The beautiful, sad cyberpunk game I've had my eye on for 4 years has sad, less beautiful news: it's delayed again, this time to spring 2026 - "It's no secret that it's taken longer than we initially thought"

Sad Cad Studios have some sad news: its stunning cyberpunk 2.5D action-platformer Replaced has been delayed yet again, this time to Spring 2026.

The Belarus-based indie studio first announced Replaced back in 2021, at the very final E3, and I still remember being blown away by its dynamic pixel art, which looks so gritty and realistic that it doesn't even look like pixel art if you're squinting. I was also taken by the incredibly bleak-sounding story about an artificial intelligence trapped against its will inside a human body and forced to fight for survival in a post-nuclear disaster world.

Replaced was originally due out in 2022, but was delayed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompted Sad Cat to relocate for the safety of its developers.

Sad Cat doesn't give a specific reason for this new delay, but game director Yura Zhdanovich acknowledges Replaced's troubled development in a press release in which he apologizes for the release date shifts.

"We know that our community is incredibly excited to play Replaced and it's no secret that it’s taken longer than we initially thought to deliver that to you all - we apologise for that," said Zhdanovich. "We've always been trying to do what's right for the project, which in turn, means delivering to you a truly special experience."

Zhdanovich does have some good news to share: "We now are very close to finishing production," which hopefully means this new Spring 2026 window is the real deal. In the meantime, a development update video (via IGN) gives us a good look at some retouched pixel art, and it indeed is very beautiful.

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