Every other site in existence is about to report on this, so we may as well join in on the fun: Sony Santa Monica's cancelled PlayStation 4 exclusive was supposedly called Darkside. Not to be confused with a similarly named ex-THQ title, the game was being worked on by God of War III director Stig Asmussen for many years, before eventually being cancelled. And now we know a little more about it. Maybe.
The information comes courtesy of a NeoGAF user, so you may not want to put too much stock into it – but it corresponds with much of what we already know. According to a seemingly innocent post, the title boasted role-playing game mechanics, customisation, vehicles, and more. However, it just didn't come together, with the futuristic foray's fusion of melee and firearms failing first and foremost.
Perhaps most interesting to us is the name: Darkside. There was a teaser in God of War Ascension that showed the Earth semi-illuminated, with the message: "When the Earth stops, the journey begins." The concept sounds similar to sci-fi novel Hothouse, which presented the Earth as if it has stopped orbiting the sun – meaning only one side could ever see light. A harrowing proposition.
Alas, it sounds like, for whatever reason, the game just never reached its potential. The dearth of PS4 exclusives earlier in the generation can probably be attributed to the title's cancellation, as it was likely scheduled to be out by now. Sony Santa Monica's now turned its attention back to God of War, but with that series needing a reboot as well, we sincerely hope that things are progressing better.
[source neogaf.com]
Comments 15
As good as GOW is I really don't want another yet. Maybe if its not due out until late 2017 I'll look forward to it, but not right now. I would have loved to have seen a new ip from the studio. It can't be fun working on the same game for years. Look what Guerilla have for their new ip, Horizon Zero Dawn, that could be Sony Santa Monica too.
Hmm... This week's episode of PS I love you XOXO, which I just listened to today, featured a lil fragment about the game and now all of a sudden this story leaks. It just putting a name on info that was already out there. A real shame they didn't see it through by the sounds of it and Destiny was supposedly a big factor in their decision. They had the writer of Battlestar Galactica on board and the game was supposed to be massive.
Although there is plenty to play atm, I do feel PS gamers aren't really spoiled when it comes to exclusives till now and with all of Sony's 1st party studios it's quite remarkable not a single one of them has delivered an exclusive this year (or was Tearaway remade in-house by MM?). This could mean Sony is doubling down on VR games, but maybe there were more projects planned that got canned at some point.
The positive thing I take out of this is the fact that Sony isn't messing about anymore when it comes to these studios, where they just keep on pouring insane amounts of money into their first parties without ever seeing results. Sony's approach has been far more in line with what you should expect the last 5 years and closing down or selling off studios or pulling the plug on games that are already quite some time in development is a huge part of that. I don't think we'll see many "Last Guardians" this gen from Sony's side.
But still, now Halo's launch is upon us I can feel the hype building up and a game lack that is really missing in PS's repertoire. It doesn't necessarily have to be a FPS, but a Sci- fi themed game franchise would be cool. Maybe Naughty Dog can make a space adventure after they're done with Uncharted. I don't think the IP is dead after Drake "retires", but I don't think ND will still be working on it, so a 3rd person space shooter could be cool
I love GOW, but id only want to see a new GOW if it was set in a new mythology
I actually heard this game got cancelled because it was too similar to Destiny, and Sony had already decided to go all-in marketing it. Shame, who knows this could have been what Destiny was not.
I wish they would have worked on this and made it great. We don't need another God of War yet.
For me I'd like to see a great new ip that's more linear, I've had my fill of open world games at the moment and they just don't seem to deliver the experience of a great linear game for me, God of war has been an engrossing experience made with great skill, so I hope they keep to this style of engaging story writing and experience. I really don't want another mad max or destiny.
@WARDIE who cares i want 5 more god of wars its better than the garbage of GTAV and all the racing and shooter games flooding the market. its pathetic that i have to order my games from japan because here in NA we have a horrible library of mostly lame junk thats just copy and paste like destiny , cod , gta its sickening but thank god for the vita and xseed.
@godslayer1975 I care to be fair. Yeah GOW is a damn good game but, its gotta be nice for a studio to work on something different for a change, get them creative juices flowing. Like I said above, Guerilla are now working on a new IP and look how good it is. They were stuck working on Killzone for years. I would like to see Sony Santa Monica work on something new for a change.
Also, I like the "garbage" we get in the west. Nevet really been into Japanese games to be fair. Each to their own though
Big mistake, GoW has nowhere to go. Personally I don't think the franchise is anywhere near universally loved to be worth continously churning out titles and remasters. A couple per gen is plenty enough.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi I'd say a maximum of two per gen, or your just gonna over saturate the market.
the mega slick new gen aka current gen is here. ALL companies should be makin brand new ips rather than milking and stretching their tired old stuff from the ps2 era.............except silent hills of course... RIP silent hills
ill just add... unless its really warranted such as if the series only releases a new game every handful of years like saaayyy fallout4
I don't like God of War but respect the talent of these developers so was very interested to see what they could do on PS4 outside of GoW. This is dissapointing news.
Santa Monica is one of my favorite studio, I hope they get to make a new IP like Guerrilla Games instead of another God of War to be honest..
It's a shame this got cancelled as it sounds like it could've been awesome. Still, I guess there are a lot of sci fi games around, plus God of War is a pretty popular exclusive, so it sort of makes sense.
I do hope they get to try something new one of these days. Very talented bunch.
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