Relentless

From Sega Retro

Relentless MD US titlescreen.png

Relentless
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Electronic Arts[1]
Developer: Futurescape Productions[2][3]
Planned release date(s): 1993[3]
Genre: Action[1]
Number of players: 1-2[3]
State before cancellation: Early[1]
Status of prototype(s): Source code compiled[4]

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Relentless is an unreleased Sega Mega Drive side-scrolling action game developed by Futurescape Productions and slated to be published by Electronic Arts[1] around 1993.[3] Although the majority of the game's plot was storyboarded out, financial difficulties within Futurescape saw the project cancelled before it ever made it to production.[1]

Plot

RELENTLESS was an action/suspense game set in the SF Bay area during the 1940's.

Futurescape artist Rick Lucey[1]


Gameplay

An interior stage, as viewed through SCAT.

Existing storyboards show Relentless being played from a side-scrolling perspective. The protagonist, a film noir-inspired private investigator cloaked in a trenchcoat and wearing a fedora, has the ability to fire a pistol and attack with a knife.[5] One of the storyboards appears to depict a pair of identical protagonists in a possible two-player mode.[3]

The plot evolves over multiple settings throughout the city of San Francisco. Pictured in the existing storyboards are a private investigator's office[5], the interior and top of a running train[6], a formal restaurant and its kitchen[7], and a ladder-filled sewer system with multiple levels.[8]

History

Development

Futurescape Productions artist Rick Lucey recalls that he, alongside another artist (likely Tom Collie), played a leading role in Relentless's planning.[1] Released source code reveals that a fair amount of material (mainly artwork) was created for the project[4], including a tentative title screen[9], but was ultimately left unreleased.

Legacy

Rick Lucey retained at least five storyboards from the project, and hosted them on his official website for public viewing.[1]

On November 20, 2020, the Video Game History Foundation and Gaming Alexandria announced the release of Futurescape Productions co-founder Kenneth Hurley's preserved development data. Alongside the source code to Nuclear Rush, Hurley had also retained the code to two of the studio's other projects, Monster Hunter and Relentless.[10][11]

Production credits

Source:
Developer statements


Artwork

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Box art (early)
Relentless MD US boxart early.png
Relentless MD US storyboard1.jpeg
Storyboard 1
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Relentless MD US storyboard2.jpeg
Storyboard 2
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Storyboard 3
Relentless MD US storyboard3.jpeg
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Storyboard 4
Relentless MD US storyboard4.jpeg
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Storyboard 5
Relentless MD US storyboard5.jpeg

References