Acid Wizard Studios - the developer behind 2017's stupendous top-down survival horror Darkwood - has announced an indefinite, years-long hiatus, just months after unveiling its first new game in half a decade, Soccer Kids.
Darkwood initially released into Steam early access back in 2014, quickly becoming a horror favourite with its strange, oppressive atmosphere and strikingly effective presentation, but following its full release in 2017 and a period of patching, Acid Wizard all but vanished.
The Polish studio finally resurfaced earlier this year, explaining in a blog post shared in June that its absence was a result of Darkwood's intense five-year development which, it said, "took a toll on us, both mentally and physically." That necessitated an extended break, after which the studio was ready to think about its next game, and while a Darkwood sequel was considered, "the memory of the inhuman amount of work put into Darkwood was still there".