Developer Maddy Thorson acknowledged that it's time to "face the music" in a blog posted on Thursday, announcing that Earthblade — the next game from the team behind the acclaimed platformer Celeste — won't be making its 2024 release date.
In her detailed update, Thorson acknowledged some of the hurdles that the project has faced, at one point admitting that she apologized to the team as she dealt with challenges in her personal life. She also recevealed that her studio, Extremely OK Games, has hired veteran indie developer Kyle Pulver, who among other things is the "world champion of Towerfall."
"Kyle quickly approached us with big ideas, which can be scary for everyone involved. But it was clear that he's not here to derail the project. He's identifying our vision and the problems preventing the game from living up to it, and working with us to pinpoint solutions. Plus his fresh eyes have inspired all of us to see things anew," Thorson wrote.
First announced back in 2021, Earthblade is a "2D explor-action" game with a pixel art style and a soundtrack from Celeste composer Lena Raine. It was subsequently revealed in a trailer at the 2022 Game Awards, though not much else has been seen of it since. It was originally expected to be out in 2024 before the announced delay.
Thorson, who is a transgender woman, wrote that her transition "involves a lot of change, uncertainty and doubt, and it's easy to see how that has bled into Earthblade."
"I was despairing about this and apologizing to the team recently, but [developer Pedro Medeiros] said something that helped me shift my thinking. He told me that this uncertainty was always going to be part of the process and that it wasn't solely coming from me — we've all had to fight through uncertainty together to make Earthblade. Even if we could go back and do everything 'perfectly' from the start the result would be a different game. Despite the setbacks, we all still believe in this project, and more importantly in each other," Thorson wrote.
Thorson did not reveal a new release date, but did say that she feels like she's at the "start of a new era." It is certainly slated to release on PC. For more, check out our Celeste retrospective published last year, which includes interviews with Thorson, Raine, and more.
Kat Bailey is IGN's News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
