Daredevil: The Man Without Fear, a superhero game for the PlayStation 2 that was being developed by 5,000 Ft. Studios before being canceled, has resurfaced after two decades with a new playable build.
Read More: The Life And Death Of A Daredevil Video Game
Hidden Palace, a game preservation group, has released a playable version of Daredevil: The Man Without Fear on October 31, 20 years after it was canceled. The build was obtained from an anonymous developer associated with 5,000 Ft. Studios. Although the prototype still has some bugs and issues, it provides a glimpse into what the collaboration between 5,000 Ft. Studios, Encore Inc., and Sony was aiming to achieve in the early 2000s.
Originally a small project, Daredevil: The Man Without Fear evolved into a larger undertaking for 5,000 Ft. Studios, a developer based in Nevada. As shown on the Marvel website, the game was inspired by Frank Miller’s 1993 comic of the same name and intended to feature key moments from Daredevil’s history. However, due to Marvel’s movie plans for Daredevil, the game’s concept shifted to an open-world adventure for the Xbox and PC, leading to conflicts between Sony’s requested gameplay additions and Marvel’s desire for fidelity to the upcoming film.
The project faced further challenges when attempts to adapt the RenderWare engine failed, prompting a reduction in scope from an open-world adventure to a linear brawler. Internal conflicts and staff departures ultimately resulted in missed release deadlines and the cancellation of the Daredevil game. 5,000 Ft. Studios ceased operations in 2012.
Fortunately, a nearly finalized version of the canceled PlayStation 2 game has now been released to the public, thanks to the efforts of an anonymous developer associated with 5,000 Ft. Studios and Hidden Palace.
Although the game was canceled due to disagreements between Marvel and Sony, the gameplay footage suggests that it had potential. It evokes the 3D superhero games of the early 2000s, such as The Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man, with hints of Tomb Raider as well.
The game is rumored to tell an original story based on the 1999 comic “Elektra Lives Again” and features Daredevil’s nemesis, The Kingpin. It’s disappointing that the project was abandoned before completion. As noted by The Hidden Palace, the only Daredevil game that made it to release was a less ambitious version for the Game Boy Advance, timed to coincide with the live-action film directed by Mark Steven Johnson.
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