Supermassive Games, renowned for their gripping horror titles such as Until Dawn, The Quarry, and the Dark Pictures anthology series, has reportedly halted development on a previously unannounced game set in the Blade Runner universe. According to Insider Gaming, the game titled Blade Runner: Time To Live was envisioned as a "character-focused, cinematic, action-adventure" set in the year 2065. It would have followed the story of So-Lange, a vintage Nexus-6 model and the last Blade Runner, on a mission to retire the leader of an underground replicant network. After a betrayal, So-Lange would have been left to fend for herself in a harsh environment, navigating through gameplay segments of stealth, combat, exploration, investigation, and intense character interactions.
Insider Gaming disclosed that Blade Runner: Time To Live had a development budget of around $45 million, with $9 million dedicated to external performance capture and acting talent. The game was slated to offer a 10-12 hour single-player experience, with pre-production kicking off in September 2024 and a planned release in September 2027 for PC and both current and next-generation consoles. However, the project reportedly fell through due to complications with Alcon Entertainment, the rights holder for Blade Runner, leading to its cancellation sometime late last year.
In other news, Annapurna Interactive announced in the summer of 2023 that they were developing their first in-house game, Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth, marking the first Blade Runner game in 25 years. Unfortunately, there have been no further updates on this project since its announcement.
Supermassive Games has been busy with multiple projects, including the upcoming installment in the Dark Pictures series, Directive 8020, and the development of Little Nightmares 3. Last year, the studio faced challenges and announced layoffs affecting around 90 workers, as reported by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, during a "period of consultation."
On a different note, fans of Supermassive's work can look forward to the theatrical release of the movie adaptation of Until Dawn this weekend. For more details, you can read our review of David F. Sanberg's take on Until Dawn for the big screen here.
