From a very unique take on bounty hunting to cool takes on espionage, several excellent ideas have been buried by their studios, with a variety of factors coming into play that didn’t let them see the light of day. We’re taking a look at a few that we would have loved to play, but sadly never got the chance to.

Let’s dive right in.

1. Crackdown 3

While its Wrecking Zone multiplayer mode drew heavily on Microsoft’s bold idea to bring cloud computing to the Xbox One, Crackdown 3 didn’t really catch on the way it should have, despite being a lot of fun. The final product was sadly nowhere close to the high bar that was set for it, with the result being a very destructible city that was largely devoid of the players it was meant to host.

The dream of entire city blocks collapsing in front of you with your console handling core tasks and the cloud rendering all of the destruction just didn’t materialize, and the game suffered for it as a result.

2. Project Milo

This was a tricky one for a long time, with a lot of back and forth about whether it was actually intended to be made into a game taking place between its creators and Microsoft. Still, it would have been cool to see a game with AI actively responding to you and acting on your voice commands.

This was a relationship sim that could have been quite innovative for its time, but it simply faded away into the background amid all the noise surrounding its “release”.

3. Star Wars 1313

We’d be lying if we said that this one didn’t sting a little. For starters, it was supposed to have Boba Fett as its frontman with a fast-paced gameplay loop that relied on gadgets and more traditional weapons in lieu of lightsabers and The Force. As if that wasn’t enough, it was purported to emulate Star Wars Bounty Hunter while bringing a gritty, darker tone to its story.

Sadly, LucasArts never got to make this one a reality, and we never got to explore District 1313 and see what the underbelly of Coruscant had to offer.

4. Silent Hills/PT

A Silent Hill title that was going to feature a collaboration between Hideo Kojima and filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (whose horror credentials are quite well known), with Norman Reedus playing its protagonist, sounds like a dream, right? That’s sadly all it was to most of the gaming world, with Konami pulling its playable demo from the PlayStation Store shortly after its cancellation.

All we can do is look back fondly at the supernatural time loop being brought to the table, and of course, shudder at the thought of Lisa constantly lurking out of sight just waiting to jump at us. A Playable Teaser was all this one was ever going to be in the aftermath of Kojima’s exit from Konami.

5. Prey 2

Aside from the obvious draw of an amnesiac protagonist affected by the presence of The Sphere from the first game, the chance to be a bounty hunter on an alien planet while uncovering the truth about his abduction sounded too good to be true. That was probably a valid insight when we look back at this one, with the game’s plans to make you embody a bounty hunter never coming to fruition.

We would have loved the chance to make use of all the agency this one gave us as we took on the role it wanted us to, but all we can do now is smile somberly at what could have been.

6. Scalebound

An action-RPG that gave fans of the Eragon novels a lot to be excited for, this one might have been a legendary title had it actually made its way to its audiences. Getting to command a literal dragon in the heat of battle, and even directly take control of it to unleash its fearsome abilities, is an idea that we’re yet to see even in the current generation of games. And that’s without even considering the co-op potential that the concept could bring to the table.

Its eventual cancellation after years of development is a showcase of how even the best of ideas may not translate to commercially viable titles in the long run.

7. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Patriots

Although this one did make way for Rainbow Six Siege, the thought of being part of a unit led by a morally grey former Navy SEAL against a terrorist group that was willing to impose its own beliefs on New York’s residents had all the makings of a Tom Clancy story that was true to the author’s vision and tone.

However, the decision to cancel the title and scrap this unique concept is a choice that we continue to question to this day.

8. The Lord of the Rings: The White Council

An open-world RPG where you would work under the guidance of the White Council, with its story and themes drawing from both the films and books, sounds like a Lord of the Rings adventure that might have put even Frodo and Sam to shame.

But it seems that the idea was cast into the fires of Mount Doom, and while we do have Shadow of War to help us cope, we can’t help but wish for a Palantir to view what it might have turned out to be if its version of Middle-earth was allowed to take shape.

9. Agent

Set in the Cold War and rumored to place its players at the heart of all of the espionage, political assassinations, and counter-intelligence that the era brought along, Agent was a great idea. Even Sony seemed to think so, locking down its IP with the belief that it could “set the bar for the industry” as per Michael Shorrock, who headed SCEA’s third-party relations at the time.

A stealth-action game with Rockstar at the helm certainly fits that description, but like the agents it aimed to bring to life, this one quietly vanished, presumably sacrificed in order to focus more resources on the development of GTA V.

