Extremely OK Games, an independent studio from Canada, known for creating the acclaimed game Celeste, has announced the cancellation of their upcoming game Earthblade, which was initially scheduled for release in 2022.
Earthblade was described as a 2D side-scrolling Metroidvania adventure set in a vast interconnected world (resembling a sword-shaped map, as hinted by the game’s title). Originally slated for a 2023 release, the game faced multiple delays before ultimately being canceled.
Maddy Thorson, the game’s director, cited the slow development progress and internal studio conflicts between himself and Pedro Medeiros, the art director and pixel artist of Celeste, regarding ownership rights over the game. Eventually, Pedro split off to work on a new game called Neverway.
The internal discord within the studio led Maddy and co-founder Noel Berry to reassess their capabilities, realizing that they were unable to undertake a large-scale project like Earthblade (given the pressure from Celeste’s success). As a result, they made the tough decision to cancel the project and focus on designing a new game of similar scope to Celeste instead.
Source – Extremely OK Games, Eurogamer
TLDR: Extremely OK Games, known for Celeste, cancels Earthblade due to development delays and internal disagreements, opting to create a new game akin to Celeste instead.
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