Two years ago, Palworld answered the question, "What if Pokémon had base building and multiplayer?" Never Grave: The Witch and the Curse, Pocketpair's next game, developed by a new internal team, is giving the same treatment to Hollow Knight.
Announced in 2023, Never Grave was first planned to release in early access later that year. Everything about its art, animations, and boss battles screams Hollow Knight, but like Palworld, Never Grave is wearing its imitations on its sleeve and instead focusing on what it brings to the table: 4-player co-op, base-building, a roguelite format, and a Mario Odyssey-like ability to possess enemy creatures.
In late 2023, Never Grave's early access date was pushed to early 2024, and soon after, Pocketpair released a demo for Steam Next Fest. Following the mixed feedback of that demo, Pocketpair decided to postpone the early access launch and focus on improvements.
In its first Steam page update in over a year, Pocketpair now says Never Grave will forgo early access altogether, releasing in its full 1.0 form instead.
"Due to the valuable feedback from many players during the demo period, we have decided to deliver the game in its complete form, rather than in staged early access," the Steam update reads. "The development team is currently making final adjustments to ensure that you receive the best gaming experience from day one. Stay tuned!"
So not only is the whole early access thing in the rear view, but by the sound of it, the studio's gearing up to release the whole thing relatively soon. Unfortunately, that also means last year's demo has gone offline while Pocketpair prepares for 1.0.
In all my years of covering Steam, this might be the first time I've seen a studio plan for early access and then decide against it instead of the opposite. Maybe the team decided the demo feedback was good enough and it'd get more done by hunkering down instead of treating every early access update like its own release. As someone who has burnt out on too many early access games before they ever reach their full potential, I respect the strategy.
