Red Fly Studios hopes to resurrect the cancelled Darth Maul game

Chopping heads and no Jar Jar.

Cancelled games occupy an interesting place in the industry. They’re teases of what could have been and enough of them make it far enough into production to have already gained fan attention before they made their way to the chopping block. And an even narrower selection of them also come with the clout associated with big franchise names, like Star Wars. 

Last year we posted the concept art for the cancelled Darth Maul game that was under development by Red Fly Studio, and while the game was still in the early prototype phases, it was looking pretty interesting and staged to get pretty damned brutal. Unfortunately, it was also one of the projects that got fridged by the Disney acquisition so all that remained was the early gameplay and some cool concept art. 

maul

However, this weekend during an AMA on Reddit, Dan Borth addressed the hopes that game might find resurrection now if it could appeal to EA and what they plan with the Star Wars franchise, “We have been burning a candle for this game since it was killed in hopes we can get it turned back on again. IF that is to happen we need to approach EA with a demo that will impress them. I think we have that or are close to it. Still it is completely not up to us.”

Borth also let it slip that the team is working on a full next gen demo of the Maul game  hoping to tempt EA with its combat mechanics and suggesting flexibility with reskinning characters to fit with the narrative that EA is pursuing. 

Honestly, the idea of a more violent Star Wars game that demonstrates what an aggressive, if elegant, weapon a lightsaber can be is pretty intriguing. Back when the game’s existence was first acknowledged a Red Fly employee described the game as “Heads flying everywhere.”