Vaporware Chronicles: Harker

<p><em>Harker<&sol;em> was a game in production at Double Helix Games&comma; formerly known as Shiny Entertainment and The Collective&period; We all remember what happened with a prior The Collective game&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;vaporware-chronicles-dirty-harry&sol;&quest;relatedposts&lowbar;hit&equals;1&amp&semi;relatedposts&lowbar;origin&equals;118272&amp&semi;relatedposts&lowbar;position&equals;2"><em>Dirty Harry<&sol;em><&sol;a>&comma; and it seems another amazing title was lost to us all&period; For those of you who are scratching your head and thinking that you&&num;8217&semi;ve heard of Double Helix Games before&comma; you are correct&comma; they are the team that gave us the mediocre <em>Silent Hill&colon; Homecoming<&sol;em>&period; <em>Homecoming<&sol;em> was released late 2008 and just wasn&&num;8217&semi;t up to par with earlier entries into the series&period;  I remember playing this title all the way through&comma; and while it didn&&num;8217&semi;t frighten me&comma; or give me gooseflesh like the first entry&comma; I did have an enjoyable time&period; I wonder though&comma; would <em>Harker<&sol;em> have been a better decision for the developer&quest; This is something we will never know unfortunately&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-youtube layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"500" height&equals;"281" data-videoid&equals;"4issJoLa4no" title&equals;"Harker&colon; Trailer"><a placeholder href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;youtu&period;be&sol;4issJoLa4no"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;i&period;ytimg&period;com&sol;vi&sol;4issJoLa4no&sol;hqdefault&period;jpg" layout&equals;"fill" object-fit&equals;"cover" alt&equals;"Harker&colon; Trailer"><&sol;a><&sol;amp-youtube><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The game would have put gamers in charge of Jonathan Harker&comma; for those of us who are well read he is the protagonist in <em>Bram Stoker&&num;8217&semi;s Dracula<&sol;em>&period; Set in the 1800&&num;8217&semi;s Harker is tasked with saving his beloved Mina and makes it personal&period; Mina gets entranced by the Count and Harker is the only one with the knowledge and desire to save her&period; The game&&num;8217&semi;s producer Nigel Hook spoke of a mire visceral Harker&comma; &&num;8220&semi;Harker&&num;8217&semi;s goal is to bring an in-your-face&comma; visceral&comma; and personal style of combat to the survival horror genre&period; None of these vampires are going to die with one shot&period; They&&num;8217&semi;re going to fight for their survival&comma; which will give the player a huge level of satisfaction when they successfully execute one&period;&&num;8221&semi; They had a slew of vampires set up for Harker to deal with&comma; all with special powers and possibly different sizes&period; This all sounds amazing&period; I played <em>The Order&colon; 1886<&sol;em> and loved the world they created with all of these monsters&semi; it sounds as if Harker was going down this route&comma; minus all the quick time events I hope&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>After soaking in the trailer&comma; my want of this game grows and sadly it will never be quenched&period; I played through most of Volition&&num;8217&semi;s <em>The Punisher<&sol;em> game and I am reminded heavily of that title&period; The combat looks like it would have had a <em>Batman&colon; Arkham Asylum<&sol;em> feel&comma; with some environmental finishers thrown in for absolute over the top gore&period; Who wouldn&&num;8217&semi;t have purchased this game&quest; I know I would have bought it as would have many of my fellow survivor horror enthusiasts&period; I want to go on a digital vampire killing spree like this one&comma; instead I&&num;8217&semi;m stuck with quick-time events and old FMV games to quench my vampire games thirst&period; I do realize that <em>Castlevania&colon; Lords of Shadow<&sol;em> is a vampire game&comma; but it isn&&num;8217&semi;t spooky and I have fought much more than vampires in that title&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;122593" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-122593" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-122593" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;03&sol;22013632&sol;harker&lowbar;5&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;Harker - Double Helix Games&rpar;" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-122593" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Harker<&sol;em> &&num;8211&semi; Double Helix Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>In early 2008 Foundation 9 announced that <em>Harker<&sol;em> had been put on hiatus&period; The vampire slayer was sent into slumber by another game&comma; <em>Silent Hill&colon; Homecoming<&sol;em>&period; This makes good business sense&period; Why try your luck with an untested IP like <em>Harker<&sol;em> when the juggernaut <em>Silent Hill<&sol;em> falls into your lap&quest; Had I been at Double Helix at the time I would have chomped at the bit to play in the <em>Silent Hill<&sol;em> universe&comma; but I would have kept<em> Harker <&sol;em>on the backburner&period; As a businessman I would want as many option on my table to make money&comma; and while new IP&&num;8217&semi;s can be hard to get off the ground&comma; they can be quite profitable&period; I think that if Harker had been completed it would have been an amazing first entry into a nice niche of vampire games&period; As I wrack my brain for current vampire games&comma; none come to mind other than previously mentioned <em>The Order&colon; 1886<&sol;em>&semi; which deserves a sequel in my humble opinion&period; Right now&comma; there just aren&&num;8217&semi;t any amazing vampire games out there for us to sink our teeth into&period; Yeah that&&num;8217&semi;s right&period; I went there&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;