Obsidian: Aliens RPG was "ready to ship"

By Robert Purchese Published 29 April, 2010

"That's how close we were," says developer.

Developer Obsidian has revealed that its canned Aliens RPG was very nearly finished.

"Oh, if you had come in and played any of the last builds we were working on, you would have said it was a finished game," boss Feargus Urquhart told Joystiq.

"That's how close we were. It looked and felt like it was ready to ship."

Urquhart explained how the Aliens RPG was played from the perspective of a Colonial Marine, whose ranks were broken into varying playable classes. Combat was turn-based and the mood was tense and jumpy. There was also apparently lots of gear to collect and tinker with.

Obsidian confirmed that work had halted on the Aliens RPG last summer. SEGA, the publisher, backed this, explaining that a step back was taken to "carefully consider the type of [Aliens] game we want to release".

concept

Concept art from the Aliens RPG project.

The Aliens RPG was announced by SEGA in 2006, alongside an Aliens FPS - Aliens: Colonial Marines - to be developed by Borderlands maker Gearbox.

SEGA insists the latter is going ahead, but said nothing would appear until roughly six-to-12 months after Aliens vs. Predator was released (February 2010).

Obsidian, meanwhile, is busy putting the finishing touches on spy RPG Alpha Protocol. It's the first original IP the studio has handled, having previously worked on BioWare-created IP Knights of the Old Republic and Neverwinter Nights. Obsidian is also developing Fallout: New Vegas for Bethesda.

Alpha Protocol will be released on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on 28th May.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (51) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • hiddenranbir #1 2 years ago

    "carefully consider the type of [Aliens] game we want to release".

    Cause a scary rpg isn't the type of game worth releasing? :(

    What, potentially too intelligent for your supposed alien fanbase? :(

  • UncleLou #2 2 years ago

    a step back was taken to "carefully consider the type of [Aliens] game we want to release".

    What, a sub-standard FPS? :-/

    That said, for a game that was ready to ship, there really was little known about the game, wasn't there?
    Edited by UncleLou at 29/04/10 @ 09:25

  • hiddenranbir #3 2 years ago

    Well ready to ship in a typical obsidian unpolished state I guess, since that is normal for them!

  • Skandalle #4 2 years ago

    How demoralizing for the staff, work on a game till near completion just to drop that bombshell on you last minute...
    Edited by Skandalle at 29/04/10 @ 09:30

  • Deckard1 #5 2 years ago

    In all fairness it musn't have been anything special if it was almost finished and they still didn't release it.

  • tomjoadsghost #6 2 years ago

    Its kind of weird that it was ready to ship, but the hype machine hadn't started.

    Something here doesn't really add up.

  • GamesConnoisseur #7 2 years ago

    DOESNT makes sense!

    If the RPG game was nearly finished and would only require a little bit of an extra outlay to get it out there and generates income.I mean franchise such as Aliens would always brings income and if its as good as (or I should say as bad) as Rebellion's Aliens vs Predator then would easily brings in a lotta money.

    Instead what happens is that all the money spent on the game is now down the hole and game canned. SEGA worried about other competitng RPG? Why focus on FPS when market is so saturated and overflowed with FPS?!

  • bad09 #8 2 years ago

    TBH a turn based RPG is not what I want from an aliens game and I wasn't bothered at all when it got canned.

  • bodypopper #9 2 years ago

    An RPG doesn't say 'Alien' to me either. It might work in the Terminator 'universe' though.

  • geeza2020 #10 2 years ago

    disappointing. but just out of interest, how can a turn-based rpg be tense? Its bloody turn based!!

  • AtomicBanana Verified Level Designer, Playground Games #11 2 years ago

    You may want to look up a game called X-Com . . .

  • anomagnus #12 2 years ago

    Well, i think sega was right to cancel a game, when there were two franchise games coming out at roughly the same time.

    Its a pity they cancelled the wrong game.

  • muscleblade #13 2 years ago

    The sales for this game would have been great.

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #14 2 years ago

    Can they not just re-skin it, remove all Aliens references/art, and release it as a separate original IP game? I'd love to see that.

    Plus after the more real-time Mass Effects, I'd like to see another turn-based-combat sci-fi RPG.

