Welcome to Games That Weren't!

We are a Cancelled & Unreleased Video games archive with prototypes, developer history and assets for many computers and consoles of all ages. A non-profit large archive dedicated to preserving lost games that were never released to the public. Sharing history and stories from the developers, assets and more before it is too late. GTW has been preserving lost video game history online since 1999, and long before that offline.

Please Browse our archive and discover the many entries that we host for many different platforms.

Latest News and Posts

Riamel: Black Prophecy

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1994 Steve Postma

Platform: Commodore Amiga

Riamel was a follow up to Lords of Time, which was created by Steve Postma back in 1994. A very exciting RPG that would span 3 disks, but sadly didn’t seem to get experienced as it should have been.

For years, a demo has been floating around, but even that was quite obscure and not within the usual channels to download and check out. Within the demo, it talks about how you can send off for a full copy of the game – though it seems that it may never have reached any hands.

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Darren Gurney was doing some detective work back in 2018 regarding Lords of Time, contacting David Joiner regarding the title as his Faery Tale Adventure game was very similar. He created a post regarding his findings. Continue reading →

Posted in: Commodore Amiga, Reviews | Tagged: | 1 Comment

Resolution

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1988 Nexus

Platform: ZX Spectrum

Fairlight is a title which brings back extremely fond memories for me on the Commodore 64, which was a brilliant isometric game created originally on the ZX Spectrum by the genius Bo Jangeborg.

I always thought it was a shame that we didn’t see a lot more from Bo, though there could have been more with the release of Resolution, a game that was due for release on the Nexus Software label in 1988 and mentioned in numerous magazines.

Rather than an isometric fantasy game, Resolution was to be a strategic, horizontally scrolling shooter, where the player tried to save the world from a manic mining corporation determined to destroy all the Earth’s natural resources. Continue reading →

Posted in: Reviews, ZX Spectrum | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Duster

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1991 Image Works

Platforms: Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and PC

Yet another title caught up in the collapse of Mirrorsoft in late 1991. A title created by Realtime Software, known for both Carrier and Battle Command.

Duster was set in a place called Heaven in 3800 AD, where the world has become a breeding ground for vicious crop-eating pests with a high mutation rate. You are a crop duster, who not only has to save the world, but also make sure you keep your business going. This is done by earning cash with your crops, but also acting as a bounty hunter, taking on various contracts and missions.

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Visually the game was quite similar to Realtime’s previous games, with the main action rendered in 3D as you fly around the landscape, and with strategic sections handled via static images and menus. This was their next big game after Carrier Command (though were reportedly working on Battle Command for Ocean around the same time). Continue reading →

Posted in: Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, PC, Reviews | Tagged: | 5 Comments

The hunt for Kanaan

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Also known as Chaos at one point, Kanaan was a 1st/3rd person shooter due to be published on PC by Ubisoft, and developed by Argonaut. It was cancelled when very close to completion.

The game is already well covered by our friends at Unseen64, though reader Werta Best has been on a mission for many years now to try and recover remains of the game as part of an ambitious project.

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From magazine screenshots, details and various promotional art recovered, Werta and his team have been painstakingly trying to make a complete recreation of the title, which you can see some progress of further below. Continue reading →

Posted in: PC, Reviews | Tagged: | 2 Comments

Geometry

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1992 Thalamus

Platform: Commodore Amiga
Also known as: Quedex 2 – The Geometry Challenge

Geometry was a working title for a new puzzler game that was due for release from Thalamus back in late 1992 on the Commodore Amiga.

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What was perhaps surprising was just how simple looking the game was for Thalamus to consider it for release. It didn’t look too different to something that you might find within a PD library. However, there must have been something with the game for David Birch to have taken a shine to it at the time. Continue reading →

Posted in: Commodore Amiga, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

GTW64 May 2022 update

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

For May 2022 we have the following 6 new additions and updates for the site, including a number of new entries and preservations over the past month. Also details of another Shadow of the Beast conversion that was under way and various tidy ups and additions for 33 pre-existing entries. Enjoy!

6 new entries added

Harold V1, McMurphy’s Mansion, PlayWriter series, RabbitJack’s Casino, Shadow of the Beast V1, Silvia

33 updates added

2400 A.D., Alien game, Batman Returns, Bee 52, Bible Research Systems titles, Bob’s Full House V1, CJ In Space, CJ’s 4th Adventure, Chops, Defensive, Double Dragon V1, Educational Activities, Inc. titles, Formula 1 Simulator, Formule 1, Gravity X, Hard Drivin’ V1, K-TEK Software titles, Karnov V1, Kick Your Brain, LOGO-Logic 1 and 2, Megatanoï, Micro Application titles, Nigel Mansell’s Grand Prix, Nuclear Sub Command, Phoenix Lair, Race Drivin’, Sprites Software titles, Street Fighter 2 V1, Tetrix, Trucc, Zamzara V1, Zgadula, Zynon

Posted in: GTW64 news, News | 2 Comments

Enforce

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1998 Insanity

Platform: Amiga 1200

A very impressive first person development for the Amiga 1200 from 1998, which was heavily inspired by titles such as Quake.

The game was being developed by Czech developers Insanity, and wasn’t to be your usual FPS, but had an extra element where you had to gain experience to be better in combat. You had to earn and save money to buy weapons and build yourself up.

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Within the game, you would have to complete a set of different missions as you progressed through the levels. Continue reading →

Posted in: Commodore Amiga, Reviews | Tagged: | 2 Comments

Mega lo Mania 2

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1992 Sensible Software

Platform: Commodore Amiga

A sequel to Mega lo Mania was on the cards as early as when the first game was still being written according to Jon Hare in Amiga Power magazine. When the release of the first game was such a huge success, the publishers were keen to see a sequel.

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Developed by David (Ubik) Korn, originally the sequel was to be released under Mirrorsoft’s Imageworks label, but was reported to be looking for a new home by Amiga Power issue 10’s news page after the collapse of the company. David would write a diary for Amiga Power about the game’s progress. Continue reading →

Posted in: Commodore Amiga, Reviews | Tagged: | 1 Comment

More C64 titles preserved

Posted: by Frank Gasking

Thanks to the amazing efforts of contributor Allan Pinkerton, two more unpreserved C64 titles have now been preserved in the form of the final missing Playwriter title – Castles and Creatures (which goes now with the other titles preserved in April), but also a previously unknown title from Micro Learn called Myths, Magic and Monsters.

Allan has scanned in all the materials and also preserved the disks, which you can download below. Many thanks to Allan Pinkerton for his hard work and dedication to see these titles preserved.

Downloads
Posted in: Commodore 64 (C64), GTW64 news, News | Leave a comment