This weekend, Sega will unveil a prototype of Golden Axed reborn, a remake of the cancelled Golden Axed. The single-level proof of concept is called Golden Axed and Sega says it offers a "unique glimpse into the vision of a project that could have been." This was news to the designers.

On its Steam page, Sega says it has contacted several members of the original development team and that they are "delighted" with the revival. This apparently did not include former Sega employee Tim Dawson, who programmed the prototype, or Sanatana Mishra, who designed it; according to Dawson, who spoke about the prototype on Twitter, everyone he knew who worked on it was surprised.

Dawson and Mishra also do not have fond memories of their time working on the prototype: in 2012, they were asked by Sega to create a gameplay prototype for an internal Golden Axe pitch, which they did in two weeks. According to Mishra's recollection, they only worked on the combat design for one day, which was made more demanding by the demands of management and the expectation that they could create something like "God of War" in two weeks.

The team completed a prototype, but the game was later cancelled by Sega. Says Mishra, "It was relatively good that it was canceled, because by that point the pitch had been drastically changed by the same higher-ups."

Dawson also didn't like the way the release was framed as a weird, janky, buggy novelty. Sega has since edited its store page to remove the part Dawson quoted in his tweet. Now there is no mention of the game being junkie or buggy.

In a statement sent to the VGC, Sega said it "did not intend to dredge up painful memories of Mr. Dawson and his former colleagues or appear disrespectful." The company also claims that the comments about bugs were made in response to a PC port produced for Steam, not the original prototype. This port was created by former members of the Golden Axe Reborn team.

While there was not much to say about the crunch back in 2012, some developers continue to work unhealthy hours and throw their lives away outside of work in order to meet deadlines imposed by management, despite the fact that it is now openly discussed and criticized. Hopefully, these same bosses will not look back in a few years and poke fun at what they have created.

Sega will release the Golden Axe prototype for free on October 18, but it will only be available for one day.