Cancelled Turok 2 Concept Art - What Could Have Been

Propaganda Games’ Turok revival on the current console generation was not a perfect game by any stretch of the term, but it wound up with a lot more negative reactions and bad word of mouth than it should have. Sure, it was released during the peak for gritty shooters following the success of Gears of War and every other game to fall in its wake, but at its core it was a solid game that just failed to be exceptional.

The Nintendo 64 series had an open-world approach that was unheard of at the time and some truly original weapons, but Propaganda Games chose to ignore the positive things about what used to set Turok apart. Instead, it took one too many attempts to look like everything else on the market, and it killed its chances of getting nothing more than a passing glance from a lot of gamers.

Could its canceled sequel have done any better? Concept art from a Turok 2 was unearthed over the weekend, sporting some beautiful settings and excellent character design. Granted, Turok still looks like a Halo dropout stranded on a dinosaur planet, but he does more than battle other grizzled burly space marines. Shadowy saber-tooth tigers, spiny electric eels, native warriors, and of course, enormous dinosaurs.

Even more interesting than the creature designs are the settings. Turok’s latest prehistoric journey would have seen him traverse dinosaur graveyards, ruined modern settlements, jungles, waterfalls, and even the hull of a derelict spaceship.

Part of me wishes this game had eventually seen the light of day. As mentioned before, the first game was not perfect, but it had enough going for it to maybe see a more complete and perfected sequel. If it have dug into Turok‘s more native roots with a vastly larger world, like this one seems to have done, it might have had a chance at being something great.