The materials have been noted as being dated between April 2009 and January 2010. Since they were found in the deleted sectors, the uploader, MrTalida, has also noted that there are also plenty of incomplete files that had been overwritten by other, more recent files. As such, the uploader warns viewers about potential corruption in the video files, with some having loud audio that is essentially made up of garbage data.

The uploader has also noted that the files are largely consistent of things made for internal use, including demonstration videos, development schedules, and design documents for gameplay, art, and technical aspects. Ultimately, while far from being a complete look at how Project Apollo would have shaped up, they offer insights into its early development.

Among the noteworthy features showcased in the demonstration videos included dynamic audio systems that could change the background score depending on the gameplay. Notably, the music in this demonstration is right out of the Hans Zimmer-composed original soundtrack for The Dark Knight. Other examples of the project’s complex audio systems show off how sounds would change depending on Batman’s position in the game’s vertical axis, seamlessly transitioning from road-level audio to the sound of wind as Batman scales up a skyscraper.

There are plenty of video files also showcasing the studio’s work on the visuals of Project Apollo, including the physics for Batman’s cape, and how the game’s facial expressions for its various characters would look. On the gameplay side of things, we get to see stealth takedowns, and even some melee combat. The title was also slated to feature vehicle segments where players would take control of the Tumbler. A video shows off the driving physics for the vehicle as it rides through an early prototype of a level filled with blocky, untextured assets.

Movies getting released alongside video game adaptations were quite commonplace in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. While many of these tended to be little more than low-quality cash-grabs that were made as part of a movie’s marketing budget, some would end up being quite interesting to check out. Among these was 2005 action adventure title Batman Begins. As you might guess, it was based on the first movie of what would eventually be known as Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy. While the title was largely seen at the time as being better than the average adaptation, it was also the first time we would see a Batman game that makes use of both stealth and action elements. These aspects would define Rocksteady’s own Batman: Arkham series.

There's feature demo videos, production schedules, game design docs, concept art, & more. These materials help us better understand what product the team at Monolith was attempting to make with Apollo, and what challenges and decisions they faced early in development.archive.org/details/proj… 2/9

— MrTalida (@mrtalida.bsky.social) 2026-01-12T23:50:49.436Z

A variety of early development videos demonstrate dynamic audio systems that would react to the player's situation and smoothly transition music. It's the sort of thing that makes a world of difference but we rarely consciously notice! 4/9

— MrTalida (@mrtalida.bsky.social) 2026-01-12T23:53:04.882Z

More early Project Apollo audio systems videos. This one shows how audio changes with Batman's vertical position.6/9

— MrTalida (@mrtalida.bsky.social) 2026-01-12T23:56:52.321Z

Here's a series of videos showing various game mechanics at play, like completing a quest, knocking an enemy out, throwing smoke bombs, basic combat, and AI navigation. Again, this is very, very early stuff.8/9

— MrTalida (@mrtalida.bsky.social) 2026-01-13T00:00:46.010Z

Lastly, here's a series of videos showing the progress Monolith had made on the tumbler batmobile sections. AFAIK, the previous leak didn't show any tumbler footage, so this may be our first peek.You can see how the feature progressed from Oct 2009, to Nov 2009, to Jan 2010.Enjoy the files!9/9

— MrTalida (@mrtalida.bsky.social) 2026-01-13T00:02:07.387Z

Nightdive Studios previously released Blood: Fresh Supply for PC in 2019, offering an enhanced version of the original. Refreshed Supply is a remaster with 4K resolution support, unlocked frame rates (with consoles running at up to 120 FPS), split-screen, online co-op for up to eight players, the Vault, and more.

Alongside the original campaign, it includes the add-ons, Plasma Pak and Cryptic Passage. There’s also a new scenario, Marrow, with a second, Death Wish, arriving post-release, so stay tuned for more details.

