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[PATREON EXCLUSIVE] The Tragedy of Prophecy

Added 2024-09-19 20:00:07 +0000 UTC

Introducing our very first Patreon exclusive available to all our paying members as a special thanks for your support, we hope you'll enjoy this look into the Sucker Punch game that never was, this is the tragedy of Prophecy.

Sly Cooper and InFamous developer Sucker Punch Productions stunned audiences when it unveiled Ghost of Tsushima during Paris Games Week in 2017. The short announcement trailer depicted a stark departure from the studio’s previous efforts, a point accentuated by the blood and violence on display. But most striking was the compelling setting, which emphasized the period in Feudal Japan when the Mongol invasion reached the shores of Tsushima Island. The game’s eventual 2020 release on PS4 equipped protagonist Jin Sakai with the tools necessary to defend his homeland, from traditional Samurai weaponry such as longbows and swords to cunning stealth-based tactics perceived as dishonorable. Unbeknownst to most, the historical fiction adventure hardly marked the first time that Sucker Punch had explored comparable themes and gameplay mechanics.

Before entering full production on Ghost of Tsushima, the Bellevue, Washington developer built a vertical slice called Prophecy set against a medieval London-esque backdrop. Viewers who watched the demo's leaked footage in mid-2020 quickly identified the similarities between it and the then-newly released Ghost of Tsushima, since Prophecy’s lead character battled avaricious military forces and acted as a one man army courtesy of his proficient sword fighting and stealth abilities.

However, other leaks have suggested Prophecy constituted much more than a proto-Ghost of Tsushima idea. It, particularly, boasted fantastical elements that drifted far beyond the confines of the open-world Samurai game’s commitment to realism. In that sense, Prophecy carried a lingering touchstone of Sucker Punch’s roots, one made manifest in a concept unlikely to exist outside of an 11-minute slice of rudimentary gameplay.

This is the tragedy of Prophecy.