Video Games

A lost PS2 game starring Kirsten Dunst and Richard Harris reappeared after 20 years

20 years after Namco released Kaena, a star-studded PS2 sci-fi game, in Japan, the long-lost project has turned up once again

Josh Broadwell

Namco

20 years after Namco released Kaena, a star-studded PS2 sci-fi game, in Japan, the long-lost project has turned up once again. If you’re wondering why you’ve never heard of Kaena in connection with the PS2 library before, there are a few good reasons for that. For one thing, Namco never released it outside Japan, despite advertising it as an international launch (thanks, Time Extension).

It was also a pretty niche release. French artist and programmer Chris Delaporte – known for his work on Amazing Studio’s Heart of Darkness – dreamed up the Kaena game as part of a cross-media push for the Kaena movie he directed, Kaena: The Prophecy. Despite featuring a shining cast of well-known stars, including Kirsten Dunst and Richard Harris in his final film appearance, the Kaena movie was a box office flop.

Namco had advertised Kaena’s English release in magazines at the time, though at the last minute and seemingly as a result of the film’s poor sales, the publisher decided only to release Kaena on PS2 in Japan with an English dub. The production batch was small, and that was seemingly the end of that, with Kaena lost forever, another victim of the games industry’s terrible record of preservation. 

However, Twitter user Robin Davies recently posted an image of a debug copy of Kaena’s English version and two short gameplay clips, also in English. It’s a curious game. Its fixed camera angles, wonky animation, and pre-rendered backgrounds, it looks like it would’ve been right at home in the middle of the original PlayStation’s lifecycle. 

Even if the Kaena film had a stronger performance, I’m not sure the game would’ve fared well, not when it was up against the likes of Final Fantasy X, Silent Hill 2, and Jak and Daxter and seems so dated itself. Still, whether it was a good game is hardly the point anymore. It’s a piece of history, a bit of insight into the publishing landscape of the early 2000s, and, given Namco’s decision to cancel a complete project with a well-known cast at the last minute, a rather fascinating one at that.

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Josh Broadwell
JOSH BROADWELL

Josh is a freelance writer and reporter who specializes in guides, reviews, and whatever else he can convince someone to commission. You may have seen him on NPR, IGN, Polygon, or Rolling Stone shouting about RPGs. When he isn’t working, you’ll likely find him outside with his Belgian Malinois and Australian Shepherd or leveling yet another job in FFXIV.

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