The Story of the Cancelled Daredevil Game

The man with no fear, the publisher with some.

By Wesley Copeland

Marvel and Sony were once working on a Daredevil game, but after internal problems and alleged drug abuse, the game never saw the light of day.

According to the latest video by Unseen64, the game was set to be a linear brawler for PlayStation 2 and later the Xbox, but the game’s scope changed considerably once Sony got involved with developer 5000ft Inc. The plan was to coincide the game’s release with the Ben Affleck Daredevil film everyone pretends never existed.

With Sony wanting something more, the developers attempted to make the game more open-world. At one point, much to the dismay of Marvel, Sony decided Daredevil: The Man Without Fear needed to capitalise on the popularity of the - wait for it - Tony Hawk’s series, which would see Daredevil exploring the whole of Hell’s Kitchen and being able to grind along railings and rooftops.

As for the rest of the game, some ideas the team implemented included being able to detect heartbeats and enemy fear levels. If you’ve played any of the Arkham games, you’ll have a good idea of what that may have looked like.

Despite having a clear direction, problems continued between Sony and Marvel. Sony wanted the game to be something full of new, or current, mechanics that are fun to play, while Marvel wanted something that’s true to the comics. Case in point - Daredevil grinding along rooftops isn’t exactly authentic.

Meanwhile at 5000ft Inc., publisher Encore didn’t want to pony up the cash to use Criterion’s RenderWare engine, which was already being used to develop the game. This led to clashes between the studio’s gameplay and technical teams, with the end result seeing the game scaled back from open-world into, once again, a linear experience.

With the studio divided, it’s alleged that the freelance workers – along with several studio staff members, supposedly – would fill their time using illegal drugs. According to the report, one worker was found drooling during an afternoon meeting. If you’re interested in what could have been, IGN actually got to play Daredevil when it was around 15-to-20 percent complete.

If any of this has whet your appetite for long forgotten games, did you know both Saints Row and The Elder Scrolls Oblivion were coming to Sony’s PlayStation Portable console?

Wesley Copeland is a freelance news writer who writes terrible bios. For more obvious statements and video game chat, you should probably follow him on Twitter.

Let's block ads! (Why?)