In late 2025, a report from gaming industry site "Need4Games" has came out revealing that DON’T NOD cancelled an internal project that was still in pre-production. According to the leak, the game was roughly 9 months in development which is from September 2023 to June 2024 and was being created by a small team of roughly 15–20 developers. This unreleased title was described as a brand-new IP: a sci-fi, single-player, action RPG, built in Unreal Engine 5. Such games impress most of the audience who love shooting games.
Why Was It Cancelled?
There are several reasons for the cancellation of this huge project, in the first half of 2024, the studio reported disappointing commercial performance because of their recent games "Jusant" and "Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden" despite positive reviews. Because of that underperformance, DON’T NOD publicly said they are "temporarily pausing" two in-development titles, and fully cancelling or withdrawing at least one project from their roadmap. So, they took a write-down of millions of euros tied to the underperforming games and reduced their capitalized production value. The sci-fi-RPG project which is most likely one of the "in-house projects" flagged for cancellation which means, DON’T NOD judged it was too risky, too expensive or unlikely to deliver sufficient returns.
The Upcoming Game - Aphelion:-
Despite cancelling that sci-fi RPG title, DON'T NOD hasn't abandoned big ambitions. In June 2025 they officially announced "Aphelion" which is a cinematic sci-fi third-person action-adventure game due in 2026 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. This clearly shows us they are not giving up that easily.
About Aphelion:-
The story is set in the near future (year 2060), when Earth is nearing collapse. Humanity’s hope lies in a newly discovered planet named "Persephone", near the edge of the Solar System. Players will take the role of 'ESA' astronaut "Ariane Montclair" along with her colleague "Thomas Cross". After a crash-landing on Persephone, they must survive harsh alien landscapes, gather data, and navigate mysterious, reality-bending phenomena. Aphelion blends with exploration, traversal, stealth, survival tools, and cinematic action-adventure. Fans can expect a strong emotional and narrative core for this game because it's not just about alien horror or survival, the game promises human drama, relationships (Ariane & Thomas), and a story-driven journey. The developer says this is a "passionate" project.
What Is Still Unconfirmed?
We clearly don't have the full info or clear name of the title that was cancelled. The reason for this is that there is no art, gameplay footage, or design documentation publicly available. So every detail like story, mechanics, scale comes from a single insider report - "Need4Games".
Cancellation of such epic games might be sad, but upcoming games will provide us great entertainment as well. What do you guys think of the game which has been cancelled and about the new game "Aphelion"? Let us know your thoughts on these both games in the comments.