''The Assassin'' is an unreleased action role-playing

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

that was in development by American studio OMC Games and planned to be published under the company's Hellified Games label on a scheduled Q1 2000 release date for the Atari Jaguar CD. It was intended to be a

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term " ...

to ''Orb Of Bengazi'', another title that was in development by OMC for the add-on. ''The Assassin'' takes place in the future of the year 2147 where the player assume the role of Michael Steele, a

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

who is put on a

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of Party (law), parties to a :wikt:dispute, dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence (law), evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate claims or d ...

for killing the perpetrator who

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

ed his brother Kavanaugh Steele as an act of

revenge Revenge is committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Francis Bacon described revenge as a kind of "wild justice" that "does... offend the law ndputteth the law out of office." Pr ...

, but starts delving more in-depth on his investigation and getting caught on a web of

deception Deception or falsehood is an act or statement that misleads, hides the truth, or promotes a belief, concept, or idea that is not true. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda and sleight o ...

when looking for answers to questions he was previously not aware of. Conceived and originally in development for the

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

of home computers, the game was later moved to the Jaguar CD after the author of the game came across with unforeseen technical issues with his

8-bit In computer architecture, 8-bit Integer (computer science), integers or other Data (computing), data units are those that are 8 bits wide (1 octet (computing), octet). Also, 8-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) arc ...

development equipment when moving from

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Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The title was also set to feature an internally developed role-playing game system called ''Blood City''. Although ''The Assassin'' was originally planned to be released sometime in 1999, it was later pushed back for release in 2000 but it never materialized in the end, despite reassurances by the developer. In addition to its prequel, OMC Games had three more games in development and planned to be released under their publishing label for the platform that failed to materialize as well.

Gameplay

Gameplay in ''The Assassin'' would have revolved around the game world, visiting locations and interacting with the local inhabitants. The first demo that was officially released to the public is not interactive, while the second demo is playable but only to a certain point before gameplay stops. The final game would have made use of the internally developed ''Blood City'' RPG system.

Synopsis

''The Assassin'' takes place in the year 2147, where

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

s coexist with

mythological creature A legendary creature (also mythical or mythological creature) is a type of fictional entity, typically a hybrid, that has not been proven and that is described in folklore (including myths and legends), but may be featured in historical accounts ...

s on a futuristic

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyber ...

setting. Michael Steele, a human detective of Chicago travels to

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

in order to investigate the death of his younger brother Kavanaugh, only to find out that he was murdered. As a result, he soon tracks down his brother's assassin and kills the perpetrator without remorse but Michael is later caught and sent to

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

, where he is put under trial for his action.

History

James Garvin, an avid video game player and writer had aspirations of entering into the

video game industry The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide. The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstream. , ...

, while attending his

computer engineering Computer engineering (CoE or CpE) is a branch of electrical engineering and computer science that integrates several fields of computer science and electronic engineering required to develop computer hardware and software. Computer engineers ...

studies at The University of Texas at Austin. James began programming in 1982 with TI-BASIC on the TI-99/4A but he then moved on to both Commodore BASIC and Atari BASIC with the 800XL in 1983, and he was later encouraged to become a

full-time Full-time or Full Time may refer to: * Full-time job, employment in which a person works a minimum number of hours defined as such by their employer * Full-time mother, a woman whose work is running or managing her family's home * Full-time fat ...

programmer by learning the

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. Some of his inspirations include Paul Murray, Philip Price and Richard Garriott, in addition of being a fan of

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...

during his

adolescence Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the t ...

