Developer Radical Forge have announced today that their quirky farming game Southfield has been delayed indefinitely just days before its launch.
Southfield was expected to launch this coming Monday June 24th on PC however it appears the game isn’t ready. In a statement the developer has said that they don’t want to affect the health and well-being of the team by pushing them too hard.
“We have been working tirelessly to ensure that Southfield meets the high standards that our community deserves. However, it has become clear that we cannot achieve this without compromising the health and well-being of our team. Therefore, we have made the difficult decision to delay the launch. We understand how disappointing this news is, and we share in your frustration. We know how much anticipation and excitement has built up around Southfield, and we are deeply committed to delivering a product that lives up to the high expectations of our dedicated community.
Thank you for your continued patience and support during this challenging time. This is an incredibly hard decision for us to make, but we are confident it will lead to us making the game something truly special and that reflects that passion we've felt since the announcement from you.
We are grateful for your understanding and remain committed to keeping you informed with any new developments.“
Southfield is one of many highly anticipated Steam games coming to the platform via Early Access. On the one hand its commendable that the team has recognized that the team is under duress and would rather delay the game than push them harder. On the other hand it is a truly bizarre situation to have a game delayed 3 days before launch. They surely had to have known they weren’t going to make the date earlier. Between that and the fact that there is no new release date attached to this is also worrying.
We previously got a little hands on time with the Beta. Lady V, had this to say:
“The game itself is a crafting/farming game with exploration, a cute cast of characters and some fun physics. There a lot to like, how you fall over and roll to get places more quickly and the weird and wonderful plants that bounce, roll and misbehave. However, I did find some of the goofiness got in the way of the game itself.
Due to all of the fun physics things take significantly longer than you would expect. Harvesting crops is either a long manual pull (which take way too long) or swinging with a scythe that’s liable to miss. The bouncy and unpredictable nature of the fruit also means your automation efforts often go wrong as something bounces of in a random direction. The building is fun, but I’d also like for moving things to be easier, 3 charged hits with the pickaxe to move a conveyer made me almost not want to engage with the system, especially as it depletes durability and energy.
Hopefully the team are looking at some of the feedback from the beta over the delay period and take the time they need to get this charming game ready for everyone to enjoy.”
Regardless when the game does get a new release date we will be sure to let you know and cover the game when we can!
