Siliconera’s Surprise Square Enix game is probably already cancelled

When I wrote yesterday that Siliconera were about to announce a Square Enix game, I said that it was unlikely to be something major this close to E3. I was trying to curb the inevitable disappointment when it turned out to be an iPhone or Facebook game because, let's face it, we've all be hurt before by amazing, surprise announcements. There's no way I saw this one coming.

Catacombs was a team based shooter from the studio behind Nier. A trip to the museum goes wrong when an exhibit about an ancient pre-history religion turns into a blood bath. Both guests and security alike are ripped apart by monsters and the four player characters find themselves fighting for their lives beneath the New York Museum of Natural History.

Catacombs boasted an innovative, but unusual weapon system which gave the player access to magical guns. As they levelled up (to a maximum of level eight) some sprouted wings, others arms. On top of that, you were able to pick up spell rings, granting the player a limited number of spells to cast. When you ran out of casts you'd be forced to drop the item and hope for another to be dropped by an enemy.

There were no set maps and each adventure would be randomly generated while playing. Enemy locations and item locations would obviously be randomly generated as well, making each and every play-through more or less completely different. Catacombs was going to be announced at last year's E3, but now Square are unsure whether they want to complete it.

So, for now, expect that Catacombs, ironically, will never see the light of day, although it'd be rather cool if it did. For more information about the game, check out the post at Siliconera.