Obsidian Entertainment’s Josh Sawyer has gone into some detail on what, exactly, happened withAliens: Crucible, the Xenomorph-themed action RPG that was canceled back in 2009. Sawyer was functionally a director of the project and would eventually go on to work onAlpha Protocol,Fallout: New Vegas, andThe Outer Worlds, with theAliensRPG ending up all but forgotten.While it’s true thatObsidian Entertainmenthas become quite the powerhouse in the time since, the studio enjoyed way less renown back in 2006, when the production ofAliens: Cruciblestarted in earnest. The game was, much likeAlpha Protocol, to be published by Sega, but things simply didn’t pan out, with Obsidian being forced to move in a different direction.RELATED:Fallout: New Vegas Player Gets Every Achievement in One SittingAccording to Chris Avellone, who worked on the aforementioned title alongside Josh Sawyer,Aliens: Cruciblewas a horrorMass Effectgame in more ways than one. Though many details have been revealed about the production since its cancelation, the project is still shrouded in a fair bit of mystery. Now, Sawyer has gone into a bit more detail on what, exactly, had been going on behind the scenes. For example, Sawyer has explained that Obsidian didn’t really have an official Game Director role at the time, but a number of leads who didn’t necessarily agree on how to move forward withCrucible’s development.
This dysfunction led to a situation where Sega deemed it necessary to shelveAliens: Crucible, and for Obsidian to focus on the production ofAlpha Protocolinstead. SinceAlpha Protocolbecame a cult classicin the intervening years, this was likely a good decision. In fact, Sawyer said as much himself, saying that the cancelation ofCruciblewas “understandable,” considering its problematic status at the time.
It’s worth highlighting the fact that Sawyer appears to have enjoyed therecent co-op shooterAliens: Fireteam Elite. Though it’s a far cry from whatCruciblewas supposed to be, being a cooperative multiplayer game with live-service elements, Sawyer said that he was happy to play it because the “overall setup” was reasonably similar.
As it currently stands, Obsidian Entertainment is unlikely to return to the concept ofAliens: Crucibleanytime soon. The studio’s got its hands full withThe Outer Worlds 2,Avowed, and a wide variety of other titles, and while it’s not clearwhat to expect out of Obsidian in 2023just yet, a newAliensgame isn’t about to make that list by any stretch of the imagination.
Aliens: Cruciblewas in development for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3.
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