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Before Shadows of the DAMNED, this game was originally pitched as an entirely different game called Kurayami.

This PS3 exclusive game was originally pitched in 2006 by Suda51 (Killer7, No More Heroes) and it was inspired by the Franz Kafka novels.

The game originally centers a shirtless, long-haired man who explores a large castle town and he has to survive with his touch as his main source.

The game has light and dark as its main theme and it brings the atmospheric horror vibe similar to Silent Hill. The protagonist would gradually change from shirtless to a more European fashion as the game progress.

While Kurayami was at its development stage, there are concept art that prove its existence. They can be found on Edge Magazine, Unseen64 and most from The Art of Grasshopper Manufacture (which I own).

It was not long until EA became the publisher for the game and forced Suda to rewrite the story 5 times in favor of a Hollywood-type treatment. These changes transformed Kurayami to Shadows of the DAMNED.

Some of these changes include:

The protagonist redesigned three times until it became Garcia Hotspur. This is because in Suda's words, changing the story would mean changing the character as well.

Paula was originally a living doll inside the protagonist's gun until she was split into two characters. Paula is now Garcia's girlfriend you have to rescue while the gun companion is now a demon named Johnson.

Some enemies such as the giant shadow dog was scrapped.

The inhabitants were also scrapped.

In one of the concept art, Garcia was originally going to have a demonic form (similar to Dante from Devil May Cry), but that too was scrapped.

Much like Kurayami, more enemies were scrapped in the rewrites such as a demon werewolf with blades as weapons.

While both Suda and Shinji Mikami (Who is both an executive producer of the game and friends with Suda) were slightly disappointed by the end result, Shadows of the DAMNED developed a cult following.

Certain elements from the Kurayami story were embedded in the form of the manga, Kurayami Dance which is written by Suda51.

One of Garcia's earlier designs is now used in Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes as a demon named Alfred.

Here are the sources if you want to know more about its existence:

Development: https://suda51.fandom.com/wiki/Shadows_of_the_DAMNED (References is at the end of the article. I recommend you checking them out.) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_of_the_Damned (References at the end of the article.) https://www.unseen64.net/2015/10/27/kurayami-suda51-cancelled-ps3/ (Several but not all concept art) https://www.amazon.com/Art-Grasshopper-Manufacture-Complete-Collection/dp/4756245862 (Has more concept art including Suda's comments about the game.)

Resurrected Elements: https://suda51.fandom.com/wiki/Kurayami_Dance (The Story Elements) https://youtu.be/-qZdF0I5Whk (Alfred)