The Superhero Strategy Game You Never Got To Play On PS1
In the modern age of gaming and film entertainment, superheroes are everywhere. That's why it's difficult imagining a time when comic book heroics were a harder sell for video game publishers. One game that fell victim to this bygone era was Bullfrog Productions' The Indestructibles.
According to Unseen64, The Indestructibles began life in 1995 as a game called M.I.S.T. – My Incredible Superheroes Team, which was renamed shortly thereafter. The game would have allowed players to create their own custom superheroes. These brand new superheroes would then be tasked with protecting a large open-world city from various threats.
The Indestructibles was pitched as something of a mix between an action title and a strategy game, with missions being given to the player by a "virtual game master." By stopping crimes and honing their powers, players would gain skill points that could be used to upgrade their heroes. There was even a proposed branching storyline that would have allowed gamers to make a full heel turn, playing as a supervillain.
Obviously, The Indestructibles sounds like it have been wildly ahead of its time, especially for the proposed PC, PS1, and Sega Saturn platforms. So what happened to this lost game?
What happened to The Indestructibles?
Unfortunately, it seems that not everyone at Bullfrog was on board with the basic concept of The Indestructibles. Some of the higher-ups apparently didn't think the game was worth developing without having the rights to Marvel superhero characters. According to a blog post from former Bullfrog Lead Designer Alex Trowers, the project eventually stalled due to a feeling that "no-one wants to design their own hero and we can't get the Marvel license."
Unseen64 reported that the game was officially cancelled in the late-90s, not too terribly long after Bullfrog Productions was acquired by Electronic Arts. In a further shady move on EA's part, Bullfrog was shut down following the underperformance of the developer's Dungeon Keeper 2. Bullfrog Productions sadly never had an opportunity to revisit the concept for The Indestructibles.
Trowers and Unseen64 state that all that remains of the project is concept art, a statue of the proposed main character, brief mentions in an old promo video, and screenshots of some early level builds. As far as anyone can tell, The Indestructibles never quite made it to the demo phase.