Urban Decay (lost build of cancelled PC action game; 1995)

Preview screenshot from a magazine.

Status: Lost

Urban Decay is a cancelled PC game that was being developed by Psygnosis, originally planned to be released around 1995. It was meant to use the same characteristic ellipsoid 3D graphics as its spiritual predecessor Ecstatica (by the same developers).

The gameplay would have been 3rd-person gun-action-based, set in a modern urban setting (in contrast to the medieval-fantasy Ecstatica). The plot would revolve around a man being chased by the police and miscellaneous criminals, violently defending himself.

Some further reports imply that the gameplay/plot was quite ahead of its time, being similar to Max Payne years before the latter was released.

Development was troubled, as advancing technology made the ellipsoid 3D obsolete, and the designers weren't able to keep up using their original ideas. It has thus been cancelled.

No beta version of the game is available to play, or video gameplay to view. A few screenshots (that were shown in magazines) remain to give an idea of the developer's vision.