Oni 2 (Angel Studios)
Oni 2: Death & Taxes (working title) was a sequel to Oni which was in development from 2001-2002 before being cancelled. The game was being developed by Angel Studios under publisher Take-Two Interactive before Angel was acquired by Rockstar and renamed Rockstar San Diego. An ISO of the last (?) development build of the game leaked in 2016. The build was documented by the game preservation YouTube channel PtoPOnline here.
Development
Shortly after Oni was released, it was rumored that Take-Two had put Oni 2 into production; however, no sequel was ever officially announced. In 2007, the rumor of a cancelled sequel was bolstered by a leak which asserted that Oni 2 had been under development by Angel Studios for the PS2. In 2016, the full story finally came out when an actual development build of the cancelled game was leaked, documented by PtoPOnline, and covered by Kotaku.
At this time, interviews with former developers revealed that the game had started development at the beginning of 2001 or even late 2000, which might mean that its development overlapped with Oni's. Since the development build is dated Dec. 10, 2002, that means that the game was in development for as long as two years. After all that time, it was apparently not even close to completion. The project suffered from a lack of clear direction, and when Angel was acquired by Rockstar and renamed as Rockstar San Diego in 2002, Oni 2 was cancelled in favor of other projects.
Playing the build
The ISO, should you find it on the Internet (hint: search for the game's full name, and don't use Google), is playable in an emulator or on a modded PS2. PCSX2 is the only mature emulator available, and although it comes for Windows and macOS, if you are on a Mac you will want to boot into a Windows partition to use PCSX2 rather than use the Mac build. Not only does the Mac version of PCSX2 have poor performance, it also exhibits graphical glitches with this particular game. Some visual problems occur even when playing on a PS2, so it's likely that graphics code was being worked on when this build was produced.
There is only one level available by choosing New Game. Other levels, however, can be chosen from the Load Game menu. These are documented under "Story and levels" below. Levels can take a long time to load, and some do not have loading screens, displaying a gray screen until they're done loading. The only levels that could be considered traditionally "game-like" are level 1 and level 8, The Blast Chambers and The Rooftops. These were the primary levels used to prototype the game. The other levels are intended for the developers to test features or scripting, but some are rather substantial, like level 14, AI Abilities Test.
Gameplay
Oni 2's melee combat was shaping up to be considerably more complex than Oni's, incorporating the grappling and parrying that some Oni fans have wished for in a sequel. Ledge-grabbing, AIs that can disarm you, contextual abilities, and blocks that stun the attacker are also additions to Oni's formula. Gunplay is still present, and is as simple as it is in Oni. Konoko's agility is as good as in Oni, with the ability to perform melee strikes in all four directions, strafe sideways, and perform a jump-flip while still using her weapon. A curious choice was made in allowing Konoko to double-jump as if she is a character in a platformer (of course, no design decisions were finalized at this point in development). Konoko can also perform wall flips (see "Controls" section). When she is facing a wall, the wall flip sends her backward away from the wall, but when her back is to the wall, she comes back into it with her flip, and can continue to perform additional backward wall flips ad infinitum. This allows her to climb any wall, which is essential to clearing level 8.
Controls
Note that Oni 2 is meant to be played in analog mode so that the left thumbstick can be used for movement and the right stick to move the camera. In digital mode (the "Analog" light on the DualShock 2 is off), the D-pad has to be used as the movement control, but in analog mode, the D-pad is freed up to serve as the inventory control. In the following tables, analog mode is assumed to be on unless otherwise noted. Note that ledge grabbing does not work everywhere, only where the devs intended it to.
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The closest thing to a developer mode that has been discovered is pressing both analog sticks at once to cycle through camera modes. Note that when moving the camera in free-fly mode using the left analog stick, Konoko still responds to the thumbstick as well, meaning that in some of the more precarious levels she is likely to fall off the map and die, leading to a Game Over a little while later. The camera must be in free-fly mode for the controls described below to work.
L3 + R3 | Toggle camera mode: standard, close-up, free-flying |
left analog | move camera |
right analog | aim camera |
R1/R2 | raise/lower camera |
L1 + move camera | faster camera movement |
In the following tables, a '*' means a short pause.
Δ is the strike (fast attack) button, and it produces various punches and kicks based upon your position in a combo sequence or the use of a directional modifier (that is, beginning to move in a certain direction right before attacking). O is the heavy attack button, producing slower, presumably more powerful attacks. O and Δ attacks can be interleaved and still build a combo, e.g. Δ, O performs the same second attack as O, O does.
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Note that grappling was a work-in-progress and can cause animation glitches after it ends. After holding a target for a while, he will break free, but this sometimes causes the game to hang. When you have someone in a hold, you can press Δ one or two times to elbow him in the head, but a third Δ will kick him away. So the elbow attacks are intended as an optional prelude to either releasing him with X, kicking him with Δ, throwing him with O, or placing him in a painlock stance with □. When the victim is in a painlock, you can punch him in the head an unlimited number of times with Δ, but you can no longer throw him, only release him.
movement | walk with victim (human shield tactic) |
Δ x3 | elbow to head x2, kick away |
O | overhead rolling leg throw |
□ | place victim in painlock stance |
Δ while in painlock | fist to head |
X | release victim from hold or painlock stance |
Story and levels
Put plot summary (is there a plot?) here.
Analysis
Andrew Borman (host of PtoPOnline) states that Oni 2 ran on a Renderware-based engine which Angel used for their other games. Since Angel mostly (in fact, almost exclusively) developed racing games, it's difficult to understand why T2 assigned them a third-person brawler with a heavy focus on bipedal animation.
Put engine analysis here.