Cancelled Xbox One Uncharted rival unearthed

While Microsoft garnered plenty of popularity during the Xbox 360 generation, Sony's PS3 had a late-gen surge, putting Sony in prime position to better compete on day-one when it came time to release the PS4. As it turns out, Microsoft had hoped to compete with its own Uncharted rival for Xbox One, according to newly unearthed details. 

DidYouKnowGaming's Liam Robertson (via VGC) has unearthed new details about Xbox's early plans for Black Tusk Studios. The original plan for them, prior to rebranding as The Coalition, was to make an Uncharted rival, although only as far as being a cinematic third-person shooter, developed under the name Project Ranger.

By piecing together concept art, insider accounts and other snippets of history, we learn that Project Ranger had been ambitious. The core goal was to produce a third-person, cinematic action adventure, but with secret agents and espionage-focused gameplay in prominent settings throughout the world. The game apparently would have featured Kinect support, enabling voice commands to ask for tips from your handler, or to switch weapon fire modes.

There are two things to keep in mind here, this game was being planned long before everybody panned the Xbox One reveal and shunned the Kinect (2013-2014). It was also well before the modern Hitman titles (2016+), which took on a more espionage-focused game design.

Ultimately, we do know how this story ends, as Black Tusk Studios was rebranded as The Coalition in 2014 after Microsoft acquired the Gears of War IP from Epic Games. The game was cancelled after around two years of planning, and The Coalition immediately began work on Gears of War 4.

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KitGuru Says: The full video is well worth watching, the cliff notes don't do it justice. If you are interested in long-lost or cancelled games, it has a lot of thorough research. 

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