It's been a great few years for gaming, with a shedload of quality releases across all the formats. But spare a thought for the games that didn't make it to release: cut short before their prime, their followers left clutching those first precious screenshots and scouring news sites with the agonised uncertainty of someone with a missing pet. Join hands with us now as we remember 10 games that could have been contenders.
BC
Not just Walking with Dinosaurs, but ganging up on the smaller ones and stabbing them with spears, Xbox's prehistoric adventure looked absolutely huge - perhaps too huge to ever stretch a game across. Talked up by overenthusiastic genius Peter Molyneux as 'the bloodiest game ever', we were at least hoping for a hack-and-slash out of the deal - much like his other gigantic Xbox project, Fable, turned out to be. But after three years of waiting, BC became history.
Comeback chance?
Molyneux claimed BC could be continued – it's only been "delayed indefinitely", not cancelled – but many of its designers have since moved on.
Palworld dev says the studio went dark for months because "the team was getting burnt out from all the social media stuff, I was getting burnt out, our CEO was under attack in Japan"
Metaphor: ReFantazio had to dial back an early battle system inspired by a notoriously brutal 2003 JRPG, because 20 years later, players found it "irrational" and "just not fun"
