Celeste follow-up canceled as devs ‘refocus’ to smaller projects

Earthblade, the follow-up to 2018 2D platformer Celeste, has been canceled, developer Extremely OK Games announced in a blog post on Wednesday.

“We made this decision in December and felt it best to wait until now to announce it,” the developer wrote. “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.”

The post details a “disagreement about the IP rights of Celeste” last year between former art director Pedro Medeiros and current Extremely OK Games members Maddy Thorson and Noel Berry. The three of them “eventually reached a resolution, but both parties also agreed in the end that we should go our separate ways.” Medeiros left the team in November and is currently working on their own game, Neverway.

Extremely OK Games says the disagreement wasn’t the sole reason for the game’s cancellation, but that it prompted the company to “take a serious look at whether fighting through to finish Earthblade was the right path forward.” Even though it was announced in 2019, the team said it was “not as far along as one would expect after such a protracted development process.”

Earthblade was meant to be another 2D platformer in the style of Celeste, borrowing its pastel pixel art style and Metroidvania exploration elements. The game would’ve followed main character Névoa as they explored a ruined Earth with a soundtrack composed by Lena Raine, who previously did the music for Celeste. The first footage of the game was shown at the 2024 Game Awards and showcased its intricate 2D levels and gloomy tone.

“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,” it 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.”

Other members of the team decided to leave last year as well, leaving Thorson and Berry as the remaining employees of Extremely OK Games. The developer said it wants to “wipe the slate clean” and refocus on “smaller-scale projects.” “We’re prototyping again and exploring at our own pace, and trying to rediscover game development in a manner closer to how we approached it at Celeste’s or TowerFall’s inception.”