Served rare

fter around half a decade of development, Hövelbrinks released an Early Access version of in 2021. “I was struggling for years with the decision,” he admits. “So many other Early Access games have a lot of replayability.” After considering a Kickstarter campaign and speaking with publishers, he decided this approach suited him best. Open development was appealing to Hövelbrinks (since that first tweet, “the whole development process is basically public on Twitter”), and getting player feedback has helped quell his concerns about living up to expectations after such a long wait. He’s not sure how far the game is from v1.0 (what’s currently available represents around a third of the campaign, with some systems polished to final standard and others barely present) but, after selling 60,000 copies, he has the funds to reach it.