10. Project Titan

The World of Warcraft killer that spent seven years in development continues to have us wondering whether it might have been able to live up to its lofty ambitions.

Despite the best of Blizzard coming together to bring this sci-fi MMO to life, complete with cool mech suits and rumored superhero-esque powers for its characters, along with a unique twist where you play as a normal citizen of the world by day while battling it out at night, Project Titan was unable to get off the ground. This is a cancellation that still rankles, if we’re being honest.

11. The Last of Us Online

Among the many projects that were cancelled in the aftermath of Sony’s ill-fated live-service push, this one was the most disappointing to us. The concept definitely had its merits, with a massive world filled with The Infected being the perfect stage for a survival-horror gameplay loop, complete with a standalone story to keep things interesting.

Unfortunately for it, the concept was scrapped after concerns about its long-term viability began to rear their head. For our part, we would have played this one for hours on end if it had made its way into our hands.

12. Duke Nukem Forever

While Duke was a hero who was quite clear about where he stood on alien invasions, the creative team behind this one could have emulated his conviction. That wasn’t the case, and this title switched engines during its development so many times that it’s hard to think about the game it was meant to be versus the one that we got.

Its vision was ultimately diluted by a needless focus on technical relevance, and as one of the record holders for being the longest game in development, we can’t help but feel that this was a game that deserved to be greater than the sloppy experience it ultimately devolved into.

13. Final Fantasy Versus XIII

The darker, more gothic take on the franchise was quite appealing when it first came to light, and Prince Noctis was quite an intriguing character. But with Final Fantasy XIII and eventually Final Fantasy XIV constantly dividing the attention of its team, and engine issues caused by the PS3’s aging tech, this one was pulled back and repurposed into FFXV.

When the trailer for the game eventually came around, it felt like it had changed almost completely, ditching its darker tone for something better aligned with the franchise’s overall light-hearted trappings. It would then be a solid five years before XV came out, and Versus XIII quietly vanished from the hearts and minds of its potential players.

14. The Getaway 3

We were quite fond of the original Getaway’s unique way of presenting its world, with the sort of cinematic quality that comes along quite rarely. With its parallel storylines and lack of a HUD and other elements, it was quite immersive and also fun to play as a Sony-backed sandbox. The sequel carried on those traditions, and we were delighted to know that a third title was in the works.

But The Getaway 3 was lost to the annals of time, with its cancellation never actually being announced, but quite clearly understood by the gaming world at large.

15. Deep Down

A sci-fi fantasy co-op adventure that would have its players exploring time-hopping dungeons is something we’re still waiting to see. It doesn’t help that Deep Down had its gameplay drawing inspiration from Dark Souls, which was already among our favorites to begin with.

But its 2013 reveal, and the lack of any concrete evidence of its development over the years has essentially made this once unique concept nothing more than vaporware. We’re holding out hope that it eventually becomes a great game, but we’re not going to hold our breath.

BONUS: Wonder Woman

Monolith’s proprietary Nemesis System, a unique mechanic that worked so darn well in the Shadow franchise, was the perfect way to craft a Wonder Woman story that could really dig into the character’s lore who could defy challenges and come back stronger.

That’s probably why the cancellation of this one continues to be an annoyance to us, as the concept is probably not going to make it to any other titles in the near future.

And that’s a wrap on our picks for great gaming ideas that showed a lot of promise but did not ultimately make their way to their players. Here’s to hoping that we don’t have to make another one of these lists over the next few years, though!

One such example of that is The Getaway series, a briefly-lived gaming franchise inspired by gangs in Britain, and developed by SIE London – a Sony studio, now known as Sony Computer Entertainment London. But for what would seem to be a successful formula, The Getaway’s life as a franchise was cut short abruptly, never making it past a decade. What happened to The Getaway? We’ll take a look in this feature.

It starts with The Getaway, releasing in December 2002 in Europe and in 2003 for North America and Australia, with the game also later being released in Japan with Capcom publishing it. Plans for what would become the first The Getaway game began during the time of the PlayStation, with groundwork being laid for a mission-based free-roaming vehicle title. Over the course of development, it would move onto the PlayStation 2, and this game structure would be scrapped, just a prototype for what would lie ahead. The game was made between Sony London and Team Soho, a Sony subsidiary, now formally a part of SCE London.

