Earthblade, the next game from Celeste developer Extremely OK Games, will not be released in 2024. The fantasy Metroidvania platformer was originally slated for release this year, but has been delayed without a new release window.
The announcement was made in a March 28 blog post on the developer’s website from studio head Maddy Thorson, who writes:
We appreciate your patience as we try our best to make this video game that appears to be stubbornly determined to not get made. More on the process in the following paragraphs, but first we need to face the music: this game ain’t coming out in 2024. We had hoped to be announcing a firm release date around now, but it just isn’t in the cards. We know that this will be disappointing for a lot of you and we’re sorry for that. Maybe this was predictable, but still it always sucks when the haters are right.
Earthblade was first announced in April 2021 in a blog post called “The Vibe Reveal.” The post shared little about the game beyond a teaser poster and a snippet of the game’s soundtrack. Earthblade would resurface in a more concrete way at the 2022 Game Awards with a reveal trailer showing off plenty of gameplay, details on the story, and a 2024 release window. Just like Celeste and TowerFall before it, Earthblade will focus on platforming action, but unlike those games it will also fall into the Metroidvania genre. The setting and story appear to lean into the fantasy genre.
The game’s delay isn’t all bad news, though, as Thorson assures readers that “we are still making progress and we’re still excited to work on it.” To that end, the team at Extremely OK Games has hired game designer Kyle Pulver, whose work has served as an influence on past Extremely OK titles. Fans will just have to wait a little longer than expected for Earthblade now that it has no release window. But Thorson writes that, “Despite the setbacks, we all still believe in this project, and more importantly in each other.” I’m sure fans feel the same.