Hired Guns

Hired Guns is cancelled PC game by Devil's Thumb and then VR-1. It was to be a sci-fi FPS game.

Plot
In the future, the Luyten planetary system is run by three greedy corporations. They have enslaved colonists from Earth. Some rebel mercenaries attack the system, which is our playable characters.

Gameplay
The game was to be a first-person shooter with emphasis on multiplayer and co-op. You play as a leader and can order the others with commands a la Rainbow Six. You could switch between quad-screen mode to top-half and three-panel lower half screen.

There are puzzles to solve in the maps that require a mercenary's abilities. You can arrange the mercs in three formations: Diamond, Tight, and Line. There were to be 17 weapons to use.

Development
This game was to be a remake of the 1993 Amiga game by DMA Designs. Development started in 1997 by Devil's Thumb, who were acquired by VR-1 in 1999. Development then shifted to VR1.

The game was built on the Unreal engine.

Cancellation
Hired Guns was cancelled shortly after VR-1 acquired Devil's Thumb in 1999. The publisher Psygnosis left the PC market in favour of consoles. This game was cancelled in late 2000.

Prototype
https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=992