Hidden Palace releases 300+ prototypes for Xbox 360 and Wii games as part of its Project Deluge iniative
A group of enthusiasts from The Hidden Palace community has uploaded more than 300 prototypes for Xbox 360 and Wii games. They noted that their project to archive and preserve unreleased versions of old games is far from over.
Character selection screen from the August 21, 2011 Dark Souls build
The Hidden Palace made an announcement on Christams, saying that they now have brought 207 Xbox 360 and 114 Wii prototypes as part of the latest update to their Project Deluge collection.
“While there aren’t as many unreleased games in this part of the lot, there were many early builds of many games this time around,” the message reads.
Special thanks to all of our team members that helped get everything out on time. It was a pretty close call, but thank goodness its all done! Time for some well deserved rest!
— The Hidden Palace (@HiddenPalaceOrg) December 26, 2022
Here are some of the games on the list and differences that appeared in their pre-launch builds:
- Alice: Madness Returns (Xbox 360) — different autosave warning screen;
- Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (Xbox 360) — different text formating;
- Clive Barker’s Jericho (Xbox 360) — a slightly different font on the menu + a debug menu is available;
- Condemned 2: Bloodshot (Xbox 360) — a different background on the main menu + other minor differences;
- Dark Souls (Xbox 360) — a fully debug-enabled build (according to Lance McDonald, this might allow data miners to access some new cut content);
- Dead Rising (Xbox 360) — build made for E3 + no intro cutscene and no battery indicator on the lower right hand corner;
- Dead Space (Xbox 360) — level select is available from the main menu + enabled debugger;
- Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (Xbox 360) — a slightly different main menu screen + a different loading screen and an option to activate the Unreal Engine debugger;
- Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition (Xbox 360) — a debug menu can be activated by pressing down the left stick;
- Mirror’s Edge (Xbox 360) — minor differences on the title screen;
- Overlord (Xbox 360) — a different title screen and pending ERSB rating;
- Prince of Persia: Rival Swords (Wii);
- Silent Hill HD Collection (Xbox 360) — cutscene audio is desynced from the video;
- Tomb Raider: Anniversary (Wii) — a different trademark screen.
“Debug Load Level” option in the main menu of the Dead Space prototype
What is Project Delgue?
Started by The Hidden Palace community, Project Deluge is described as an ongoing initiative to “archive and assess all of the items featured in a lot of video game development material that has been gathered over the course of many years.”
One of The Hidden Palace’s goals is to prevent the loss of historic game content, including artwork, development builds, and source code. Project Deluge contributors collect prototypes, test them for playability, document each item, and provide an overview of general differences and facts.
Initially, they released almost 800 prototypes for PlayStation 2 games and then added over 500 prototypes for Xbox, PlayStation, Sega Dreamcast, and Philips CD-i titles. So far, Project Deluge has collected almost 5,000 discs.