  • tomjoadsghost #15 2 years ago

    @geeza2020

    Turn based games aren't necessarily going to be jumpy scary, but they do tense really well. It just means that when you're backed up into a corner with limited ammunition and limited firing opportunities you get to see every one of your mistakes play out in slo-mo.

    disgaea battles can be tense when they're closely run and they tend to be peopled with cartoon penguins.

    edit: @Atomicbanana - yup, good call.
    Edited by tomjoadsghost at 29/04/10 @ 10:10

  • fiery_jackass #16 2 years ago

    I'm not emotionally mature enough to cope with turn-based combat. In all senses of the phrase, fuck that for a game of soldiers.

  • FogHeart #17 2 years ago

    There's something inherently wrong in a game where an HR Giger alien bundles forward, slaps you about a bit, then shambles back in line.

  • hiddenranbir #18 2 years ago

    Woah woah woah, don't assume the turn based was a japanese style turn based. Unless I've missed that. :x

  • neems #19 2 years ago

    How about Space Hulk? That was basically a turn based Aliens (Genestealers, Aliens, whatever), and it was tense as anything. Of course, somebody at Obsidian must have played a build of KOTOR2 and thought 'this game is finished!'.

    I wonder if Giger has seen that piece of art up there? I bet he'd scream, he famously hates what various redesigns did to his baby.


  • Dynamize #20 2 years ago

    Weird 'cause I recall Youtube footage of Alpha build gameplay surfacing a few weeks/months after it got canned, and it didn't look at all turn-based. I guess it could've been a really old build but even so, switching from real-time to turn-based seems a pretty massive change to pull after you've started development.
    Ah, there's the video.
    Anyway, yeah, shame it got canned.

  • cw- #21 2 years ago

    Meh, SEGA are useless anyway

  • GreyScale #22 2 years ago

    KOTOR had turn-based combat. Also by Obisidian. Obviously it would be like that rather than JPRG style.

  • kinky_mong #23 2 years ago

    Combat was turn-based and the mood was tense and jumpy.

    Does not compute.

  • Meho #24 2 years ago

    Technically, KOTOR is real time with pause, not strictly turn based. But eiother way, turn based games can still be very tense. Avatar Tuner anyone?

  • pacifika #25 2 years ago

    management, eh

  • iamian #26 2 years ago

    KOTOR had turn-based combat.

    I think it counts as turn based. You attack, the opponent attacks, you attack....

  • muscleblade #27 2 years ago

    Love the look of the Alien (better than Camerons Queen imo)

    The idea that the Xenomorphs absorb some dna traits from host creatures make this creature plausible if the host is a huge tank like species. Love it.

  • FogHeart #28 2 years ago

    <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9SSOWORzw4">Once again I shall refer to this clip to illustrate my dislike of turn-based combat.</a href>

  • Chazmeister #29 2 years ago

    So instead of getting a possibly great Obsidian "Aliens" RPG, or the game Alien everyone wants the most, Colonial Marines, they gives us a rather crappy AvP game. Well Sega sure knows what they're doing don't they.

  • FogHeart #30 2 years ago

    What do I want an Aliens game to be? Essentially a re-skinned Left 4 Dead.

  • Doctor_What #31 2 years ago

    I heard that Colonial Marines was restarted from scratch last September because the existing direction was pants. I wouldn't hold your breath folks, but I guess it's at least good they're taking is seriously enough to bother rebooting it. :/

  • geeza2020 #32 2 years ago

    i thought the whole point in turn based combat was that you need time to think and plan out your strategy. So, if you have the game paused between turns, how can anyone possibly feel tense? You know whats going to happen next for christs sake. Dont get me wrong i have played and loved loads of turn based games from all the Final fantasies to things like shining force back on the mega drive to star wars knights of the old republic and modern equivalents such as dragon age origins. I just dont think fear and suspense (two things you really need in an Aliens game) work when based around a turn based rpg.

    Oh and whoever said they should re-skin L4D with aliens is a fucking genius!!!

  • RedSparrows #33 2 years ago

    Alien.

    Turn based.

    RPG.

    FUUUUUUUUUU SEGAAAA

    etc

  • Deckard1 #34 2 years ago

    don't like the alien in the concept art at all. Aliens are supposed to be thin and creepy, that looks like something out of pokemon or one of the dinosaur transformers... where they called dinobots or something, "me grimlock! grimlock smash!!"

  • Dark_Stranger #35 2 years ago

    It was ready to ship, but instead they drop-shipped it!

  • Rubarack #36 2 years ago

    "Looked and felt like it was ready to ship"

    That would be a first for Obsidian no?

    Huge shame though, but really this sounds like the kind of thing you decide at the start of a project, not at the end. Something else must surely be up.

