Factor 5’s former lead designer has showcased what Clark Kent could have had more than a decade ago.

German Factor 5 was a prominent developer in the past (for instance, they created the Turrican franchise, and they also had a hand in porting; without their incredible audio compression technology, Resident Evil 2’s Nintendo 64 port could have never happened!), and since 2017, the company is back. According to Julian Eggebrecht, a co-founder, they also got back the rights to Turrican.

But let’s talk about their game that never got finished. In 2007, Brash Entertainment assigned them to work on a Superman game for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii. Its codename was Blue Steel. It wasn’t their fault that it never got released: they worked on the game, but after Brash died, Factor 5’s American arm, as well as the game, was also pulled into the dark… all due to the financial crisis that kicked off in 2007.

Here’s what Blue Steel‘s lead designer, Salvatrix, had to say about the project on Twitter: „In 2007/2008, I was lead designer on a Superman game that was never released – because the economy crashed hard. It killed our publisher, our studio (Factor 5), and the game. I have multiple unreleased games throughout my career, but THIS is the only one I mourn to this day…

The goal was to present super brawls as they were seen in the cartoons and comics. JLU was our main touchstone. We put together this fast video montage to show everything we wanted to have as gameplay. And we DID IT. Aerial brawling, large urban environments, crashing through buildings, fast target engagement, knocking your foe into the next block, shockwaves from hits, impact grooves in the streets or building sides…  all of it.

We hadn’t seen a game deliver on that promise before, and to be honest I have yet to see it delivered fully since. We had it fully working as a prototype and were shifting to full production when the crash hit. All the main gameplay was in place and had been proven out. We also didn’t want to rely on traditional gaming crutches of the IP – kryptonite and fighting robots. There were rules about the big blue boy scout (pre-Snyder obviously), but we were to surround Supes with foes more in his power range.

So I still am sad for what could have been. This was supposed to release alongside the sequel to the Bryan Singer Superman Returns film (which also clearly never happened). Not being able to see this through to release remains the biggest regret of my career,” Salvatrix wrote.

Oh, what could have been…

Source: PSL