Before Blood: Refreshed Supply, Nightdive has a remaster of Outlaws going live on November 20th. Based on the 1997 first-person shooter by LucasArts, Outlaws + Handful of Missions: Remaster will be available for all platforms (aside from Switch 2).

“When I joined WB Games, it was growing fast,” said Fryer. “In Seattle we tripled in size through acquisitions and WB games expanded to over 1,500 people in a few short years. It was exciting and complete chaos. It took us a few years to get settled, but in that time, we built a team and culture that shipped Shadow of Mordor, arguably Monolith’s most successful title.”

Fryer spoke about assembling the team that would go on to create the Nemesis system during the studio’s time spent working on multiplayer titles like Gotham City Imposters and Guardians of Middle-earth. She points out that, considering Monolith’s trajectory from working on critically-acclaimed titles to filling its follow up with lootboxes, and ultimately getting shut down, meant that the studio had a leadership problem.

“It’s easy to blame Warner Bros. for everything that’s gone wrong, and it’s true, there were issues with the film studio,” explained Fryer. “For example, if a director didn’t want you to ship a game around the time of their movie, you didn’t ship the game.”

Fryer went on to talk about a game that was internally codenamed Apollo. The game was slated to feature Batman, and would have been set in the same setting as Christopher Nolan’s trilogy of movies. The video also shows off an early demo of Apollo, including UI details that indicated how missions would have worked in the title.

“The idea was the create an open world game,” said Fryer. “A place where gamers could explore and solve missions. They could use different approaches like combat or stealth. We even had a demo of the Batman Tumbler vehicle. It was cool.”

“WB was excited about the game and asked us to work on it in stealth mode until we could talk to Nolan,” she continued. “Well, unfortunately, when we finally spoke to him, he didn’t want us to do it. The Batman Begins game had come out and it was a disaster. And he didn’t want a repeat of that experience. It was completely understandable.”

She also mentioned that the studio had pitched to postpone the release of Apollo until after Nolan’s trilogy of movies were done. Company leadership, however, did not want to wait that long. Ultimately, work on the project was shelved back in 2011. Much of the team would then go on to work on console MOBA Guardians of Middle-earth. In the meantime, the work done on Apollo wasn’t considered a complete waste since its technology could then be used on other titles.

After spending some time talking about working on other projects, including Gotham City Imposters, as well as a tie-in game to The Hobbit movie series that was codenamed Hydra, Fryer talks about needing to change the studio’s priorities into being “game first” rather than tying projects in with movie releases.

An example given for the “game first” philosophy was Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham Asylum, which was a Batman game released in the middle of Nolan’s ongoing trilogy and was developed without replicating the imagery from the movies. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor was another example of the same philosophy, since it was a game based on a major film property that didn’t directly recreate similar imagery.

“Shadow of Mordor is another example of this game-first principle,” said Fryer. “It has a unique story and game mechanics, but it fit within the lore, it enhanced the story, and it brought in new fans. This is why I was surprised when I learned that Monolith had been working on a new IP. We had figured out how to work with WB. You could have ultimate creative freedom with your game as long as it loosely fit within the franchise.”

After spending some more time talking about how Monolith Productions as a studio was built with the idea of multiple projects being developed simultaneously, Fryer then went on to talk about how WB’s attempts at chasing trends is what ultimately led to the development of the Nemesis system in Shadow of Mordor.

“It all started when Rocksteady shipped Arkham Asylum in 2009,” said Fryer. “It was selling great. Then suddenly, sales dropped off. They could see this because the data from their game analytics revealed that more people were playing than were paying.”

“The theory was that people would play through the game, and then return the game disc to a retailer and get paid, which was very common at the time. This was great for gamers, because they could buy the game and then sell it back to a company like GameStop and buy something else. It was great for GameStop because then they sold that used game for a discount and they pocketed the money. For game developers, though, it was a disaster, because they weren’t getting paid for every game. They were only getting paid for the first copy sold. They lost millions of dollars.”

