Welcome to Games That Weren't

Games That Weren't is a long-running archive dedicated to cancelled and unreleased video games, prototypes and lost gaming history. Since 1999, we have been preserving rare information, assets and developer stories from across all eras of gaming.

Explore a vast collection of cancelled video game projects, unseen prototypes and behind-the-scenes development history from consoles and computers past and present. Our non-profit work aims to document and preserve titles that were never released to the public, before they are lost forever.

Browse the archive and discover thousands of lost and unreleased games across multiple platforms.

Latest News and Posts

Upon Westminster Bridge

Posted: by Frank Gasking

1988 Magnetic Scrolls

Platform: Unknown

Upon Westminster Bridge is a mysterious unreleased adventure game that was once in development at Magnetic Scrolls, seemingly as a personal project of company founder Anita Sinclair. Very little is currently known about the title, and for many years it seems to have been confused with Corruption, Magnetic Scrolls’ 1988 financial thriller. Various references have suggested that Upon Westminster Bridge was an early working title for that game, but this doesn’t appear to have been the case.

The distinction was highlighted by Jimmy Maher in an excellent Digital Antiquarian article covering Corruption and Fish!, with further clarification in the discussion underneath. Jimmy pointed towards an older interview conducted by Peter Verdi with Corruption author Rob Steggles for the Magnetic Scrolls Chronicles website. Continue reading →

In: Reviews, Unknown, Various | Tagged: | 4 Comments

Duck Out Prototype (ZX Spectrum)

Posted: by Frank Gasking

Next up in the Games That Weren’t archives is a special prototype/demo version of Dro Soft’s Duck Out for the ZX Spectrum, which was likely sent out to different publishers at the time in the hope that someone might pick the game up. The demo has been saved thanks to Dean Hickingbottom, who preserved it from a set of disks that were part of Clockwize’s archives. Dean suggests that Clockwize were likely sent a copy to see if they might be able to help market the game.

duck3

At this stage, the demo has no sound and contains what seems to be around two levels, along with cut scenes. The full title sequence is missing, as are the options to redefine keys or select a joystick. Instead, the demo jumps fairly quickly into the first level after part of the title screen and some introductory text.

You can move the main character around and attack with your frying pan, though at this stage you don’t seem to be able to die or kill any of the enemies. Moving off the left-hand side of the screen triggers the demo to load the next level.

In total, there seem to be just two levels present. Attempting to progress to a third will display the relevant cut scene, but instead of loading another level, the game jumps straight to the end sequence.

It is possible that parts of the maps differ from the final release, and there could be other content tucked away in the demo that has yet to be discovered or wasn’t used in the finished game. If you spot anything of interest while exploring the prototype, please let us know and we’ll update the page.

A huge thank you to Dean Hickingbottom for preserving the demo and allowing us to add it to the Games That Weren’t archives.

Download

Video

Gallery

In: Prototype, Unused materials, ZX Spectrum | Tagged: | Leave a comment

R∞M (Room for PlayStation Portable)

Posted: by Frank Gasking

2009 Sony Computer Entertainment Japan

Platform: Sony PSP

R∞M (Room for PlayStation Portable) was an ambitious online community service developed by Sony Computer Entertainment Japan for the PSP. Announced at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2009, it was intended to provide PSP owners with something similar to a portable version of PlayStation Home.

room1

The free service would allow users to create and customise their own 3D avatars and personal “My Room” spaces, as well as write blogs, create photo albums and form or join groups. Other users could be invited into rooms for real-time communication, including chatting and playing mini-games together. Continue reading →

In: Reviews, Sony PlayStation Portable | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Lobo

Posted: by Yassine Bakrim

2003 Kemco

Platforms: Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2

After failed attempts on the Sega Genesis and Nintendo 64, DC’s favourite main man almost got his modern video game debut. Kemco and Ocean teamed up with DC Comics to adapt the iconic alien bounty hunter into the 6th generation of consoles.

lobo7

Announced in May 2003, the game was slated for the Xbox, GameCube, and PlayStation 2. Glenn Halseth, Kemco’s VP of Sales and Marketing, promised an action-heavy premise that fit the character perfectly: Continue reading →

In: Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Reviews, Sony PlayStation 2 | Tagged: | Leave a comment

LMNO “Memory Dive” prototypes preserved

Posted: by Frank Gasking

While researching the cancelled game LMNO, we recently spoke with developer Jason Rohrer about his brief time on the project as a design consultant.

lmno large

Jason worked on experimental “memory dive” concepts involving the player and Eve sharing memories. Following our conversation, he dug out his original development archives and has very kindly preserved and released them on GitHub. Continue reading →

In: Microsoft Xbox 360, PC, Prototype, Sony PlayStation 3 | Leave a comment

Czarny Kruk

Posted: by Frank Gasking

1998 Seven Stars

Platform: Commodore Amiga

Czarny Kruk (which translates roughly as ‘Black Raven’) was the working title for a dark graphic adventure that unfortunately never made it properly into production. The project came about following the team’s experience with adventure games such as Kajko i Kokosz and Wacki.

