Golden Axed: A Cancelled Project

This article contains information about a canceled game. As a result, the content of the article may have been canceled or replaced by another game.

Golden Axed
Development staff
Designer(s)	Sanatana Mishra
Programmer(s)	Tim Dawson
Game overview
Series	Golden Axe (series)
Release date(s)	October 18th 2020
Genre(s)	Slash 'em up
Platform(s)	Steam
Gameplay overview
Player(s)	1
Game order

Golden Axed was released as part of Sega's Go Sega 60th Anniversary celebrations in 2020. It was part of a release of four limited time free to play games. It was released on October 18th, 2020 and delisted October 19th, 2020, giving players a very short window in which to download these titles.

Gameplay

As a prototype, the game is one level long and showcases a playable barbarian (likely Ax Battler) combating hordes on his way to a throne room where Death Adder resides. The game utilises 2.5D and featured more gore than the classic titles.

Development

The game was created under severe crunch conditions in 2012 by SEGA Studios Australia. The studio had been tasked to create a series of reboots of classic Sega titles including Golden Axe, Altered Beast and Streets of Rage, planning to be known as the SEGA Reborn series.

Golden Axed, or Golden Axe Reborn as it was formerly known, was created in two weeks by programmer Tim Dawson and designer Sanatana Mishra. During this time they were given one day to create attack animations, and the development was further hampered by management demands and the seeming idea of creating a God of War like title with the Golden Axe IP in that very limited time frame.

Controversy

Upon releasing the game on Steam, the store page mentioned the title being 'janky and buggy'. Worst, despite claims to reach out to those who made the title in order to release it neither Tim Dawson, Sanatana Mishra nor anyone they knew who worked on the game had been contacted.

After Tim Dawson tweeted out his response regarding the crunch like creation and Sega's rude description on the Steam page, the Steam page was altered to remove mention of the game being janky or full of bugs and issued an official apology to the team for dredging up painful memories and appearing disrespectful.

Trivia

• The game returned for a (very slightly) longer release on December 14th 2020, giving players 48 hours to download it.
• Despite the two week window the team were able to programme environmental hazards such as impalement.
• The game has four special kill moves based on different combos
• Enemies could be beheaded and certain items such as helmets could be sent flying.