Cyberpunk thriller ‘Replaced’ delayed to avoid “overpromising and under delivering”

6 September, 2023

Developer Sad Cat Studios has decided to delay Replaced into 2024 to avoid “overpromising and under delivering” on its debut title.

Replaced features an especially eye-catching yet resource-intensive art direction, with 2.5D pixel character and environments.

It is this element that has won over a lot of the fans of the game and, while the developer “[does] understand the game’s scope”, Sad Cat Studios claims it does not want to disappoint in any way.

“After Replaced‘s initial announcement in 2021 and its follow-up trailer in 2022 we had this incredible high bar of community’s expectations,” said the company in a statement posted to X. “And at this point we knew that we can’t afford to release a sub-par game… This is our first game, and we want to make every aspect of it the best it can be.”

Sad Cat Studios underscored that development on Replaced is “at a steady pace” and thanked fans for their continued support for Replaced and their understanding. The game had already been delayed before as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War.

At the time of writing, Replaced’s systems are almost all functional, and its the “super-intense asset production phase” which is slowing things down. “To give an example of this, the main character in Replaced has more than 500 meticulously hand-painted animations made just for platforming,” said the developer.

Earlier this week, Pieces Interactive and THQ Nordic have pushed the launch of Alone In The Dark out of October as it is an extremely popular month for games.

‘Replaced’ Credit: Coatsink Software

“Our intention is to avoid competing with the wake of Alan’s epic release and to evade the dazzling skyline of cities adorned by the graceful swings of Spider-Man,” explained the publisher, referring to Alan Wake 2 and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

In other gaming news, Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke shared that part of the team is already working on a new game as well as the ongoing support for Baldur’s Gate 3.

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