Cancelled 2003 ‘Daredevil: The Man Without Fear’ PlayStation 2 Playable Game Surfaces

It is not often that we get details about cancelled projects in the video gaming world, much less see a near-final build of a game make it to the light of day. However, Daredevil: The Man Without Fear, a 2003 PlayStation 2 superhero game that was being worked on by 5,000 Ft. Studios, has now become playable after 20 years.

This is all thanks to the efforts of game preservation group, Hidden Palace, which released the playable version of the game via an anonymous developer from the studio. Of course, the unfinished nature of the game means there will be issues, but players can expect to experience some of the features that 5,000 Ft. Studios and publisher Encore Inc. were working on back in the day together with Sony.

Originally titled Daredevil: The Video Game, the game then adopted the same title as Frank Miller’s 1993 comic. In Daredevil: The Man Without Fear, players would have been able to experience several pivotal moments in the history of the hero. However, the scope was adjusted with the Daredevil movie coming out, becoming an open-world adventure. Differences in opinion between Sony and Marvel led to increased tensions.

The game also ran into trouble as the developers tried to use the RenderWare engine to meet the needs of the project, which saw the game downsized into a linear brawler instead. Missing its February 2003 release window, a new date was set for summer, before staff departures and the lack of a common agreement between Sony and Marvel meant the project was dead. The studio was also shuttered in 2012.

Seeing the game in action is reminiscent of some of the early efforts by other studios in the genre, with echoes of The Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man. It is also interesting to see the plot in Daredevil: The Man Without Fear, which supposedly tells an original tale based on the 1999 comic, Elektra Lives Again, with Kingpin being a core part.

For anyone hoping to jump in, just be aware of the bugs and glitches that will undoubtedly surface in this unfinished build. While it will not stand up against the likes of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, perhaps seeing renewed interest in the hero could lead to some form of redemption in the modern age.