Celeste dev's new game aims for a 2023 launch

Celeste developer's next game has now begun playtesting.

That game would be Earthblade, if you're unfamiliar with what Extremely OK Games has been working on in the years following Celeste. Just yesterday, studio co-founder Maddy Thorson published the blog post just below, giving readers a brief insight to the development process of Earthblade.

Simply put, Earthblade has entered playtesting, a significant milestone for the development process. "We're currently scheduling one for the end of every month, tapping friends of ours who aren't yet familiar with it," Thorson writes, adding that the development team hopes to finalize most of the game's actual content this year, before working on polishing it into shape in the future.

Then, writes Thorson, Extremely OK Games hopes to release Earthblade some time next year. There might even be some form of private beta test for the game, but right now the development team is focused on getting the game in the best possible shape before the next playtesting phase begins next month. Thorson's blog post also delves into the side project that developers have outside of Earthblade, and it sounds like they're all incredibly busy people.

It's incredibly exciting to think that the next game from the Celeste development team is on the horizon. After launching in Celeste in 2018 to critical acclaim and a dedicated player base, Extremely OK Games announced Earthblade in April last year, describing it as a 2D pixel art "explor-action game." Earthblade might be a fair way off from launch yet, but Extremely OK Games has proved it's a fascinating development team to follow.

Check out our full new games 2022 guide for a complete look over all the games launching this year.