Terry Cavanagh abandons development on RPG project Nexus City

Terry Cavanagh, the man behind the indie hits VVVVVV and Super Hexagon (and, as such, the man whose name I've cursed thousands of times) has announced he's no longer to develop Nexus City, or its spin-off game Selma's Story. Nexus City was to be an RPG collaboration between Cavanagh and writer/developer Jonas Kyratzes, whose previous games include The Sea Will Claim Everything and the free Twine game Moonlight .

Posting on his Distractionware blog, Cavanagh writes, "Originally a very small game, over time it grew completely out of control – at this point, Jonas and I have worked on it on and off for over two years. However, that doesn't really paint an accurate picture – I haven't worked on Nexus City itself since 2011, and I only worked on the spinoff game, Selma's Story, for two months last year."

"I've been thinking of Nexus City as “the thing I'm working on” since 2010. As a result, for a long time now, I've felt like I wasn't really in control of what I can work on. Promising games would come along, and I'd stop myself from getting too deep into them, because I had to finish Nexus City first. Everything became a big ordered list of what I could work on and when, how long I could spend on it."

Cavanagh admits that despite the game promising an "amazing world with an amazing story," the momentum has long since run out. So what's next for the game-maker/engineer of perversely enjoyable frustration? "Right now – for the moment, I think I may just take some time off ... After that? I don't really know! I have a clean slate again for the first time in a very long time, and I'm very excited about that."

Phil Savage
Editor-in-Chief

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.