It’s been a pretty solid few weeks for updates on game delays and today is no exception. It’s just been announced that the 2.5D dystopian action game REPLACED is to be pushed back until 2023. A game about the effects of what the human body will do to an AI living inside it, REPLACED was first revealed during last year’s Xbox Showcase, and has had fans of the cyberpunk genre pretty excited. The devastating war in Ukraine though is having a major knock-on effect on many releases, and it looks like REPLACED will be one of them.
In a tweet shared earlier on the game’s official Twitter feed, it was revealed that many of the developers working on the game at Belarusian-based studio Sad Cat Studios have understandably felt the effects of the war in neighbouring Ukraine. This, in turn, has had a real impact on the studio’s ability to continue progressing the development of REPLACED. As a result, the team at Coatsink and Sad Cat Studios have made the decision to push back the game’s planned release date of this year until some point in 2023. You can read the announcement in full here.
While this will undoubtedly come as disappointing news for those looking forward t playing the retro-futuristic platformer, it’s understandable given the current global climate that the studio would need to make such a decision. The news has been met with a heartfelt response from the gaming community on Twitter, with almost all users united behind the studio’s choice during this difficult time.
The game is being developed for PC and Xbox Series S/X and Xbox One, and obviously will now be released at some point in 2023. We’ll be keeping an eye on all things REPLACED as further updates about the future of the game come through, but for now, fans will just have to be patient for a bit longer.