Arena AD

Arena AD is a cancelled PC game by Stainless Games Ltd. It was to be a realistic gladiator fighting game.

Plot
It is the year 97 AD. You are captured by the Romans and made to fight in arena combat. The aim is to win battles to earn money and one day buy your freedom.

You start off in arenas far from Rome. Locations range from Hadrian’s Wall in Britain to the Amphitheatre of Pompeii. The final battles will take play in the mighty Coliseum in Rome.

Gameplay
Arena AD had the earmarks of a fighting game with RPG elements. As you slay opponents you can buy new weapons and gain new skills. They was a limb-based control scheme with buttons moving individual arms and legs.

There was to be 18 different fighters, both male and female. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses.

One neat feature is that your character model changes as you play the game. Winning battles sees you grow more muscle tone. Severed limbs will be stitched back on but made weaker, necessitating a change in strategy.

For multiplayer there was to be LAN battles with up to eight players in the same arena duking it out.

Cancellation
Arena AD was cancelled when SCi Games stopped paying Stainless Games. The final nail in the coffin was in 1999 when Stainless Games was absorbed by VIS Entertainment.