Footage from the cancelled PS2-era Daredevil game has surfaced online. Youtuber Andrew Borman has shared hands-on gameplay from the title, which was originally due to ship in 2003.
Borman's video focuses on a build of Daredevil: The Man Without Fear that was shared as part of a job application by a former member of staff at developer 5000ft Inc. Much of the build shows the game in very early stages of development, with unrendered environments filled with immobile enemies, but there are a couple of levels that do seem to work.
The first shows off the game's open-world take on Hell's Kitchen. As well as the opportunity to take on some goons at street level, Borman's footage includes a look at the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater-style grinding system, which was added as a means of traversal at Sony's request, and the Billy Club swinging mechanic that the game's developers hoped would be an improvement on the web-slinging in Activision's 2002 Spider-Man game. There's also a look at the 'Shadow World', an attempt to represent Daredevil's signature echolocation.
A second level has characters playing as Daredevil villain Bullseye in a battle with Electra. That level is more contained, taking place in an abandoned boxing arena. While not feature-complete, it's one of the only surviving levels that Borman was able to get running.
After a fraught development process which saw the developers caught in the midst of disagreements between Sony and Marvel, Daredevil: The Man Without Fear was cancelled in 2004, so it's pretty unlikely that it'll ever officially see the light of day. For a modern-day superhero-themed take on New York, there's always Spider-Man: Miles Morales, but I doubt that'll make fans of Matt Murdock feel any better.
For projects that actually saw the light of day, here are the best PS2 games of all time.
