5 Rockstar games that got canceled before release
Image Via SynthPotato's X
Rockstar Games boasts a legacy of developing some of the most groundbreaking and immersive games of all time. But not all of its in-house projects did make it to store shelves. Rockstar quietly canceled some of its more ambitious games over the years, some almost finished.
Here are five Rockstar games that were canceled prior to release, including a zombie survival game and a canceled GTA 5 expansion.
1.
Bully 2
Development of Bully 2 was supposedly started immediately after the success of the first. A playable prototype with around 8 hours of content was developed, and the world was estimated to be close to three times as large as Bully. Years of development later, Rockstar quietly dropped the project.
It is still one of the most-wanted sequels of all time among fans.
— SynthPotato (@SynthPotato)
2. Project Z
Well before zombies became a gaming phenomenon, Rockstar had an internal project titled Project Z. Based on a Scottish island shrouded in fog, the title included fuel scavenging and constant zombie fending. The idea was innovative for its time but never made it beyond the early development phases.
3. Agent
Originally unveiled in 2009 as a PlayStation 3 exclusive, Agent was being developed as a Cold War-era stealth-action game.
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Players would be moving through a world of espionage based in the 1970s. In spite of public teasers and constant rumors, Rockstar never showed any gameplay, and the game was cancelled quietly years later.
4.
GTA 5 Expansions
Rockstar initially conceived of having five single-player expansions for GTA 5, such as a zombie-themed "Norman Episode," an alien invasion sci-fi, and a Liberty City crossover game titled LibertyV. The most advanced among them, the Trevor-based "Clifford Episode," later became GTA Online's Doomsday Heist.
The others were canceled as priorities went entirely to online games.
5. The Warriors 2: We Are the Mods
A spiritual follow-up to The Warriors had been in development in early stages as
We Are the Mods
. Based on 1960s England, it dealt with street battles between Mods and Rockers. Originally scheduled for PS2 before being shifted to Xbox 360, the game was ultimately canceled before it could take complete form.
Hidden behind Rockstar's high-gloss blockbuster franchises are a number of intriguing games that never reached the public. Whether in the form of a zombie survival idea or overdue sequels, these axed projects are part of Rockstar's forgotten development history, and fuel interest in fans to this day.
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