Mire Mare

Mire Mare is an unreleased video game by Ultimate Play the Game.

Gameplay
An interview conducted on the Ultimate World website states clearly that the game was completed, and that even the artwork was prepared. An ex-employee even claims to have played it. It had been widely speculated that Mire Mare was to be presented in Ultimate Play the Game's Filmation isometric graphic style, either with static screens (as used in Knight Lore, Alien 8 and Pentagram), or scrolling (as in Nightshade and Gunfright) but Rare (the company that rose from Ultimate Play the Game's ashes) revealed in the late 1990s that it would actually have been more like the top-down Sabre Wulf. Rare also explained that although the basic game design was completed Ultimate Play the Game's hectic schedule meant that the title's actual coding was never completed.

Clues
Underwurlde, the second game in the Sabreman series of titles from Ultimate Play the Game (between Sabre Wulf and Knight Lore), has three separate exits, each naming another game in the series. The first exit names Knight Lore, which was released at the same time as Underwurlde. The second names Pentagram, which surfaced in 1986. The third exit names Mire Mare, which was expected, but never published.

On successful completion of the Knight Lore game, the poem displayed reads:

THE POTION CASTS

ITS MAGIC STRONG

ALL EVIL MUST BEWARE

THE SPELL HAS BROKEN

YOU ARE FREE

GO FORTH TO MIREMARE And on successful completion of Pentagram, the message displayed is:

CONGRATULATIONS

YOU HAVE COMPLETED

THE PENTAGRAM

YOUR ADVENTURE CONTINUES IN

MIRE MARE

U.S. Gold purchase
The Mire Mare story is largely connected to the partial sale of Ultimate Play the Game to U.S. Gold.

The most widely believed story is that Mire Mare was actually coded before Gunfright (Ultimate Play the Game's last title before U.S. Gold's partial takeover). With a view to the popularity of the Sabreman character, it was decided to hold Mire Mare back as Ultimate Play the Game's 'swan song'.

However, the partial takeover moved a lot quicker than anticipated, and although Ultimate Play the Game had released Gunfright prior, they had not yet released Mire Mare. U.S. Gold seemingly were not interested in releasing new Ultimate Play the Game material. Instead they were more interested in releasing the Ultimate Play the Game back catalogue on the £2.99 Kixx label. Naturally, Ultimate Play the Game were not too pleased about this, and when U.S. Gold asked Ultimate Play the Game about Mire Mare (and mentioned the fact they would like to release it alongside the Ultimate Play the Game back catalogue) they were subsequently told that it was not ready, and would not be completed for another six months, at which point U.S. Gold decided to cancel the project.