. ''The Assassin'' originally started as a title intended for the

, but was later moved to the Atari Jaguar after James came across with technical issues when trying to make his development equipment for the 8-bit computer when moving from USA to Japan. He pitched his project to Atari Corporation but was met with a negative reception from the company, changing his overall outlook about Atari. When Atari Corp. merged with

JT Storage JT Storage, Inc. (also known as JTS Corporation) was a maker of inexpensive Advanced Technology Attachment, IDE hard drives for personal computers based in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1994 by Sirjang Lal Tandon, "Jugi" Tandon—the ...

in a reverse takeover in April 1996, James became an official developer for the Jaguar and received development materials to program games for it. In 1998, OMC Games announced the game to be in production along with two other projects intended for the Atari Jaguar CD, but they later reassured that it would still be released for the Atari 8-bit computers after Hasbro Interactive released the patents and rights to the Jaguar into

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

in 1999 by declaring it as an open platform and opening the doors for homebrew development, allowing independent publisher and developers to release unfinished titles from the system's past life cycle as well as new titles. In an article written by Eric C. Mylonas on "The Graveyard" section featured in the November 1999 issue of '' GameFan'' magazine, he teased the possibility on covering ''The Assassin'', if reception of the issue was positive enough. Despite multiple promises by the developer to deliver the game after various delays due to multiple internal issues within the group, they ultimately ceased its development and left the project unfinished as a result. There were also graphics created by the game's artist that went unused as well.

Release

Although ''The Assassin'' was left unfinished, OMC Games released two ROM image

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

s in 1999 to the public for free to be downloaded and played on the Atari Jaguar with either a Skunkboard

flash cartridge A flash cartridge is one of several cartridges containing flash memory that have been developed for use in video game consoles. These cartridges enable homebrew applications and games to be used. Flash cartridges offer a means of storage fo ...

or a modified system with the BJL

homebrew Homebrewing mainly refers to small-scale, non-commercial manufacture of a drink, typically beer. Homebrew or home brew may also refer to: Computing * Homebrew Computer Club * Homebrew (package manager), for macOS and Linux * Homebrew (video game ...

program loader installed, in addition of emulators that support the Jaguar, among other ways to play it. Richard Turner, owner of the JustClaws website, demonstrated one of the demos of the game during E-JagFest 2000.

Legacy

''The Assassin'' was part of one of the many projects in development by OMC Games for the Atari Jaguar platform and possibly for other systems, as the company had four more titles planned to be released; a sequel to the game titled ''Orb Of Bengazi'', a medieval fantasy action role-playing game called ''Age Of Darkness'', a cyberpunk title similar in gameplay to ''

Ys I & II is an action role-playing game compilation released by Hudson Soft and NEC for the PC Engine CD-ROM² in 1989 and TurboGrafx-CD in 1990. It consists of enhanced remakes of the first two ''Ys'' games by Nihon Falcom for the PC-8801 home compute ...

'' named ''Eternal Darkness: Scent Of the Spider'', and a shooter game influenced by

Ambrosia Software Ambrosia Software was a predominantly Macintosh software company founded in 1993 and located in Rochester, New York, U.S. Ambrosia Software was best known for its Macintosh remakes of older arcade games, which began with a 1992 version of Atari, ...

's 1996

space trading and combat simulator A space flight simulation is a genre of flight simulator video games that lets players experience space flight to varying degrees of realism. Common mechanics include space exploration, space trade and space combat. Overview Some games in the ...

'' Escape Velocity'' and ''

Treasure Treasure (from la, thesaurus from Greek language ''thēsauros'', "treasure store") is a concentration of wealth — often originating from ancient history — that is considered lost and/or forgotten until rediscovered. Some jurisdictions leg ...

s 1998 shoot 'em up ''

Radiant Silvergun is a shoot 'em up developed by Treasure. It was originally released in Japanese arcades in 1998 and subsequently ported to the Sega Saturn later that year. The story follows a team of fighter pilots in the far future who are battling waves of ...

'' titled ''Dark Guardian Episode 1: Unknown Enemy''. Neither project moved beyond the conceptual design phase except ''Dark Guardian Episode 1'', which had an early demo showcased to the public at JagFest 2K1, a small festival dedicated to the system held in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Assassin, the (cancelled video game) Action role-playing video games Cancelled Atari 8-bit family games Cancelled Atari Jaguar games Cyberpunk video games Detective video games Single-player video games Video games developed in the United States Video games set in Japan Video games set in the 22nd century Video games set in the United Kingdom Video games set in the United States