6 Best Horror Games That Were Canceled

Key Takeaways

• Various horror games never saw the light of day, with canceled projects like
  Aliens: Crucible
  and
  Darkwatch 2
  .
• Winter
  for the Nintendo Wii had potential with its unique survival horror concept but was canceled due to Wii’s poor third-party sales.
• Silent Hills
  , set to be co-created by Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro, was canceled, leading Kojima to create
  Death Stranding
  .

The past few decades have seen the release of plenty of now-beloved horror games, from Until Dawn to Silent Hill 2. However, not every game receives an official release date. Some get canceled well into the development cycle, while others may not even make it past the early concept stages for one reason or another.

Cancelations are often a tragedy, with developers showing passion for their project and the games having a lot of promise in what they could have been. This is the case with multiple horror titles that never saw the light of day. Developers have only revealed details about them later, making gamers wishing they had the chance to play them.

6 Aliens: Crucible

Obsidian Entertainment Almost Brought Xenomorphs Into An RPG

• Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
• Genre: Third-Person Shooter RPG
• Systems: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Many games set in the Alien universe explore different gameplay genres. Aliens: Crucible was going to be the first attempt at an RPG featuring the terrifying Xenomorphs. The game was first announced in 2006, but when Aliens Vs. Predator went into production, Obsidian Entertainment was forced to put the project on hold in 2009 despite a large portion of the game being made.

From what fans have seen of the game, Aliens: Crucible appeared to be an RPG in the same vein as Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic, but with more emphasis on guns and horror elements. Obsidian has gone on to develop memorable games such as The Outer Worlds and Fallout: New Vegas. Cold Iron Studios would later reuse the third-person shooter idea in Aliens: Fireteam Elite.

5 Winter

Players Would Have Had To Contend With The Elements

• Developer: N-Space
• Genre: Survival Horror
• System: Nintendo Wii

The Nintendo Wii was home to a few unique horror games, and another was almost released for the console called Winter. It would have featured a character roaming a frozen wasteland while having to contend with their temperature constantly dropping, which would have resulted in death, similar to the survival mechanics seen in The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild.

In Winter, players would be forced to find shelter, create fires, and find other different ways to raise the character’s temperature. It sounded like it could have been a solid survival horror title, but due to third-party games not selling well on the Wii, the project was shut down.

4 Redwood Falls

Alien Horror Inspired By John Carpenter’s The Thing

• Developer: Kuju Entertainment
• Genre: Survival Horror, First-Person Shooter
• System: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Some of the team behind The Thing video game were going to move on to a new horror shooter known as Redwood Falls, which would have featured a similar concept of humans and animals mutated into alien monsters. It would have featured dynamic body horror transformations for the monsters and had the player exploring the winter forest in Alaska.

Sean Murray, who went on to be the founder of Hello Games and creator of No Man’s Sky, played a major part in the Redwood Falls development cycle. It seemed like it was going to be a pivotal horror game for the Xbox 360 and PS3 era, but when the team at Kuju Entertainment shifted their focus to work on mobile games, Redwood Falls suffered and was canceled.

3 Sadness

The Nintendo Wii’s Motion Controls Were A Vital Aspect

• Developer: Nibris
• Genre: Survival Horror
• System: Nintendo Wii

Due to personal issues with the developers and the inability to meet deadlines, another Nintendo Wii horror game titled Sadness never made it to market. It would have been a black-and-white adventure that would delve into horrors both physical and psychological as a Ukrainian aristocrat protects her son after a train crash in the Victorian era.

Sadness would have taken advantage of the Wiimote’s motion controls, as well as the nunchuck to create an open-ended area for gamers to explore, seemingly taking inspiration from Silent Hill. The developers did announce a spiritual successor in 2D form for the Wii U called Sadness & Solitude, but that too seems to have been canceled.

2 Darkwatch 2

From The Old West To Post-Apocalyptic Vampire Thriller

• Developer: High Moon Studios
• Genre: Action-Horror, First-Person Shooter
• System: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

The original Darkwatch was an intense shooter that featured superpowers. Players controlled Jericho Cross, who joined the agency known as the Darkwatch to fight vampires, zombies, and all other forms of undead. It became a cult gem for the PS2 and Xbox era, and High Moon Studios was originally going to make a sequel with Darkwatch 2.

Other than a quick beta build that the studio showed off, Darkwatch 2 did not see much production. High Moon Studios was bought by Activision, who had no interest in it. The game was canceled, and since then, only a few nuggets of information have been revealed, such as Jericho Cross being resurrected in a post-apocalyptic world run by vampires.

1 Silent Hills

The Game That Led To Death Stranding Instead

• Developer: Konami
• Genre: Survival Horror
• Systems: Xbox One, PS4, PC

This was one of the most disappointing video game cancelations. Fans received a playable teaser known simply as P.T., which terrified gamers and showed what acclaimed video game director Hideo Kojima was going to bring to the Silent Hill franchise with Silent Hills. It was even going to be co-created by Guillermo Del Toro and star Norman Reedus.

Sadly, Konami canceled Silent Hills and Hideo Kojima repurposed the project and started his own studio to develop the divisive Death Stranding. Silent Hill has since started to make a comeback with the Silent Hill 2 remake, which has fans hoping that Konami will one day continue the franchise with a new entry.