We don’t understand it either: a two-and-a-half-decade old project is getting a proper release (and closure).

In the 1990s, Atari was trying to get a foot in the FMV market on both PC and the Atari Jaguar. They created a format/engine called GameFilm, which would offer interactive movies. The first project was Caves of Fear that was completed but not released, and the other one was American Hero, which had its material filmed but never turned into a game. The whole series got canned, and the reason is simple: the Atari Jaguar with a disastrous flop, and not even the CD expansion could save it (…as yes, the console originally used cartridges).

Now, Ziggurat Interactive will publish the game that got finished by Empty Clip Studios… but we don’t know when and for what consoles outside PC. There will be a physical edition, however, handled by Limited Run Games. The restoration will feature new lines by Timothy Bottoms, the hero of the story, which will now have a complete script.

„In American Hero, players take on the role of former American intelligence officer Jack on a mission to stop the malicious virologist Krueger who plans to unleash a sinister virus upon the Los Angeles water supply. Players will face spur-of-the-moment decisions that will help or hinder Jack as he tries to protect the only scientist who has the cure for this deadly pathogen.

This lost gem is a true product of its time, complete with sleazy dives, lovely ladies, a brain-washing villain, and Golden Globe Award nominee Timothy Bottoms as the lead. Ziggurat has worked with Empty Clip Studios to reengineer the game from the ground up, including Timothy Bottoms’ return to his starring role with all-new voiceover recordings to complete the original script.

Written in the 1990s, American Hero is a satire of over-the-top 80s action films which has itself aged into a caricature of 90s cinema. This “playable movie” features the talents of professional actors, including Timothy Bottoms (The Last Picture Show, Elephant), Daniel Roebuck (The Fugitive, Final Destination), and Musetta Vander (O Brother, Where Art Thou, Wild Wild West).

A fully realized Hollywood-level script with player directed plot and dialogue choices. A gritty, adult-oriented action story with violence and sex appeal. A unique, virtually seamless FMV format that plays smoothly like watching a film. The return of Hollywood actor Timothy Bottoms as Jack with newly recorded voiceover,” Ziggurat Interactive’s overview reads.

„American Hero is a buried treasure from the Atari archives that was nearly lost to time after the Jaguar CD’s abrupt end. To be in a position to restore and complete this game, and preserve a unique part of video game history is exactly what Ziggurat is all about,” said Ziggurat Interactive senior vice president of business development Michael Devine in a press release. „With American Hero, we sought to balance conservation of the project’s original vision with editorial restoration wherever game assets were incomplete. We feel that this was the best approach to resurrect the game and allow players a chance to experience a title that was never released to the public,” Empty Clip Studios CEO Matt Shores added.

So American Hero will launch this summer for… some platforms aside from PC. Since the game originally had nudity, we wonder if that will be censored or not.

Source: PCGamer, Gematsu