Freedom Fighters 2

IO Interactive delivered one of the most enjoyable shooters with 2003’s Freedom Fighters, a game that beautifully meshes tactical elements along with pure adrenaline-pumping action and an emotionally charged narrative of overthrowing oppression – and fans absolutely lapped it up. There have been scant rumblings of a sequel over the years, but nothing much has come to fruition. While the IP continues to be under the possession of now-independent IO Interactive, the chances of a full-fledged sequel happening anytime soon are extremely slim. 

Sleeping Dogs 2

Sleeping Dogs might have felt like yet another one of those cheap GTA clones, but United Front Games’ open-world offerings were as much a product of their creativity as it was derivative of Rockstar’s works. Wei Shen’s story of navigating through the criminal underbelly of Hong Kong is a consistently thrilling ride that’s punctuated with great gameplay variety and fun open-world activities, and the ideas were ripe to be built upon with a sequel. United Front Games had some ambitious plans in place, but those were gone to waste as the developer closed doors permanently in 2012 – leaving us with faint hopes that will probably never come true.

Star Wars 1313

There is no shortage of Star Wars-based games in the current market scenario, but it’s hard not to reminisce about the canceled Star Wars 1313 project. The game was being developed by LucasArts themselves at one point, and it would be telling the story of Boba Fett in his early days of navigating the galaxy. Initial showings of the game looked impressive with its cinematic gameplay and faithful rendition of the popular sci-fi setting, but the project was put on hold when Disney purchased the studio – putting the final nail in its coffin.

Agent

Rockstar is behind some of the best games of the last couple of generations, and the studio is also behind the mysterious vaporware that was Agent. First announced all the way in 2007, Agent was supposed to be an open-world game with elements of espionage and fans were understandably excited to see what was in store. Months and years passed with little in the name of concrete information on the game, and Agent slowly faded into the void with no hopes of emerging back once agai

Bully 2

Since we are on the topic of canceled Rockstar games, we should also discuss Bully 2. The original Bully felt like a breath of fresh air with its school setting and a narrative that let you experience the highs and lows of a teenager living in a boarding school, and those ideas were ripe to be built upon with a sequel. While nothing was ever announced in an official capacity, there have been several rumors and reports that state that Bully 2 was at least in the cards at some point if not in active development. Rumors continue to churn out even to this date, but the chances of anything coming to fruition are pretty low.

Scalebound

PlatinumGames has rightfully established its reputation as one of the best names when it comes to developing action games brimming with style and substance, and Scalebound felt emblematic of the studio’s biggest strengths. Scalebound’s idea of using dragons as your companions was enough to send fan expectations off the charts, and initial showings were looking really promising. However, development wasn’t the smoothest and the team faced several problems in trying to create a cohesive experience with online functionality built into the game eventually leading to Microsoft canceling the project altogether. It’s a shame that such an amazing idea was let go to waste, and Scalebound could have genuinely turned out to be a great time if PlatinumGames was given the creative freedom they wished for.

Silent Hills

Konami’s Silent Hill franchise is set to make a grand comeback with several new entries set to release in the near future, but we can’t help but think about the canceled Silent Hills project. Silent Hills was Kojima’s take on the popular horror franchise, and the playable teaser was more than enough to leave fans salivating for the final release. But the infamous Konami-Kojima breakout left the project in ruins, eventually leading to it being canned and our hopes and dreams unfulfilled. 

A New Metal Gear by Hideo Kojima

The Metal Gear Solid series has continued to deliver hit after hit with each new entry, and it continues to be one of the most revered franchises thanks to the incredible attention to detail that Kojima and the team have poured into each and every aspect of the experience. While the series is also making a comeback with the upcoming release of Delta Snake Eater, we would love to see another new Metal Gear directed by Kojima san himself, but the infamous Konami-Kojima break-up leaves little chance of that happening anytime soon.

 A New Burnout

Criterion’s Burnout series was one of the best arcade racers of its time, and its gameplay loop of crashing into rival cars and emphasizing a generally aggressive driving style was what helped the franchise stand out from the crowd. But with EA eventually moving Criterion to work on the Need For Speed series, the Burnout IP was kept hostage and it slowly turned dormant over the years. Without a shadow of a doubt, there are more than thousands of fans who are hoping for a revival, but the current state of EA and its obsession with continuing to invest in NFS means that a new Burnout game isn’t likely to come out anytime soon. 

Portal 3

The Portal games continue to be some of the best puzzle games of all time, thanks to an ingenious central mechanic that forms the basis of all gameplay and the witty writing that came along with it. Many games have tried to create similar experiences since then, but none have managed to capture the magic of Valve’s works – which has left us craving for a potential Portal 3 even after all this time. But given the current stance of Valve’s game development division, it seems like Portal 3 would probably never see the light of day. 

New Dino Crisis 

Dino Crisis was very much a product of its time, a game confident in its ability to deliver a consistently thrilling experience despite being based on a concept so weird. We have had some really fond memories of shooting down dinosaurs with machine guns, and we would really love to get a new entry with the same level of eccentricity and fun that is so characteristic of the franchise. However, it feels highly unlikely that the developer would be making much effort to breathe new life into this now stagnant IP. And no, Exoprimal doesn’t count.

Deep Down

Yet another one of the developer’s failed projects, Deep Down was put forth as one of the PS4’s launch titles. Deep Down featured impressive graphics for its time, and the concept of working your way through procedurally generated dungeons with friends sounded like a really fun idea that could have genuinely turned out to be a big hit. Development wasn’t obviously the smoothest, which eventually led to the game being delayed to an indefinite date. We still think about what Deep Down could have been, but all we can do is hope.

Titanfall 3

Titanfall 2 was a great game that y featured one of the best FPS campaigns of all time but it failed to capture much of an audience since it was sandwiched between the highly overrated Battlefield and a Call of Duty series- making it a commercial failure. The future of the franchise already looked bleak after that failure, and now that the developer has been focusing majorly on Star Wars – a potential Titanfall 3 is most likely not on the cards. 

The Next Dark Souls

It’s safe to say that FromSoftware has birthed an entire genre with Dark Souls, and the entire trilogy remains one of the best experiences of recent memory. The developer has already moved on to bigger experiences with the likes of Elden Ring, but there’s undoubtedly a void for a new Dark Souls game. Between this and the fact that the trilogy brought a definitive end to the endless cycle of fire, a new game coming out feels like a distant dream that probably won’t come true.

Prototype 3

Radical Entertainment’s Prototype was a really great open-world game that provided a really satisfying power fantasy as you mow down entire squadrons of enemies in moments unnoticed, and those elements were taken to the next level with Prototype 2. Radical Entertainment was slowly devolved into a support studio for Activision’s bigger franchises before it was closed sometime in 2014, leaving the dreams of any potential Prototype 3 dead in the dust.

Star Wars: Battlefront 3

Before Star Wars was licensed to EA and the Battlefront name used for a new series of DICE-developed shooters, Star Wars: Battlefront was a hallowed series. Pandemic Studios handled the first two titles and TimeSplitters developer Free Radical Design seemed poised to take the next game to new heights. Star Wars: Battlefront 3 reportedly started development in 2006 but in October 2008, reports of Free Radical Design shutting down emerged (with rights for developing the sequel lost). It was apparently finished by that point but conflicting statements between the studio’s co-founders and an anonymous LucasArts employee point to problems with development. Pre-alpha footage, character renders, models and eventually, a leaked build would surface through the years, reminding us what could have been before Disney eventually took over the Star Wars IP.