What Happened to Silksong and These 6 Indies?
What Happened to Silksong and These 6 Indies?
Here are some amazing Indies that seemingly disappeared after their reveals. Lets take a look at 7 Indies to see what the latest is and if any will be releasing in 2023 including the obligatory Silksong check in.
Metal Slug Tactics
Metal Slug Tactics was one of my most anticipated games of 2022 and 2023 as well. Taking the classic Metal Slug universe and giving it new life in the Tactical RPG genre in the vein of something like Into The Breach seemed like a great idea. Unfortunately, in August 2022, Dotemu announced Metal Slug Tactics would be delayed into 2023.
With pixel art graphics that honoured the classics and rogue like, Metal Slug Tactics showed plenty of promise. Unfortuanly, since the delay Dotemu has said nothing about MST and Leiker, the developer, have been active on social media but about their other game in development titled Synergy about which they post almost weekly. With this amount of activity but zero posts about MST, it doesn’t bode well that 2023 will be the year either.
Little Devil Inside
Little Devil Inside is one of the most perplexing games on the list. The studio has a huge pattern of missing release dates, dating back to their kickstarter, where they were planning a release on the WiiU as an achieved stretch goal. It’s safe to assume that version is not going to be happening. The first targeted release date was Fall 2016 to give you a better idea.
The biggest surprise is that it was the focal point of PlayStation Showcase in October 2021 with about five minutes of gameplay and explanation with a 2022 release date listed at the end. Since then, there has been zero information from PlayStation or NeoStream about the game.
Replaced
At E3 2021, Xbox revealed Replaced from Sad Cat Studios. It’s a 2.5D sci fi, retro futuristic game where you are AI trapped in a human body. Xbox, E3 and Indie games have a strong track record of announcing some revolutionary titles like Cuphead, Limbo, Inside and Ori. With this portfolio, the expectations for Replaced become very lofty. Replaced had a release window of 2022, but after the war in Ukraine, Sad Cat Studios announced in early 2022 that they had to relocate some members of the team, as the studio has offices in Belarus and Ukraine.
At the end of 2022, Replaced resurfaced with another excellent trailer. The good news for fans that are eagerly awaiting the release of Replaced, Sad Cat ,the developers and Coatsink, the publisher behind the game do post about the game quite frequently on social media which leads me to believe that a release date will be happening in Fall 2023.
Crowsworn
This is the Metroidvania that should be on the top of everyones list outside of Silksong. They usually post updates every few months on their kickstarter but haven’t posted since April. However, there is nothing to be worries about here as the studio is extremely active on Twitter.
There was a projected release date of December 2023, but the studio responded on kickstarter that its likely it will be later but haven’t confirmed that just yet. The good news is there seems to be some cryptic reveal happening on August 10, which is likely a demo for backers, a new trailer and hopefully a release date or window.
Plucky Squire
The Plucky Squire was one of the highlights from Summer Game Fest 2022. The game had such a captivating concept with you being the main character of a fairytale story book with the ability to move through the pages in 2D but also jump off the pages and explore the real world around in 3D. The visuals were stunning as the studio, All Possible Futures, was was founded by former Pokemon Art Director and gave vibes from other transformative experiences like Cuphead that broke the mold.
The good news, unlike like most other titles on this list is that they haven’t disappeared. Around the time of Summer Game Fest 2023, the studio released a new trailer with 2023 being shown at the end. Sadly, at Devolver Delayed it was announced that Plucky Squire would be the first of these Indies becoming officially 2024.
Hollow Knight: Silksong
It also wouldn’t be any anticipated indie list without mention of Silksong, so here is the obligatory update. As you likely know at the Xbox Summer Showcase in June 2022. All the games shown were listed to be released within 12 months, which essentially meant that Silksong was supposed to release by June 2023.
Then, in early May 2023, the community manager for Team Cherry announced that even though the game did have a planned release date within the first half of 2022, they would be delaying the game to make sure it was as good as can be and new details could be expected once the game was closer to release. Considering that they didn’t say that they are planning for a release in the second half of 2023, it would seem like Silksong is going to be landing in 2024 hopefully.
Routine
Routine is a first person sci-fi survival horror set on an abandoned lunar base with an 80’s aesthetic. It was shown at Summer Game Fest 2022 and lumped in with all the other scary space games including Dead Space Remake, Callisto Protocol and Fort Solis to name a few. Since then, nothing has been said about Routine, including Lunar Software, who have said nothing on social media since the SGF re-reveal.
This doesn’t bode well for the title when you consider it was revealed way back in 2012 with an anticipated release date of 2016.