Earthblade was going to be the next game from the creators behind 2D pixel art action hits TowerFall and Celeste. But on Wednesday, designer Maddy Thorson announced the project was quietly canceled last month after a fallout between some of the team’s members and the realization that the game’s protracted development had become a real slog.
“For us on the inside we’ve had some time to process, grieve, and work toward accepting this, although that process is nonlinear and still ongoing,” Thorson wrote. “For those only reading this now who might be emotionally invested in this project, we’re sorry to disappoint you.”
Earthblade was announced by indie team Extremely OK Games back in 2021 and revealed its first gameplay in a trailer at The Game Awards 2022. Originally set to come out as early as 2023, development didn’t progress as quickly as the team had expected. A planned 2024 launch was eventually delayed as well.
In the cancellation announcement today, Thorson writes of a falling-out with pixel artist Pedro Medeiros, whose visual style defined the aesthetic of the upcoming project, over a dispute related to IP rights for Celeste, the beloved 2018 GOTY contender. “We eventually reached a resolution, but both parties also agreed in the end that we should go our separate ways,” Earthblade’s director wrote. “Pedro is now working on his game Neverway, which you should check out - we’ve played it and it’s very promising.”
Thorson went on to pull the curtain back some on the latest project’s difficult development. “Celeste’s success applied pressure on us to deliver something bigger and better with Earthblade, and that pressure is a large part of why working on it has become so exhausting,” Thorson wrote. “Pedro isn’t to blame for this-in fact the split with him has given us the clarity to see that we have lost our way, and the opportunity to admit defeat. I feel many ways about it, but one big feeling is undoubtedly relief.”
For now, Thorson and Celeste co-creator Noel Berry have gone back to prototyping new potential projects while the rest of the team has moved on. The dream of Earthblade might be dead, but the minds behind it aren’t done making games.
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