think this series had potential. With more time and proper support, the follow-up could’ve easily turned this into a lasting Sony franchise. It had such a unique aesthetic – stylish, moody, with just the right amount of edge – that really could’ve left its mark across generations of PlayStation consoles. Sadly, it ended up being a one-and-done situation, and it’s doubtful we’ll ever hop back on this ghost train again. Still, here’s hoping we at least get a modern remaster or re-release of the original. I mean, come on—just look how sick that cover art looks- that’s totally why I bought it in the first place.
Are you not entertained?!
Imagine Call of Duty in Ancient Rome. It almost happened! While it would be an interesting idea, how could you really implement this and have to feel like COD? You would have played as a Roman Centurion in Ancient Rome(duh) and that’s honestly all we really know. How would multiplayer have panned out? Would it have been in first person? Would it try to be over the top or more realistic ? These are all interesting questions that I’m genuinely curious about, who knows, they actually might have pulled this off. But I think at this point this is better left on the cutting room floor.
Conclusion
There ya go. Plenty of games that have never seen the light of day — and likely never will. It’s honestly kind of sad. I’d love to see all, or at least most, of these forgotten projects be given a real shot. When you think about the amount of money dumped — and basically set on fire — for something like Concord, you realize that half (or more) of these shelved games could’ve actually been made instead. Hopefully, one day, the industry shifts back in favor of actual gamers — not just the corporations and suits who haven’t played anything past Pac-Man. Here’s hoping the next era of gaming is shaped by passion, not just profit.
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