If you're a fan of heartfelt narrative adventures, you probably didn't want to see Wayward Strand delayed, but unfortunately, Ghost Pattern has announced it will be pushed back to September. This decision has been made to give the team time to finish up the game without crunch or pressure.
Why was Wayward Strand delayed?
Speaking via Steam, Wayward Strand developer Ghost Pattern explained its reasoning behind delaying the game. The studio says Wayward Strand is a fairly unique project, with a lot of voiced dialogue, real-time mechanics, and "richly decorated and intensely researched 3-storey dollhouse worlds". The team making the game is pretty small, and although Wayward Strand is close to being finished, the devs felt they needed more time to realize their vision. That's why Wayward Strand has a new release date.
Like many developers attempting to complete projects without crunch, Ghost Pattern says that it wants to complete its project with values of "empathy, openness, and anti-crunch" in mind. Since Wayward Strand is a game about caring for people, the devs say it wouldn't make sense to work on the game without caring for its own staff. That's why the new Wayward Strand release date is September 15th (assuming the game doesn't get pushed back again, of course). This new date should allow the team to finish the game without worrying about time pressures.
What is Wayward Strand?
Wayward Strand is a narrative adventure game set aboard a floating 1970s Australian hospital. Originally announced in May 2020 at the Wholesome Games Showcase, the game went quiet for a while before being reintroduced this year during the Nintendo Indie World Showcase in May. It's a rather charming-looking game in which the lives of the hospital's patients and staff play out in real time; you play a young girl sent to help out aboard an airborne hospital, and you'll have to choose which residents to follow and where to be during the game's run time. There will be mysteries to solve, plenty of residents to meet, and a whole hospital to explore, and since the action moves along in real time, it looks like there will be plenty of replay value as well.
Wayward Strand launches for PC and consoles on September 15th. The game will have been in development for more than six years when it arrives, so it's fair to say it will have been a labor of love for the developers. Here's hoping that the game comes out all the better for the extra few months the devs are taking to work on it. We'll bring you more on Wayward Strand as soon as we get it, so stay tuned to TechRaptor for the latest on this promising-looking indie adventure.
