The release of Lightyear Frontier, a space-based game similar to Stardew Valley in which you use a large, multifunctional mechatractor suit to introduce agriculture to an alien world, has been postponed. It was meant to come out, well, sometime about now (Spring 2023) but developers Frame Break revealed the postponement with a message on Twitter – noting that they “can’t commit to a launch window right now”.
You can read the complete statement in the tweet that is linked above, and if you do, you’ll notice something funny: they don’t exactly explain why they’re delaying it. Since that this is the main cause of virtually every delay in history, we may assume that they are still working on it. One extremely long statement reads, “We are committed to producing a thoughtfully-designed experience and continuing the conversation with our community in the process. Not only do we want the game to be exciting, but also well-balanced with each facet of the game intertwining with one another. The developers also promise to “keep revealing what we’re working on as development progresses”.
Lightyear Frontier was scheduled to enter early access, and in a way it’s curious that they didn’t just chose to release the game in its current state given that early-access gamers are generally more understanding. The release window is kind of “idk,” which raises the possibility that it still needs a lot more work beneath the hood of the old tractor, but that’s just me speculating.
Last year, I was given a hands-off glimpse that showed the variety of things you could do with your mech, including slightly customizing the construction. Like other mechs, it is armed, but these weapons are beautiful ones that discharge seeds into the ground and other things. You can’t truly die in Lightyear Frontier because it’s a “survival game without survival” that focuses on being enjoyable. Because we were all comparing LF to Stardew at the time, and Katharine was drawn to the idea of a neo-traditional farming sim, the developers highlighted some of the parallels and contrasts between the two games in February. Me too! I like to have my own way of doing things. Hope the delay for Lightyear Frontier isn’t too long.
