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. This 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, PCSX2 being your only choice for PS2 emulation, and Windows being your only good choice for an OS to run PCSX2 in, as the Mac build of the emulator has poor performance, and also exhibits graphical glitches with this game.

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 as early as 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.

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.

Movement D-pad (in digital mode) run left analog walk->run (speed determined by angle of stick) right analog camera control X jump R1+left analog strafe R2 (hold) crouch R2 while running roll □ + movement towards nearby wall wall flip □ while in air near ledge ledge grab X while hanging from ledge climb up □ while hanging from ledge drop down left analog while hanging from ledge hand-walk along ledge

Weapons and inventory □ with gun in hand fire R1 + right analog while holding gun aiming control ↑ drop weapon ↓ open/close inventory ← / → select weapon R1 pick up item/target enemy R3 draw/holster weapon

Oni 2's 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 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.

Triangle attacks Δ, Δ, Δ punch, punch, high kick Δ, *Δ, Δ punch, hook kick, hook kick Δ, *Δ, *Δ punch, hook kick, jumping spin kick move left/right + Δ, move left/right + Δ side punch, side elbow move left/right + Δ, *move left/right + Δ side punch, side jump kick move backward + Δ, move backward + Δ back kick, back kick move backward + Δ, *move backward + Δ back kick, back hook kick Δ while in air jump kick Δ while crouched sweep kick Δ while running running punch

Circle attacks O, O, O spin kick, double punch, overhead throw O, O, *O spin kick, two-handed strike, jump kick throw O while running double kick Special attacks □ while running into enemy lariat (yes, the Lariat from Oni) L1 double spin kick L2 parry attempt (used on incoming enemy attack) Δ after parry kicking counterattack Δ, Δ, Δ, □ punch, punch, kick, grab attempt (leads to grappling options)

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.

Grappling (with victim in hold)

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.