Image: Sad Cat Studios
The next cyberpunk game Replaced will not be released in 2022 scheduled. Today, developer Sad Cat Studios announced that the game of side-scrolling platforms is planned for the next one, citing the ongoing war in Ukraine as the cause.
First introduced on last year’s Xbox E3 showcase, Replaced is a 2.5D game that presents you as an AI program trapped inside a human body. A first game trailer featured a crisp combat and a tight platform, all set in a futuristic city made with high definition pixel art. Between a showcase featuring characters like Starfield, Halo Infinite and other original Xbox games, Replaced stood out for its stunning artistic style and irresistibly catchy ear worm.
“The Belarus-based studio working on the game, Sad Cat Studios, has a team of talented developers from Belarus and Ukraine,” the game’s representatives wrote in a statement on Twitter. “Unfortunately, the ongoing war in Ukraine has severely affected the development of Replaced, as most of the team resides in neighboring regions.”
Game development has resumed after a pause, but it is unclear how long the project was suspended. Coatsink representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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In February, Russian forces invaded Ukraine, organizing a ground invasion and launching airstrikes on major metropolitan areas. War is a widespread humanitarian crisis; so far, according to the United Nations, Ukraine has suffered about 8,500 civilian casualties. Russia has the support of Belarus, where Russian troops gathered before the invasion. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has been a longtime ally of Russia and more specifically its President Vladimir Putin.
Read more: Missiles and massacres: Ukrainian game developers persist in Russian invasion
The war has had a major impact on the development of the game in the region. While some developers have stayed in the country due to a wide range of reasons, as detailed in a comprehensive Kotaku report, others have moved. Frogwares, a Kyiv-based studio known for its Sherlock Holmes games, plans to move to another part of Europe. (In March, Frogwares released a Switch port for Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter.) GSC World, currently developing STALKER 2 for Xbox Series X / S and PC, resumed development of the survival game this week after the release of the studio in Prague. According to United Nations figures, 14 million Ukrainian citizens have fled their homes in recent months.