9 Amazing Video Games (You Can’t Actually Play Anymore)

7. City Of Heroes

City of Heroes
Cryptic Studios

MMOs are a precarious business. Not only is it ridiculously difficult to break into the market and become successful, but players are always living with the fear that the game they've invested so much of their time into could be switched off at a moment's notice, leaving all their progress and characters nothing more than a distant memory.

It's happened time and time again, as unlucky, struggling devs have been unable to support their games, but perhaps the biggest tragedy was City of Heroes. Before the likes of DC Universe Online would step in to deliver the dream of a superhero-based MMO, Cryptic Studios' title was filling that gap, delivering a pretty compelling comic-book world for players to lose themselves in.

It had a pretty good run as well, shipping in 2005 and ending seven years later in 2012. In its final moments, fans crowded together in the remaining servers to pay tribute to the game, before everything was disconnected and it was gone for good.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.