Games That Weren't^®

1990 New Deal Productions

Platform: Commodore Amiga

Darkland is a very neat looking action game that was in production for the Commodore Amiga back in 1990 by New Deal Productions. It seems the company released a few titles, but then disappeared around 1990 with no further developments.

The game was reported to have 1 MB of graphics and around 250 screens in total – an “overscan game with differential scrolling”. Generation 4 magazine were impressed with the graphics shown, but hadn’t played anything by the sounds of it. It was reported that they hoped to have a playable version the next month and that the game was due for release around October 1990.

The magazine also revealed some of the storyline (rough translation thanks to Google and a bit of tidying up):

With Darkland, you are sent to the surface of a planet and, more precisely, to a distant world over which reigned a technologically and metaphysically very developed population. A council of wise men presided over the destiny of this civilization, and everything was going smoothly until the moment when an existential catastrophe took place, endangering the very lives of the inhabitants of this planet.

To remedy this problem, the council of wise men then used a white crystal whose properties were to ward off evil. Unfortunately, the latter referred to another crystal—black this time—located in a remote place and emitting negative waves. All life forms gravitating in the vicinity of this crystal were affected by these waves, leading to spectacular mutations. Moreover, this region was declared a prohibited zone the day it was noticed that the black crystal was developing, thereby increasing its power.

You have been appointed by the council of wise men to collect the different crystals, assemble them, and destroy them forever. To protect you: white crystal armor (the only material capable of repelling negative waves) and a droid. The latter will accompany you everywhere and will be capable of carrying out numerous pre-programmed actions. In addition to the danger posed by the crystal, you will have to face all these aliens contaminated by the harmful influence of the crystal. Know that each enemy will require a particular technique to destroy it.

What is odd is that the game was released on the Atari ST, (or was it? we’re not 100% certain yet if this was just leaked) but the Amiga version was seemingly cancelled for reasons as yet unknown. Does anyone know why? Also – can anyone confirm if the ST edition was indeed released, leaked or not?

With a huge thank you to Hoagie / Abandonware France for the submission and scans and Ivan S for the Atari ST release link (see comments).

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