During the development of Shadow of Mordor, the question internally at the studio became “how do we create a single-player game that is so compelling that people keep the disc in their library forever?”

“Constraints can lead to better design, and the stellar team we built solved for this constraint,” explained Fryer. “After shipping War in the North, several of the talented team members started on [Shadow of Mordor]. People like our incredible art director Phil [Straub] and our talented design director Michael.”

Ultimately, going by Fryer’s stories, it looks like a game that was never released based on Nolan’s Batman trilogy ended up forming the bones for what would ultimately become Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.

Schreier brings up the fact that, among Haddad’s decisions during his tenure include the cancellation of a new IP by Monolith that would have potentially utilize an expanded version of the Nemesis system from Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor/War. This decision had led to all directors at the studio resigning, leading to work on the Wonder Woman project starting from scratch.

The Wonder Woman game would have also made use of the Nemesis system before its development was rebooted around a year ago. This time around, it would be a linear action game.

Schreier points out that this decision was too late, and the failure of attempted live-service games with licensed characters, including Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and MultiVersus had already put WB Games in a bit of a hole.

“But by then, it was kind of too late especially because last year was so bad for the Warner Brothers Games organization,” said Schreier. “Last year Suicide Squad was a humongous flop – they wrote off $200 million because of that. MultiVersus and Quidditch Champions, also both flops, [they] wrote off another $100 million because of that.”

Haddad stepped down from his role as president of WB Games earlier this year after having spent 12 years with the company. His successor is JB Perrette, who is also the CEO and president of Warner Bros. Discovery global streaming and games division.

“David has thoughtfully and purposefully chosen a time when our release schedule is lighter, which will help minimize disruption to our ongoing projects and strategic plans and allow this team to smoothly prepare for its next record-breaking title,” said Perrette about Haddad’s departure.

The closure of Monolith Productions came alongside other studios at WB Games being shut down, including Player First Games and WB Games San Diego. Warner Bros. said that this happened because it had to make “some very difficult decisions to structure our development studios and investments around building the best games possible with our key franchises – Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, DC and Game of Thrones.”

While things may have been somewhat chaotic behind the scenes, comic writer Gail Simone recently commented on her time working with the studio as a long-term consultant for the Wonder Woman project. In a series of posts on X, Simone praised both the studio, as well as Warner Bros., calling both companies “enthusiastic and supportive.”

“The game was gorgeous and expansive,” wrote Simone. “It was beautiful to look at. I am not going to give details for a number of reasons, but every effort was made to make this not just a great game, but a great WONDER WOMAN game. A showpiece epic.”

“And all of that was because of the team. Everyone who worked on it brought their a-game. Programmers, artists, designers, everyone. I don’t know that I have ever worked with a team that cared more about making sure the end product was perfect.”

The reason behind these closures? Per an email to Kotaku, “We have had to make some very difficult decisions to structure our development studios and investments around building the best games possible with our key franchises – Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, DC and Game of Thrones.” Closing the aforementioned studios is a “strategic change in direction” and “not a reflection of these teams or the talent that consists within them.” You’ve probably spotted the contradictions already, but we’ll get into it shortly.

Regarding Wonder Woman, the company sought “the highest quality experience possible for the iconic character, and unfortunately, this is no longer possible within our strategic priorities. This is another tough decision, as we recognize Monolith’s storied history of delivering epic fan experiences through amazing games. We greatly admire the passion of the three teams and thank every employee for their contributions.”

It also said that despite the difficulties of today, you should all rest assured. Warner Bros. will “remain focused on and excited about getting back to producing high-quality games for our passionate fans and developed by our world-class studios and getting our Games business back to profitability and growth in 2025 and beyond.” Don’t worry about all those people who lost their jobs, everyone – WB Games is going to get back to profitability. The part about how this doesn’t reflect the teams or the quality of talent feels all the more insulting – like an “It’s not you, it’s us” situation.

