10 Cancelled Video Games That Could Have Been Masterpieces

Syndicate – an isometric real-time strategy game, released on PC in 1993 – involves commanding a team of soldiers around a battlefield, performing tasks, fulfilling objectives, and managing resources.

In the game, players assume the command of a corporation in a cyberpunk future, the objective being world domination, a goal achieved through the capturing and maintaining of enemy territories scattered around the globe.

The game was given a sequel – Syndicate Wars – three years later, which was well received. After that, there were several attempts to revitalise the franchise, and several attempted sequels went into development, but were cancelled prior to their release, each in varying stages of development.

In particular, Syndicate Creation (a codename), seemed the most interesting of these prospective sequels, developed in collaboration with Bullfrog Productions. In the game, players would have assumed the role of a biologist, transported to an alien world, tasked with overthrowing EuroCorp using cybernetically enhanced dolphins of semi-sentient intelligence.

Premise aside, the game was well into planning stages when it was cancelled. It would take over almost a decade for another instalment to materialise – Syndicate (2012) – which ultimately underwhelmed, the game coming up short in a number or areas when compared directly to the original, despite getting a handful of things right and changing its genre entirely.