A strong motivator for the creation of what would become the first The Getaway game is the desire to seamlessly transition between different areas in the game that the player is nearby. There would be no separating segments of the world of London, the setting for The Getaway, and simply dividing them with “loading walls.” This however was not an easy task, and development took Sony years of effort to accomplish. The Getaway would not be widely playable until E3 2002, following a round of screenshots being posted to promote this ambitious project during the time of E3 2000. All of this time and effort was a significant resource drain on Sony London, and it would see to the closing of two Sony studios, and the cancellation of works-in-progress at Sony in Britain.

The Getaway was all about detail. Early promotional media were praised for the level of detail that they showed off, and the game featured an assortment of real cars and guns that the characters would use to carry out mission objectives. When experiencing the game, the game player is not held back by an intrusive HUD or an abundance of brightly-colored objective markers in game – this allows people to be more fully immersed in playing through The Getaway.

With the great amount of time and money invested into the game, Sony had to hope that the game would sell well to make back what was put into it. Reportedly, it was a million-seller in the United States, and sold more than 600,000 in the United Kingdom – not such a bad start for the franchise. The reviews were a different story – they were essentially “alright” on the whole. While the graphical detail was often praised, the gameplay itself was seen as underwhelming, and the plot and voice acting were also targets of some criticism, with the depictions of racism seen in game also perhaps putting some game players on edge.

What could be said about The Getaway was that, after all was said and done and the game was released, the groundwork was there for a sequel that could maintain the momentum of the first title, existing in a time when games like the Grand Theft Auto series were already popular. It would just need some more attention to refining its gameplay.

This would take the form of The Getaway: Black Monday, releasing in 2004 for Europe and in 2005 for North America and Australia, and for the PlayStation 2. After the criticisms levied at the first The Getaway game, this would be important both for Sony’s investment and for the sake of the franchise itself.

However, what resulted was essentially more-of-the-same as a gameplay experience, though the plot featured new characters and there were more vehicles than the previous game. The cutscenes and cinematic nature of the gameplay experience were highly praised, alongside the voice acting, but the enemy AI were repeatedly criticized. Driving and shooting experiences in the game aren’t significantly improved, held back by flawed vehicular physics or weapon targeting. As with the first The Getaway, while a cinematic delivery framework of a game story existed, the plot and characters were not there to really resonate and take advantage of that framework.

Strangely, Black Monday would seem to more or less cement what The Getaway as a franchise would be known about – games that were primarily there to be experienced, as a movie might be. In a time before the surge of heavily cinematic games with great environmental realism and highly involved dramatic stories, such as the The Last of Us, it’s interesting to see what The Getaway franchise became. It’s hard to think that this game was intentionally prototypical of the type of game that The Last of Us was, but on a superficial level, it’s also not hard to think that The Getaway franchise was a sign of things to come, even if it took the form of underdelivering gameplay experiences.

Interestingly, The Getaway: Black Monday wasn’t supposed to be the last The Getaway game. In E3 2005, tech demo footage for a third The Getaway game was promoted, featuring Piccadilly Circus from The West End of London. This third title would transition away from the PlayStation 2 and move the franchise onto the PlayStation 3, taking place in London after Black Monday.

The tech demo footage, amongst other media touted to promote the not-yet-released PS3 by then- (and newly-formed) Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios president Phil Harrison, attracted a modest amount of attention, with The Getaway 3 demo’s environments rendered in great detail, and masses of vehicles and people all going about their way. However, this was also the year that the media was quite skeptical of what exactly was on display that could be directly attributable to the PlayStation 3.

Nevertheless, while a screenplay writer hired for the game stated that The Getaway 3 was still in development in March of 2008, the game would eventually be canned, or rather “put to the side,” as stated by Sony in 2009. Sony London would clarify that they shelved The Getaway 3 in favor of working on EyeToy hardware and the SingStar franchise, or the PlayStation Eye as it came to be known for the PS3. But while there was potential that could be delievered upon as seen in the E3 2005 tech demo, The Getaway’s timing and execution were simply off.

Had the gameplay, and to a lesser extent, the plot of the games been more serviceable, The Getaway would be seen as a franchise that marks the game development potential of Sony London, and could very well have continued to this day. But since the gameplay experiences were too underwhelming, Sony London would take their focus elsewhere. Tell us your experience with The Getaway games, if you have any. Can the franchise, if revived, succeed in today’s gaming climate? Does the type of story and world, the tone of the games, have a place for mainstream game players?