051c

In a video interview looking back at the company’s history, Piotr Kulikiewicz recalled that a group of people approached the team, possibly through an intermediary, with artwork and the idea for a new adventure game. A number of background screens had already been created, with Czarny Kruk being used as the working title for the project.

The backgrounds were all physically painted using oil paints on various materials, including what was described as a type of board or plywood. Three different artists were responsible for producing the screens, which meant there were noticeable differences in both their styles. Continue reading →

In: Commodore Amiga, Reviews | Tagged: | 2 Comments

Games That Weren’t C64 – August 2026 updates

Posted: by Frank Gasking

August has gone in a flash, and so we have our next digest from the Commodore 64 archive, where quite a bit happened this month with 1 new entry, 15 missing Grolier titles recovered and 15 other game updates  (see “History” tab for changes). We’ll have more again for you next month!

1 new entry added

Mindbend

15 Grolier / Mindflight missing titles preserved

Thanks to MalcSeventyFour we were very happy to share 15 previously unpreserved Commodore 64 educational titles from Grolier / Mindflight – which included the long lost Miss Mouse and Rhyme Land titles that we have been searching for recently.

Grolier / Mindflight missing titles

15 updates added

Bubbles, Deathstalker, Dynacomp catalog titles, Miss Mouse, Murder!, Raiders of the Valley of the Kings, Rebelstar 2, Reel Fishing, Rhyme Land, Shanghai Karate 2, Spiders From Mars, The Secrets of Science Island, Vale Of Shadows, Vampyr Motel, World Cup Football

In: GTW64 news, News | 1 Comment

Fallout

Posted: by Anonymous Contributor

1991 Kenneth Eriksson, Per Lindgren

Platform: Amiga 500

Fallout by Interplay may be a world hit these days, but already in 1991 a game by that name was created for the Amiga. The game was written in AMOS, and was the winner of an AMOS programming contest in Swedish magazine Datormagazin.

fallout shot1

Issue 16 1991, page 36, presents the results. Apart from a screenshot of the game, its creator Kenneth Eriksson is briefly interviewed:

“Kenneth Eriksson was the winner with an original 3D game, where you steer a robot through a nuclear power plant having run amok.”

“The winning entry, Fallout, was created in a week together with [Kenneth’s] friend Per Lindgren.”

Kenneth was awarded a week in London, visiting the offices of Mandarin Software. So what happened to the game? Was it ever released? Continue reading →

In: Commodore Amiga, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

DJ Hero 3

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

2011 FreeStyleGames

Platforms: Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3

Following the release of DJ Hero 2 in October 2010, FreeStyleGames immediately began work on what would become DJ Hero 3. Although Activision never officially announced the sequel, development was well underway before the publisher cancelled the entire Hero franchise in early 2011 following disappointing sales across the music rhythm genre.

DJHero3 LiveSelist Gameplay 1

The existence of the project briefly first came to public attention a while ago thanks to Gaming Historian: Liam Robertson, who explored the game’s development alongside the ambitious browser-based Hero World companion project in a detailed video documentary which is worth checking out (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kK9vDysXwU).

Liam’s research revealed that the sequel was still evolving internally, with Activision repeatedly changing its direction as the publisher searched for a way to revitalise the series. The associated Hero World project aimed to link future Hero titles through an online platform spanning multiple games and consoles, but it too was ultimately cancelled before release.

In July 2026, we had an anonymous contact get in touch with us regarding an early Xbox 360 DVDR prototype of DJ Hero 3 in their possession. The plan from them was to back up and upload anonymously, and share details with Games That Weren’t about the development and a download link for the very first time. In late August 2026, we were contacted by them to say that the prototype had been finally dumped and uploaded anonymously to Hidden Palace, so we have now been able to publish this post to tell you more about it from the contributor themselves. Continue reading →

In: Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Reviews, Sony PlayStation 3 | Tagged: | 2 Comments

Abattoir in Cosmos

Posted: by Toppy

2000 AxySoft

Platform: PC

Abattoir in Cosmos was an unreleased shoot-em’-up game developed around 2000 by the Russian shareware game company AxySoft (known for creating the relatively popular 3D Qix/Xonix clone AirXonix).

intro LARGE

According to the game’s page on an older capture of AxySoft’s website, the plot went as follows:

“In a distant future all countries on the planet Earth have united, appeared the colonies on the planets of the Solar system, arose trade. There were few people, who did not want to live peacefully, they started to rob trade space ships. They are cosmic pirates. Abattoir In Cosmos – this is an amazing arcade game, in which you operate space warship made on high technology. You are sent by the Earth government. Your target – to attack and destroy all pirates that will get on your way. High detailed graphics, classical plot, and charming dynamics will shock your imagination.

Now, commander, is the time to introduce you weapons, enemies and objects, which you can meet in the game Abattoir In Cosmos Part I.”

Continue reading →

In: PC, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment