A few years ago, I read about a little game called The Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot that was to be developed by Oddworld Inhabitants. However, one thing lead to another and the game ended up getting canceled during development. Because of this, it doesn't have a wiki page on Giant Bomb, but I feel that something should be written about the game. I've never seen it mentioned on Giant Bomb before, there's nothing about it in the developer's wiki page, and a quick forum search turned up no results. Thus, I have decided to take the time to write a sort of wiki entry for Fangus Klot, detailing what the game was going to be. Maybe I'm not the only one that thought this game could have been pretty great!
Overview
Story & Setting
Fangus Klot was to be a dark game that was going to take on real-world issues but represent them in a fictional setting. At the time, Lorne Lanning had seen documentaries about Russian cities that were quite literally prison cities, and he wanted to fuse that idea with the legendary cat and dog rivalry. The result was a game world consisting of Homosapien-like creatures that, through evolution, retained features of cats or dogs. The game's protagonist, Fangus Klot, was to lead a revolt against the government that invaded their lands and enslaved their "people".
Fangus himself is of the dog species. Lanning described Fangus' race in an interview with Game Informer as the indigenous species; they were nomadic, somewhat like sheepherders. The other race consisted of the cat-like creatures, who had characteristics of the Russian mafia. In essence, this Russian mafia--the cats--invaded Fangus' homeland and did all sorts of naughty to the inhabitants. Lanning further described the world as a peaceful land at one point, with the dog species going about their days maintaining crops and sheepherding, until the cats arrived and turned it into a miserable, nasty, drug-filled territory. Fangus along with some others were put to work in gladiator-style fighting pit that were meant to entertain the cats. The constant battles in the pit helped Fangus to become a hardcore rough-and-tough killer. However, if Fangus planned to get revenge on the cats he was going to need to get the show on the road immediately because a rabies virus contaminated him. Even layers and layers of muscles cannot stop the deadly disease.
Gameplay
Fangus Klot was to be a shooter with a tone darker than that of Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath. Before the feline invasion Fangus was a sheepherder. This past occupation would allow him to send out a bloodthirsty pack of sheep that would tear up enemies. Apparently they would also be used to solve puzzles, but it is unknown how that would work. Maybe you were gonna send out sheep to stand on buttons to unlock a door? Destructible environments would also be present and, judging by one piece of concept art with the words "Custom Weaponry" on it, custom weaponry (duh!).
Developer-Publisher Issues
The cancellation of Fangus Klot was a result of tensions between Oddworld Inhabitants and publishers. The studio absolutely hated working with EA. Lanning and the company left EA because they felt that when a publisher doesn't own the IP, they have no motivation to support it. They teamed up with Majesco Entertainment instead and began work on The Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot. However, Majesco tried to change the deal they had with Oddworld Inhabitants. This, combined with doubts that the game would succeed without Live support when the Xbox 360 was getting closer, caused Lanning and the company to quit on the game. However, Lanning did reveal in the interview with Game Informer that he would still like to tell the Fangus Klot story someday (since they still own it), so there might still be some hope for our intrepid hero and his feline enemies.Fun Fact: People actually thought Fangus Klot was an April Fool's joke, because it was revealed in an April issue of Game Informer and didn't come out when it was supposed to.
In Conclusion
What do you guys think about Fangus Klot? Do you think someday the game will see the light of day, or will it forever be nothing but concept art and ideas? Is it something you would even play? I for one was captivated by the game when I first read about it. Writing this up has only refreshed my memory and gotten me excited about the future for Lanning and Oddworld Inhabitants. Hopefully the company gets back on its feet, dusts itself off, and tells the tale of Fangus Klot, because it is certainly something I would enjoy experiencing.
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