The games industry can be a harsh and unforgiving landscape. There's nothing more heartbreaking than seeing all the blood, sweat and tears poured into a project amount to nothing but it seems to happen far too often. While it may be unfortunate, that's just the way it goes when such huge amounts of money are involved.

The recent closing of Lionhead Studios along with the cancellation of Fable Legends seemed especially confusing as it appeared the game was nearing completion. It obviously came down to Microsoft clearly not believing Fable Legends could deliver on its promise. 

Hearing the cry of “Chicken chaser” in a West Country accent will forever be at the heart of my gaming memories, for better or worse. After the travesty that was Fable 3 it actually seems surprising that it took this long for Microsoft to shut down the Fable series (and don't even get me started on how tedious Fable: The Journey ended up being despite some strong narrative moments).

On the opposite end of the spectrum we have the infamous cancellation of Silent Hills. PT arrived with huge amounts of hype and delivered in a way horror games hadn't in a long, long time. It was a simple game but it was enough for horror fans to know that Silent Hills would deliver some scares that really crept under your skin. With a team like Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro, everything seemed set for a huge runaway success for a franchise many had left behind in the mist. It certainly felt like we were inhabiting the other-world when it was announced the whole thing was cancelled.

Silent Hills wasn't the only seemingly sure bet that got thrown away. Star Wars 1313 was expected to offer a darker, grittier feel than Star Wars fans had come to expect and would have been a refreshing change of tone for a franchise that has so much depth to it. Star Wars: Bounty Hunter was genuinely one of the coolest games and so to hear that a moodier version was in the works had me salivating.  But when the project was pulled I felt a little like Pavlov's dogs; wildly hungry for something that was no longer going to be there.

The world of gaming is littered with corpses. Starcraft Ghosts, Timesplitters 4, Everquest Next and Rainbow 6: Patriots (which was eventually retooled as R6: Siege) are just a few other examples of projects that will probably never get to see the light of day.

Which games were you guys saddest to see get cancelled? Share with us which games you were the most surprised to see get canned, and if there are any that you think still deserve a chance to shine!