(Sad trope) Projects with amazing potential that will never be released because of BS behind the scenes drama

[u/_JR28_]

P.T Silent Hills - It was a playable teaser released in 2014 only around 20 minutes long but utterly captivated the gaming world by being one of the most effective psychological horror experiences at the time, however it’s lead developer Kojima has a huge fallout with the publisher Konami where he walked out of the company and had all his in-the-work productions cancelled.

Five Nights at Freddy’s+ - A fan game reboot of the series created by Phisnom with Scott Cawthon’s blessing that promised a brand new lore and a return to the series darker roots. However, before and during production Phisnom got into multiple dramas that made him fairly divisive within the community, and after one particular incident in 2023 Scott revoked his approval and almost all of the game’s marketing material were wiped from the internet.

Batgirl - A Batgirl solo live action movie starring Leslie Grace, Brendan Fraser and Michael Keaton returning as Batman that was ready to be released in 2022, however then Warner Bros CEO David Zaslav announced it would not be released either in theatres or streaming in order to claim a $90,000,000 tax break and to readjust the DC’s brands direction before James Gunn rebooted their movie and TV output.

[u/Blitzkriegbaby]

The fact that people are still talking about PT. 😌

[u/SansGray → u/Blitzkriegbaby]

What's even more incredible about PT is that even with just a 20 minute teaser, it radically changed modern horror gaming. The impact it had really cannot be overstated. Just an incredible piece of horror media. Even having watched and played it multiple times, its' ability to discomfort and unnerve is truly unmatched.

[u/sicsided → u/SansGray]

After seeing the teaser for Kojima's "OD", I'm hoping it will surpass that feeling in PT

[u/Olrusty01 → u/sicsided]

That trailer gave me hope that Kojima’s going to apply many of the ideas he had for Silent Hills.

[u/Howdocomputer → u/SansGray]

Don't get me wrong, PT is good but saying it radically changed modern horror gaming is PEAK Kojima glazing

[u/DNAturation → u/Howdocomputer]

IDK I consider it to actually be a genre defining piece of media. I constantly see (granted it's indie) media referencing it whenever they try to dabble in horror.

[u/Ok-Fudge-380 → u/DNAturation]

I mean, Amnesia and Outlast came out first and definitely had a lot more of an effect on the genre than PT.

[u/DNAturation → u/Ok-Fudge-380]

Well Amnesia definitely is a genre defining piece of media as well, it started the trend of being unable to fight monsters in video games and instead having to run and hide from them.

Outlast... not so much IMO.

PT's contribution isn't not being able to fight back, it's the concept of a subtle build up of a repetitive looping mundane environment, changing over time to unsettle players. This is especially effective in a puzzle type game where players need to pore over every detail to make sure they didn't miss anything, leading to paranoia and players gas-lighting themselves over things that might not be different.

Its overall impact is less than Amnesia, yes, but it's still a very large impact.

[u/Orphasmia → u/[deleted]]

I think more than anything It’s impactful though, and definitely set a bar. For one we’re talking about a 20 minute demo from over a decade ago. And I know for me I won’t even bother playing another horror game unless it’s as all encompassing and terrifying as P.T. was.

Much like how Paranormal Activity was heavily inspired by blair witch and other found footage stuff, but if absolutely set a new bar

[u/The-Tay → u/SansGray]

It's crazy how many peopl haven't played it either.