You could argue that the closures of Player First Games and WB Games San Diego make sense from a “business perspective.” MultiVersus was a massive flop, contributing to a $100 million loss for Warner Bros, and will be shutting servers off in May with only offline play available afterwards. Meanwhile, WB Games San Diego was established in 2019 to work on free-to-play mobile games and hasn’t really delivered anything.

However, this is all more due to too many of the company’s releases missing the mark, per an alleged memo written by WB’s head of games and streaming, JB Perrette, obtained by Bloomberg. “We need to make some substantial changes to our portfolio/team structure if we are to commit the necessary resources to get back to a ‘fewer but bigger franchises’ strategy.”

While MultiVersus was one of those releases, other significant failures included Quidditch Champions and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. The latter is perhaps the most egregious due to debuting universally reviled gameplay in 2023, getting delayed by almost a year, and then still launching to a negative response. It contributed to a $200 million impact on revenue for Warner Bros., and yet, continued to receive support and new content until January 2024.

All of this is seemingly due to the poor decisions made by former WB Games president David Haddad over the years. As Bloomberg reported earlier this month, it was under his leadership that these projects were greenlit. Then there’s the fact that WB Games Montreal was shafted for its Suicide Squad project, and even when reportedly it tried new pitches like Constantine, they were left on read. A Flash video game was the next pitch, but after the film’s flop, this too was scrapped. The frustration of dealing with WB Games allegedly caused many of the Montreal studio’s leadership to depart over the years.

Then there were all the disturbing details about Wonder Woman – how it was reportedly rebooted last year with a budget well $100 million and how the project was failing to “coalesce.” Even the acclaimed Nemesis System, made famous in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and War and never seen ever again, was seemingly pushed aside in favor of a more typical action-adventure experience.

It could be argued that WB Games is doing all this to correct Haddad’s mistakes, especially with how significantly they’ve impacted the company’s 2024 revenue. And yet, the hogwash about focusing on its key franchises – like DC – is all the more baffling since Wonder Woman is a DC property. Perhaps it means the rumored new Batman title from Rocksteady Studios, which won’t be out for years yet.

Then again, closing studios and taking employees off the payroll to later claim those reduced costs as improvements to the bottom line is perhaps the long-term goal. Gotta give those investors and shareholders some pounds of flesh in time for the next quarterly financial results, after all.

However anyone wants to try and justify it, this is such a massive waste of talent. Even if you didn’t like MultiVersus, it clearly had potential and loyal fans at the start, which were slowly squandered due to its live-service aspirations and monetization. Is it a coincidence that this happened in the same year that Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said the company was placing more emphasis on live-service titles to  “drive engagement and monetization of longer cycles and at higher levels?”

Monolith Productions hurts all the more because of the beloved titles it delivered over more than three decades. Titles like Condemned, Blood, Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, Alien vs. Predator 2, and much more remain classics – many remain my favorite titles to date. To see the studio tossed aside because of terrible management, as the higher-ups portend to focusing on “high-quality games” while seemingly preventing the studio from working on anything else, is just sad. If Wonder Woman was cancelled, it wouldn’t have been the most surprising thing, especially if WB Games didn’t want to shoulder further costs. But to do away with the studio as a whole leaves a bad taste.

This could be seen as more layoffs in an industry afflicted with the same since late 2023. Let’s not forget that other big-time publishers like Sony, Microsoft, EA and Take-Two Interactive have gone through layoffs and/or studio closures over that period. Don’t even get me started on the whole mess involving NetEase Games and reports of divesting its many overseas ventures.

However, these are more tragedies stemming from the many questionable decisions made by Warner Bros. Discovery over the past several years. Even as the company prepares for the next Hogwarts Legacy (with the first game reportedly receiving new content) and whatever Rocksteady cooks up, it’s difficult to really get excited.

