The cancellation of Allison Road felt like the re-opening of a healed wound. I hadn’t felt as excited about the prospect of a horror game since Silent Hills was announced, and even more than a year ago, Silent Hills suffered the same fate as AR.

Allison Road was designed with the pretense that it was going to be “the next Silent Hills”. It was surely going to be the answer to all of our prayers. It may not have bared the name but it surely bared everything else.

It carried so much potential in such a beautifully crafted package.

When I watched the initial prototype gameplay, I was blown away. I was on the edge of my seat till the bitter end, biting my nails to the base, anxious about what lay beyond each door, around each dark corridor.

The graphics were absolutely fantastic. It was on par with the quality delivered in Playable Teaser (the teaser for Silent Hills, that would eventually be taken off the PlayStation 4 digital store).

It was a scripted prototype, nonetheless, but the potential for so much more lay beyond the realm of possibility. All the team needed was backing from the fans. And they got it.

They drew fans from P.T. on the sheer premise that they could deliver what Silent Hills couldn’t do. They intended to follow through. The game was picked up by Team17 following the cancellation of its kickstarter campaign back in September. This provided a new opportunity to build Allison Road under new development.

Until June 4th, 2016, when a tweet from @AllisonRoadHQ surfaced.

“Hi all. Sadly Allison Road had to be cancelled. Statement to come in the next few days. Thx for all your support and very sad it came 2 this.”

I sat at the office, my jaw literally dropped. I felt as though I had lost a long, lost friend. Someone I hadn’t been in touch with for a while but still carried a piece of my heart. Someone I knew I would eventually reconnect with at our latest convenience. I didn’t have to think about them everyday because I knew everything was going alright.

Life goes on, right?

Sadly, for Allison Road, this is the end of the line. And I’m sorry to say this game joins Silent Hills on the sad conveyor belt to horror game hell: a place where long lost (some forgotten, some still remembered) titles go and never come back.

Sometimes they go out screaming; other times they leave us without a trace.

We’re yet to receive a full statement from the developers behind Allison Road as to why they’ve had to abruptly cancel their game. It is expected to drop in the next few days. I’m just left shaking my head in disappointment.

(And) If love remains

Though everything is lost

We will pay the price

But we will not count the cost

Rush – Bravado (1991)