''The Lost'' is an unreleased

third-person shooter Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em ...

survival horror Survival horror is a Video game genre, subgenre of horror games. Although combat can be part of the gameplay, the player is made to feel less in control than in typical action games through limited ammunition or weapons, health, speed, and visio ...

game developed by

Irrational Games Irrational Games (known as 2K Boston between 2007 and 2009) was an American video game developer founded in 1997 by three former employees of Looking Glass Studios: Ken Levine, Jonathan Chey, and Robert Fermier. Take-Two Interactive acquired t ...

. Set to be released in 2002 for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

and

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

game consoles, ''The Lost'' went through a rocky development period until it was completed, and cancelled.

Story

''The Lost'' is heavily inspired by

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

's ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' (, ) is an Italian narrative poetry, narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of ...

'', particularly ''

Inferno Inferno may refer to: * Hell, an afterlife place of suffering * Conflagration, a large uncontrolled fire Film * ''L'Inferno'', a 1911 Italian film * ''Inferno'' (1953 film), a film noir by Roy Ward Baker * ''Inferno'' (1980 film), an Italian ...

''. The setting is present day, and the main character is a waitress and medical student named Amanda Wright. Amanda is a single mother who has lost her only daughter, Beatrice, in a tragic car accident. Desperate and suicidal, Amanda makes a deal with the devil. Selling her soul, she is given the chance to plunge into the bowels of a

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

-esque hell in an attempt to rescue her daughter's soul. The only aids she has in the bowels of hell are Virgil, a strange reptilian creature who Amanda must free from an enchanted sword, and four hellish beings called the Entities. While in hell, Amanda meets several Entities. She is able to trade identities with these beings, and each Entity is playable, with their own special abilities. *Shadow: A thief-like character, Shadow specializes in stealth and deception. *Light: Adept in defensive spell-casting, Light can also provide healing spells. *Corruption: An

emaciated Emaciation is defined as the state of extreme thinness from absence of body fat and muscle wasting usually resulting from malnutrition. It is often seen as the opposite of obesity. Characteristics Emaciation manifests physically as thin limbs, pr ...

mage who performs powerful, offensive spells. *Instinct: A sword-wielding character that is best used in close combat.

Development

''The Lost''s development period had always been relatively rocky. Playable models of the game had been described as unstable, with a jittery framerate. The developer chose to switch to a different graphics engine partway through the project, moving from the

LithTech LithTech is a game engine developed by Monolith Productions and comparable with the Quake and Unreal engines. Monolith and a number of other video game developers have used LithTech as the basis for their first-person shooter games. Monolith i ...

engine to

Epic Games Epic Games, Inc. is an American Video game developer, video game and software development, software developer and video game publisher, publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney (game developer), Tim Sween ...

Unreal Engine Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter video game '' Unreal''. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of ...

. Also, Crave Entertainment changed ''The Lost''s traditional publishing model to a budget game model. Eventually, legal problems amassed, and the completed game was cancelled. In March 2008, it was reported that all development and rights to ''The Lost'' was acquired by FXLabs, who later released the game for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

in India under the title ''Agni: Queen of Darkness''. ''Agni'' is thought to feature redone art but keeps basic plot and gameplay elements intact.Irrational's 'The Lost' Turns Up... In Bollywood?!
/ref> It was also released in Poland and Russia as ''Inferno: Where Death Is Your Only Ally'' and in United States as ''Netherworld: Beyond Time I Stand''.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lost, The Cancelled PlayStation 2 games Cancelled Xbox games Horror video games Irrational Games Third-person shooters Video games developed in the United States Video games featuring female protagonists Works based on Inferno (Dante) Video games based on the Divine Comedy