10 Cancelled Video Games You Won't Believe Were In Development

One of the exciting things I got to do whilst at Rare was see all of the cool new prototypes the teams were working on. One short-lived one was a project related to the Perfect Dark universe.

Using a few of the Perfect Dark Zero models, the gym the developers had set up featured a unique and satisfying focus on first-person locomotion, with cool new manoeuvres such as mounting, rolling, sliding and taking damage - all in first-person perspective.

My particular favourite thing to see was the main player character getting hit by a huge ball and chain hanging from the ceiling, and being first-person ragdolled back into the wall. Brutal.

Unfortunately, this unique selling point of first-person mobility would be overshadowed by the announcement and release of Mirror’s Edge, which stole the prototype’s thunder, and it was subsequently laid to rest.

Whether or not the team decides to revive Perfect Dark again in the future, that’s up in the air - but I’m a little sad we didn’t see the rollin’, strollin’, ten-pin human bowlin’ first-person Joanna Dark adventure that might’ve been.