"I might never finish this game, so I'm releasing the demo": After 9 years, A Short Hike dev soft-cancels Paper Mario-inspired RPG but lets players try a build

Adam Gryu, the indie developer behind delightful mini-open-world A Short Hike and a popular pumpkin-carving MMO, has finally (sort of) cancelled his Paper Mario-ish game after almost a decade since its announcement.

A new blog post called 'I might never finish this game, so I'm releasing the demo' details why Gryu isn't working on the game anymore, where it was at in development, why he's letting everyone try a build anyway, and what he's working on next.

He explains that the Untitled Paper RPG began life when Nintendo revealed Paper Mario Color Splash in 2016, and all of his nostalgic memories for old-school Paper Mario came flooding back. "Well, I make games, why not try making the game I want to see?"

Gryu then took a break to instead work on A Short Hike, his breakout hit about slowly climbing up a tall mountain while finding secrets and helping people along the way. It has a touch of Breath of the Wild's open endedness, but it's also completely it's own thing, and it became popular enough to keep Gryu occupied for a while.

"After releasing A Short Hike and working on the subsequent updates and ports… I didn't really want to go back to this game? The development for the RPG had become difficult, which was why I took a break from it in the first place. I might return to this project someday, but I've been working on other things and don't see myself making time for this RPG in near future," the dev wrote.

He also explained that working on the RPG became so difficult because "the scope felt too big," it didn't actually have a story yet, the battle system apparently felt like an obstacle to get to the exploration, and most notably, he simply "started to lose the joy" of making it.

"Some people still ask about this game! I figured maybe sharing the demo is better than nothing. There is 1-2 hours of gameplay in the current build, after all. There’s some stuff in there that I’m proud of, even if there’s also some stuff that I find embarrassing!"

For now, he's working on an action-adventure game that looks a little bit similar to A Short Hike, alongside a "micro-RPG with a claymation aesthetic" and an "online platforming roguelike."

Not to worry, there's still tons of other upcoming indie games of 2025.