Supermassive Games, the studio behind narrative horror titles like The Quarry and The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes, was seemingly working on a game based on the Blade Runner franchise. According to Insider Gaming’s Mike Straw, the title was ultimately cancelled before it was announced.
While Supermassive Games hasn’t directly confirmed this yet, the report indicates that the title would have been a “character focused, cinematic, action adventure game.” It was expected to be titled Blade Runner: Time to Live, and would have featured a story that would take players between 10 and 12 hours to finish.
Work on the game had started back in 2024, with pre-production being kicked off in September. The writing team behind Blade Runner: Time to Live was going to be the same team that worked on The Quarry. While it has now been cancelled, the title was slated to have an internal protype developed by September this year, before going into full production.
Blade Runner: Time to Live was going to be a cross-generation title, coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, as well as the next generation of consoles released by Sony and Microsoft in 2027. According to the report, gameplay in the title was seemingly going to be more involved than the narrative-focused games that Supermassive is otherwise known for.
Rather than playing like an interactive movie (like in The Quarry or Man of Medan), Blade Runner: Time to Live would instead feature stealth, combat, exploration and investigation as the “four pillars” of its gameplay. The title was also going to have some sort of character progression, with upgrades to skills and abilities being unlocked.
The story of the game would revolve around a vintage model Nexus-6 named So-Lange, who would explore the undercity of New Zurich. While the story would start with So-Lange being tasked with taking out the leader retire underground replicant network leader Rev, there would be betrayals and a quest for vengeance that players would then undergo. The game was slated to be set in the year 2065 – 18 years after the events of critically-acclaimed movie Blade Runner 2047.
“Journey from the teeming undercity of New Zurich 2065 to the eerie remnants of the forgotten world beyond,” read the descriptions of the game according to the report. “Under orders to retire Rev, the mysterious and ruthless leader of an underground replicant network, you are betrayed and left for dead in a brutally hostile environment.”
Ultimately, while no real reason has been revealed for why the title was seemingly cancelled, issues seemed to have arose with Alcon Entertainment, who owns the rights to the Blade Runner IP. The title was reportedly cancelled some time in late 2024.
For what it’s worth, there has been a video game adaptation of Blade Runner in the past. Titled Blade Runner, the game is a point-and-click adventure title that was released back in 1997. It is currently playable on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch through an Enhanced Edition release from back in 2022. Blade Runner 2033 was another title announced for PC and consoles back in 2023. However, no new details about the game have been revealed since its announcement.
