Video Games

Obsidian Director Recalls ‘Dysfunction’ Around Sega’s Shelved Aliens RPG

Alien has a long history in shooters, but not much in RPGs. Obsidian tried to change that in his 2000s with Aliens: Crucible. This is his early Onyx engine game published by Sega, described as “Mass Effect, but scarier.” It was ultimately shelved with little explanation, then forgotten until last weekend when Pentimement director Josh Sawyer spoke out about some of what he described as “malfunctions” in the project.

“I got to work on an alien RPG for SEGA from 2006 to 2009. At the time Obsidian didn’t have a director. It was all just leads who were considered peers. Do something.” for,” he explained.

In a subsequent thread, Sawyer said Crucible’s progress was “slow,” and Obsidian said it was “developing a lot of cool ideas, but hasn’t shipped any yet.” One of these purported ideas, explained elsewhere, is that squad members can become pregnant.

Ultimately, Sawyer’s biggest conclusion was that “the game has little value” without playable levels. Thus Obsidian has moved to the Alpha Protocol. It’s a secret agent RPG that retains a small but dedicated fanbase to this day.

But if you want to see Obsidian’s ideas in action, Sawyer says there’s another way.

“I was happy to play Aliens: Fireteam Elite because the overall setup was similar. Small teams, 3rd person, focus on deployable items and supporting actions. The similarities end there But I’m glad to hear that the idea actually turned out to be fun.Practice RIP, Squad,” Sawyer wrote.

Sawyer also opened up about Aliens: Crucible in a 2018 interview with IGN Unfiltered, detailing his ideas behind the game and admitting it was “too little and too late.”

As for Obsidian, the studio is now owned by Xbox and is currently developing Avoided and The Outer Worlds 2. Sawyer himself is coming out of his Pentiment success winning Best Narrative at the 2023 Game Developer Choice Awards.

Kat Bailey is IGN’s Senior News Editor and co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Any tips? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

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