Fans of 11 bit studios (of Frostpunk and This War of Mine fame) will have to wait a little longer to set off on a space survival journey with their clones.

The Polish survival game specialists have expressed their sorrow through an Ally Corp communiqué informing would-be space miners that The Alters was coming out in Q1 2025.

Postponing the game by six or fewer months is not a major deal, and the broad public reaction has been supportive as 11 bit has been transparent about their quality standards to launch the game.

During the gameplay reveal in March 2024, 11 bit studios announced the game was coming out sometime this year for PC, Xbox X/S, and the PlayStation 5.

After entering the last quarter of 2024, the developers decided to make the postponement call sooner rather than later, keeping fans in the loop while avoiding a grueling crunch to meet an impossible deadline.

We would also like to recognize that Project Dolly, based on its initial Demo phase, has already exceeded expectations and the preliminary results demonstrated a high potential for a successful mission.

The announcement's keyword is polish. Over the years, 11 Bit has built a reputation as a reliable developer, with the This War of Mine and Frostpunk franchises universally listed among the best in the survival genre.

Fellow Polish studio CD Projekt Red has faced major backlash from players due to the extremely delayed Cyberpunk 2077 release in late 2020, but most of the anger was not about time.

The road to release was plagued by leaks exposing extreme crunch conditions, a practice that has fallen increasingly out of favor as players become more invested in how their games are made.

To make matters worse, despite spending over a year on overdrive (or arguably because of it), Cyberpunk 2077 was released in a sorry state, with previous-gen console owners frequently reporting it as unplayable. Things have improved since 2020, but the problems left a mark on CDPR's otherwise excellent reputation.

Most previews describe The Alters as a high-definition return to the endearing personal mechanics of This War of Mine, powered by actor Alex Jordan's fantastic range.

If 11 bit studios continue on this path, this game might join its previous works in the survival hall of fame.

Posted: Oct 10, 2024 10:54 am
Related Forum: PC Gaming Forum

Source: https://www.dualshockers.com/frostpunk-developer-delays-the-alters/