Cancelled Perfect Dark gameplay footage appears online

Unseen gameplay from Microsoft's cancelled Perfect Dark revival has appeared online.

The footage was originally published by Mp1st and reported by Video Games Chronicle on 7 October 2026. It is now being shared on social media.

The material totals just over two minutes across several short, in-development clips, according to Mp1st. The clips show different weapons and locations from the reboot. One escape sequence appears to show protagonist Joanna Dark during a mission.

Other clips include a short hacking sequence. Others show what appear to be weapon effect tests in a greybox environment, a plain test level built from simple blocks before final art is added. The picture is rough, as is normal for work taped during production.

According to Mp1st, the clips come from a VFX artist who worked on the project. A VFX artist handles screen effects such as gunfire, impacts and lighting.

The revival was first announced in 2020 and was to be the first game from The Initiative. The studio was established in 2018 by former Crystal Dynamics boss Darrell Gallagher. Xbox showed gameplay from the reboot in 2024, four years after its announcement.

Xbox has described the reboot as a secret agent thriller set in a near-future world. The player would control Dark, a secret agent, with a mix of shooting, stealth and gadgets. That 2024 presentation gave the public its clearest view of that plan.

Microsoft cancelled the game in 2025 as part of widespread changes at the company. The cancellation came alongside that of Rare's Everwild. The reboot was in co-development between The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics, with Crystal Dynamics acquired by Embracer Group in 2022.

Later reporting said the project almost found a second life. Publisher Take-Two held talks to take on Perfect Dark after the cancellation, but the deal fell through, according to IGN. A further report said the team had already recorded entire chapters of motion capture, the process where actors' movements are recorded to animate characters, and had prepared a plan for a slimmed-down version.

For fans, this is a brief look at work that will not reach release. The footage is short and unfinished. It still gives a clear sense of the combat, gadgets and locations the teams were building.