Wayward Strand Delayed

Wayward Strand, the narrative-driven title that follows a teenage journalist during her first trip to a flying hospital, has been delayed. Originally slated for July 21, 2022, Wayward Strand will now be releasing on September 15, 2022 after a short two month delay. Developer Ghost Pattern posted the news on their Steam Blog, citing their dedication to prioritizing the stress levels of the development team and that there hasn’t been a game with the ambitions of Wayward Strand before. 

“…We did our best to set realistic timelines. But as we review each scene in the game and how it all comes together, we felt it was important to spend some additional time to bring the experience closer to our vision. We’re doing our best to bring our characters and stories to life for you,” Ghost Pattern said on their Steam Blog. Working on a game that has over 25,000 lines of voiceover dialogue and 14 characters that each have their own multi-hour story arc is a lot for a small development team. The delay has the mental health of employees in mind.

“This delay means we can release Wayward Strand at a level of quality that we’re very happy with. Importantly, it also allows us to do it in a less stressful way for the team. Wayward Strand is a game about care, and it would make no sense to make this game without caring for each other. From day one, we’ve been rigorously committed to empathy, openness, and anti-crunch. Game releases are almost always stressful and difficult for the teams behind them, so we’re trying to find ways of approaching our release that reduce some of those pressures.”

Click here to read the full statement from Ghost Pattern.