Game news With 10 years of development this video game can only be great… really?
Published on 01/12/2025 at 5:41 p.m.
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It was only ten years later, ongoing trials and a lot of public disappointment that this game was finally released. Despite the perseverance and ambition of the members of this Canadian studio, the title would be what made them run for their money. loss: the company will file for bankruptcy in 2014. We talk about the sad history of this action RPG in our latest JV Podcast.
A (too?) ambitious game
It was in 1999, during E3, that Silicon Knights, a Canadian studio, announced the development of its next game: Too Human, an action RPG mixing Nordic mythology and science fiction. Basically, a release on four CDs is planned. This is a process that is not unusual for the time, since most Final Fantasy games were released this way. With all the problems that Silicon Knights will encounter subsequently, the title will not be released until 2008, exclusively for Xbox.
Before getting serious about the production of Too Human, the members of the Canadian studio must complete their contracts with Nintendo for the development of Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem (2002) and the remake Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (2004), two exclusive games for the Gamecube. Once this is completed, the employees then get on with their project. They definitely want to make it a trilogy. However, they encounter many obstacles regarding the use of Unreal Engine 3 created by Epic Games, or rather a prototype version of the software. Silicon Knights in fact accuses the publisher of having sabotaged the release of Too Human by not delivering the final version of the game engine, for the benefit of Gears of War which is an Epic Games production. It is on these suspicions that the development studio is filing a lawsuit against the North American firm. Epic Games launches mirror trial for misappropriation of its software : Silicon Knights had in fact created its own game engine based on Unreal Engine 3.
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Reality caught up with them
In the production process of Too Human, a real quagmire for the team, Silicon Knights held firm and announced the release of the game for 2008. And hope was reborn: the demonstration was downloaded more than GTA 4, even if critics pointed out some negative aspects such as repetitiveness or duo co-op less ambitious than promised. Too Human is finally released in its final version, but does not break bricks, especially compared to Gears of War or God of War II: Divine Retribution released some time previously. At that point, the studio realized the obvious: it ultimately would not produce a trilogy.
In a final attempt to bring his head to the surface, Silicon Knight signed a contract with Activision for an order: the development of X-Men Destiny (2011). However, it was very poorly received by the press and the public. And then, what was supposed to happen happened: the lawsuit filed by Epic Games concluded and ordered the accused party to pay 9 million dollars as well as the ban on using the Unreal Engine. Additional blow: the decision is retroactive, which means that no more income can be generated on Too Human. Obvious consequence: Silicon Knight closed its doors in 2014. As for its “cursed” game, it is available for free on Xbox consoles. Find the video on this subject at the top of the article.
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