Greater than a dozen Disney-published video games have simply been pulled from sale on Steam, and it is one more mark of disappointment for the age of digital preservation. Whereas most of people who vanished aren’t to be discovered on our finest Disney video games record, having them out of the blue stripped away feels unhealthy, particularly on condition that there was no prior warning to present gamers a final probability to seize them. The transfer has additionally affected some basic LucasArts video games, and I am significantly unhappy to see 1996 god sim Afterlife amongst them.
The overwhelming majority of the titles affected are outdated licensed video games which might be, usually, fairly unhealthy film tie-ins for the likes of Toy Story, Discovering Nemo, and Winnie the Pooh. Regardless that you would not have precisely rushed out to seize them, it is nonetheless irritating that they are merely gone from Steam now. Nonetheless, there’s a fair stronger case to be made for a handful of different video games that bought caught within the crossfire, similar to Afterlife, a childhood favourite of mine.
Afterlife is dubbed a ‘world-building sim’ however with the twist that you just’re really constructing the infrastructure of each heaven and hell concurrently. Assume Theme Park, or more moderen choices similar to Two Level Hospital, however with the standard rides and sights changed by numerous everlasting rewards or punishments. Ideally, you wish to match every inhabitant to the sins or virtues they exhibited whereas alive, however because the numbers rack up you will simply must do your finest to ensure everyone seems to be attended to.
Additionally on the chopping block listed here are two extra LucasArts classics. 2003’s Armed and Harmful is a third-person shooter full of pop-culture references to the likes of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, whereas 2009’s Lucidity is a puzzle-platformer harking back to the likes of Limbo from these early days of the Xbox Dwell Arcade.
Then there’s The Meeting Line’s Stunt Island, a 1992 favourite which provided a extra high-octane various to Microsoft Flight Simulator. It had numerous the identical consideration to element in its simulation, however challenged you to tug off high-stakes strikes like touchdown on a shifting practice or enjoying ‘hen’ with vehicles. It even had the instruments to arrange and ‘movie’ your individual stunts and edit them alongside its pre-built marketing campaign missions.
Right here is the total record of Disney-published video games which have been delisted from Steam on this January clearout:
- Afterlife
- Armed and Harmful
- Disney’s Automobiles Radiator Springs Adventures
- Disney’s Rooster Little Ace in Motion
- Disney Fairies: Tinker Bell’s Journey
- Disney’s Hercules
- Disney Pixar Discovering Nemo
- Disney Pixar Toy Story Mania
- Disney Planes
- Disney The Princess and The Frog
- Disney Winnie the Pooh
- Lucidity
- Phineas and Ferb: New Innovations
- Stunt Island
Finally, we’re unlikely to see some nice outcry over this delisting the way in which you may when larger or extra notable video games out of the blue vanish, as we noticed with Deadpool or the Scott Pilgrim recreation (though the latter finally made its return in 2023). However, it at all times hurts just a little to see video games be made unavailable to purchase.
Afterlife would finally drift out of my rotation as my wishes to play god had been fulfilled by Black and White (one other recreation that is additionally extremely tough to get your fingers on in 2026, and has lengthy sat atop GOG’s Dreamlist). However it is a bit of a bummer that, if I out of the blue had the need to revisit it, I could not simply drop a few bucks to take action on Steam. A minimum of there’s at all times Sintopia, which is on account of launch in 2026.
