The sad truth of the games industry is that it's filled with potentially fantastic canceled projects. From the likes of Star Wars 1313 and Prey 2 to Rockstar's Agent and, of course, the notoriously canned Silent Hills, there have been countless promising canceled games in the history of the medium. However, sometimes players still get a glimpse into what could've been, whether that's the recent slice of Prince of Persia: Redemption footage or the gameplay trailer that emerged for Daredevil: The Man Without Fear.
Another of these strange what if's emerged within No Clip's incredible "Untold History of Arkane" documentary that hit YouTube a few days ago. Although the video goes over a number of the studio's canceled projects, one of the more interesting glimpses at what could've been comes through the documentary's coverage of LMNO; a sci-fi adventure game made in collaboration with EA and Steven Spielberg.
Not only does the team discuss exactly how this game came to fruition, with Arkane explaining that it was part of a 3-game deal between both EA and Spielberg, but some rough gameplay from the title's early stages is shown. In the game, players are tasked with escorting an AI companion known as Eva, an alien who the protagonist helps escape from a secure FBI base and is now traveling with while evading pursuers. The section on LMNO begins 22 minutes into the documentary, which can be found below.
According to Arkane, the title put an emphasis on hand-to-hand combat and parkour, while the advanced AI of Eva and her nuanced facial expressions were incredibly impressive for the time. The gameplay shows off a rough, early-look at what the release was trying to achieve, showing the pair in a run-down truck stop trying to hide from the authorities. In the footage, it's clear Eva's interactions with the world are a big part of gameplay, showing her interacting with small parts of the environment, picking up items for the protagonist, and responding to directions given by the player. The action side of the game saw players engage in fistfights, supposedly because Steven Spielberg wasn't a fan of including high-octane shootouts. Other than that, it seems they could pick locks, climb up to vantage points, and had to avoid suspicion in public spaces.
Overall, it seems players missed out on something truly great, with LMNO pushing the boundaries of what games were capable of at the time. It looked to be a truly authentic Spielbergian adventure, whether that was through the game's environments, its characters, or the general, adventure-based tone.
LMNO has been canceled.