Who else will be next on the chopping block? What other projects will suddenly get the rug pulled out because they suffered from prior mismanagement? Regardless of whether things improve or not, it’s the developers suffering at the end of the day, regardless of their past successes or loyalty, even in the face of executive bumbling.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

For context, the GOG Preservation Program is an effort by the DRM-free storefront to ensure that classic PC games remain available and playable on modern systems. Along with helping maintain the history of PC gaming, the program also allows newer generations of gamers to experience PC gaming classics.

More recently, the GOG Preservation Program has seen four releases, spanning 7 different games. As part of the program, Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3, Diablo, Diablo: Hellfire, Heroes of Might & Magic 3 Complete, Dino Crisis, and Dino Crisis 2 have seen releases. At the time of writing, 104 games are considered part of the program, totalling up to around 603 game improvements having been made.

Along with making the games available on modern platforms, the preservation program also makes a number of changes to the games that allow them to run smoother without altering the core of the game. A host of improvements are made to these titles, including for localisations, new rendering options, and support for modern controllers.

F.E.A.R. Platinum will likely see similar enhancements when it is released as part of the GOG Preservation Program. GOG has stated that other games by Monolith Productions will also eventually be available on the store, complete with enhancements for modern systems.

Monolith Productions was shut down earlier this week, alongside other Warner Bros. studios like Player First Games and WB Games San Diego. Alongside the closure of the studio, the game it was working on based on Wonder Woman has also been cancelled.

“This is a strategic change in direction and not a reflection of these teams or the talent within them,” said Warner Bros. in a statement about the studio closures.

“This is another tough decision, as we recognize Monolith’s storied history of delivering epic fan experiences through amazing games. We greatly admire the passion of the three teams and thank every employee for their contributions. As difficult as today is, we remain focused on and excited about getting back to producing high-quality games for our passionate fans, developed by our world-class studios, and getting our games business back to profitability and growth in 2025 and beyond.”

Shortly after its cancellation, comic writer Gail Simone, who worked on the Wonder Woman project as a long-term consultant, chimed in with her thoughts about the studio and Warner Bros. In a series of posts on X, Simone praised Monolith as well as WB games as being “enthusiastic and supportive.”

“The game was gorgeous and expansive,” wrote Simone. “It was beautiful to look at. I am not going to give details for a number of reasons, but every effort was made to make this not just a great game, but a great WONDER WOMAN game. A showpiece epic.”

Among the games Monolith Productions has worked on throughout its life are classics like horror shooter F.E.A.R., No One Lives Forever, and most recently, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel.

But the story doesn’t have to end here – some treasures from Monolith Productions are yet to be preserved and made to live forever. It’s always a challenge, with some titles more than others, but this is where you can help us. Pay tribute to the creative minds of Monolith and…

— GOG.COM (@GOGcom) February 26, 2025

Simone worked as a long-term consultant on the Wonder Woman project, a job she happily took on because she was already a fan of Monolith’s previous Middle-earth titles. She also wrote about work on the Wonder Woman game going quite smoothly thanks to the development team bringing their best to the project

“The game was gorgeous and expansive,” wrote Simone. “It was beautiful to look at. I am not going to give details for a number of reasons, but every effort was made to make this not just a great game, but a great WONDER WOMAN game. A showpiece epic.”

“And all of that was because of the team. Everyone who worked on it brought their a-game. Programmers, artists, designers, everyone. I don’t know that I have ever worked with a team that cared more about making sure the end product was perfect.”

Simone praised the fact that the Wonder Woman game was taking the DC universe quite seriously with regards to respect for the well-established lore and canon of the seminal comic series.

“They made sure it had WW and DC lore on every aspect of the game,” she wrote. “It was a thrill and honor to work with them. I know there’s a lot of finger-pointing going on, but everyone I worked with from Monolith and WB both was enthusiastic and supportive. Everyone wanted to make the best game ever.”

Despite the cancellation of the game and the closure of the studio, however, Simone does mention that the teams from both companies had been great to work with.

“I know there’s a lot of finger-pointing going on, but everyone I worked with from Monolith and WB both was enthusiastic and supportive,” wrote Simone. “Everyone wanted to make the best game ever.”

