One of my most anticipated games of 2023 may not be coming out this year. Red Candle Games’ gorgeously hand-drawn action-platformer, Nine Sols, is set to follow up the studio’s tumultus title, Devotion. The previous release ran afoul of government censorship, making international news when it was delisted from Steam after players found a hidden reference associating Chinese politician Xi Jinping with Winnie the Pooh. But the team’s upcoming project is facing a slightly more familiar hurdle.
Eagle-eyed Knoebel spotted Nine Sol’s Steam Page release date had shifted to reflect a Q1 2024 release date, though the developers have no public word about the change on its social media. I reached out to the studio for official confirmation the game launch was getting pushed back and received this statement:
As our team is currently dedicated to the development process, we are in the process of evaluating the optimal release timing.
Consequently, we have made some adjustments to the Steam release schedule to avoid any potential unforeseen changes. We assure you that we will keep everyone informed once we finalize the actual release date.
This isn’t a definite answer one way or the other, but it means players may be waiting a bit longer for Nine Sols. The game, originally set to release earlier in 2023, already suffered a delay to the back end of the year. You can see the developer’s social media post explaining the move below:
While we are quickly approaching the last quarter of 2023, Red Candle Games never released a narrower launch date. So, this shifting schedule isn’t terribly surprising. And though I would love to get my hands on the game in the next few months, I encourage the creators to take all the time they need to make the experience everything they want it to be. According to the studio representative I contacted, we should be hearing more on Nine Sols‘ release date when the team makes its ultimate decision.
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