  • muscleblade #37 2 years ago

    @Deckard1

    "don't like the alien in the concept art at all. Aliens are supposed to be thin and creepy"

    That depend on the host. They have a consept art of a chameleon like Alien too that looks more like the alien that come out of human hosts but is from a humanoid with chamelon like features. The Alien from the original film is creepy, the Queen is degraded to a big insect.

  • sneetch #38 2 years ago

    @AtomicBanana
    You may want to look up a game called X-Com . . .

    Yeah, few things are as tense as walking your last guy around a corner and into a bazillion aliens with rocket launchers. Or having your entire team spend a full round unloading everything they've got into some huge hulking alien who just keeps coming! :)

    Turn based just means you have more time to dwell on the "oh crap" nature of the situations you get into. Just because it's more tactical doesn't mean you have to lose the tension.

  • hibee #39 2 years ago

    Wow, that's a bummer. Frankly I'd rather Urqhart had kept quiet, as I've been pining for a good turn-based RPG for years now. There's every chance the game was just canned for being crap, but my imagination will make it out to be the-one-that-got-away (oh, Baldur's Gate 3. /sigh).

  • PlugMonkey #40 2 years ago

    You may want to look up a game called X-Com . . .

    This.

    Anyone who doesn't understand how a turn based game about fighting aliens can be tense is missing a major chapter in their video games education.

  • UncleLou #41 2 years ago

    Yup. "Tense" and "turn-based" is not mutually exclusive at all, quite on the contrary. Some of my most vivid memories of exceptionally thrilling/tense moments come from turn-based games.

  • glaeken #42 2 years ago

    The very idea this could have been a X-Com style take on Aliens sounds great to me. That could have almost been my ideal game. What a shame it got canned.
    Edited by glaeken at 29/04/10 @ 13:32

  • Deckard1 #43 2 years ago

    @muscleblade

    I'm well up to speed on xenomorph biology, and how the inherit traits from the host, having read all the books as a kid

    /pushes glasses up nose and stifles nerdgasm

    What I'm saying is that from a "coolness" point of view, that alien looks shit. Kinda like that shitty mutant tortoise thing off the second ninja turtles film http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u142/...

  • Daryoon #44 2 years ago

    Man, why does everyone assume 'turn-based' = 'final fantasy' anyway?

  • YenRug #45 2 years ago

    As someone who has the actual pen and paper Aliens RPG which was horrendously complicated (read through about 3 tables to figure out odds of hitting a target, then go through another table to figure out how many rounds from a burst would hit and then another table or two to figure out where they'd hit...), but oh so much background info (like the reason the Aliens have acid for blood is that they live off ambient electricity, thus making them batteries, wasn't really used in any of the films until AvP where you see the dormant Queen being awakened), I would really have loved to play this game. I was severely disappointed to hear it had been cancelled in favour of yet another FPS.

  • muscleblade #46 2 years ago

    @Deckard1

    Ok buddy i see your point. Tokka is based on a Alligator Snapper turtle not a turtoise btw.

    [link url=http://www.google.no/images?hl=no&q=alligator+snapper&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=CZDZS6-bB9HGOI34hLcP&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQsAQwAA
    ]http://www.google.no/images?hl=no&q=alli...[/link]

  • thelzdking #47 2 years ago

    I really wanted to play this and I was pretty annoyed when it got canned. Even more annoyed now I find out it was nearly finished.

  • the_mtfr #48 2 years ago

    "carefully consider the type of [Aliens] game we want to release"
    How about considering the type of game, before working on it until finish?

    Fucking retards Sega are, I realized that when they liquidated the Sega studio from UK who made the excellent 2007 Revo Rally. It must be the only arcade racer I ever liked.

  • bad09 #49 2 years ago

    Wow. Upset a few people today!

    / wildly fires pulse rifle from a tense FP view, fighting back a tense horde of beardie RPG fans

    Only joking! Sorry guys loved FPS aliens it since Alien Trilogy, sue me. Maybe Mass Effect type RPG lite/TPS like the footage linked (and why doesn't that look turn based?) but a turn based Aliens game? As much fun as an RTS AvP game if you ask me....

  • SomaticSense #50 2 years ago

    Bad09 is right. A turn-based Aliens RPG just makes no sense at all. A turn-based game of a series that trades on tension and fear? It's never going to work.

    Of course, the licence should not be restricted to FPSs, but with all the myriad of other genres the series would be suited to, a turn-based RPG is definitely not one of them.

  • sonicyoda #51 2 years ago

    I can't understand where everyone is getting this 'turn-based' thing from. The leaked footage clearly shows it's real-time.