“Sometimes, you give your all and it doesn’t work out,” she continued. “But that was an amazing team and I can only hope they continue to make brilliant games. Someone is going to snap them all up and set a new industry standard, I know it.”

For some context about Simone’s role in the development of Wonder Woman, she is best known for her work on the Wonder Woman comics. She also happens to be the longest-running female writer on the comic so far.

News of Monolith Productions being shut down, along with Wonder Woman being cancelled came in earlier this week. Alongside Monolith, Player First Games (the studio behind MultiVersus) and WB Games San Diego were also shut down.

Monolith Productions was a well-regarded studio that had been making critically-acclaimed games for a long time. Along with more recent titles like Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel Shadow of War, the studio has also previously worked on the F.E.A.R. series, as well as classic shooter No One Lives Forever.

I was asked to do long-term consulting on the game, and I was thrilled to do it, it was a perfect storm of stuff I adore. Wonder Woman, video games, and one of my favorite games studios: Monolith, who produced the Game Of The Year MORDOR games, that I was completely addicted to.

— Gail Simone 💙💛 (@GailSimone) February 26, 2025

In its statement, the company said it had to make “some very difficult decisions to structure our development studios and investments around building the best games possible with our key franchises – Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, DC and Game of Thrones.” The decision to close Monolith, Player First Games and WB Games San Diego occurred after “careful consideration.”

“This is a strategic change in direction and not a reflection of these teams or the talent within them.”

Regarding Wonder Woman, the company hoped to offer “the highest quality experience possible for the iconic character, and unfortunately, this is no longer possible within our strategic priorities.”

“This is another tough decision, as we recognize Monolith’s storied history of delivering epic fan experiences through amazing games. We greatly admire the passion of the three teams and thank every employee for their contributions. As difficult as today is, we remain focused on and excited about getting back to producing high-quality games for our passionate fans, developed by our world-class studios, and getting our games business back to profitability and growth in 2025 and beyond.”

Reports of Wonder Woman’s troubled development appeared earlier this month, revealing that it was rebooted in early 2024. Its budget reportedly exceeded $100 million but “struggled to coalesce.” While noted to be years off from release, there was concern whether it would ever launch.

As for Player First Games, it recently announced the end of service for MultiVersus in May. The platform fighter had a mixed reception after exiting open beta and contributed to a $100 million loss for WB Games. WB Games San Diego was established in 2019 to develop free-to-play mobile games, though nothing concrete emerged.

A new report by Bloomberg has revealed that the project, touted as “one of the company’s biggest bets,” has “struggled to coalesce.” Sources have revealed that it was rebooted early last year and even changed directors, with the budget allegedly crossing $100 million. Perhaps most damning is that it’s reportedly still years off from launch, “if it ever makes it to market.”

It isn’t the first time we’ve heard about development issues. Last June, Kinda Funny’s Greg Miller reported hearing that the game was “troubled”, though further details were lacking. Leaks have revealed details about its combat, story, and characters, but if the title was rebooted, it’s unknown how relevant they still may be.

Wonder Woman is in development for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Head here to check out some potential concept art that leaked in 2023.

As previously announced, it utilizes the Nemesis System, introduced in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and expanded further in Shadow of War. In Wonder Woman, it will procedurally generate a “unique cast” of “allies and enemies” who will “remember your choices and actions” and react based on their beliefs, according to the survey. Diana also meets with “iconic DC characters,” which may include other heroes and “mythical inhabitants of Greek mythology.”

Gameplay-wise, Wonder Woman seemingly offers Freeflow Combat, like the Middle-earth series, with “devastating combos.” Players can also wield Diana’s Lasso of Truth and fly through the world.

WB Games hasn’t announced a release window for Wonder Woman or even showcased its gameplay, though it won’t have live service elements. It’s reportedly coming to Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC, so stay tuned for further updates.