Drinkbox moves Blighted out of 2026 and into 2027

The release moves to 2027

Drinkbox Studios used the fourth devlog for Blighted on 21 September to say the game will not arrive this year. "Before we get into the fun part of this devlog, we'd like to first address the fact that it is nearing the end of 2026 and Blighted still doesn't have an official release date," the studio wrote. "The team has been working hard (and growing!) but we feel we still need a bit more time to polish and tune the game before launch. With this in mind, we've decided to shift our release to 2027." The Steam listing now gives the window simply as 2027.

There is no new date attached to the move, and no promise of one soon: the studio says there will be more news in the new year, and one further development update before 2026 is out.

What the studio says the game is

Blighted is an isometric Metroidvania action RPG from the makers of Guacamelee! and Nobody Saves the World, set in a psychedelic Western nightmare. Players hunt down "Memory Bandits" across a series of large, handcrafted, interconnected levels, collecting permanent upgrades on the way to boss fights against the main targets.

Memory Trees and Watcher's Peak

The devlog doubles as a tour of the structure under all that. Checkpoints take the form of Memory Trees, where players can rest, upgrade their character and customise their equipment; they also open shortcuts back to themselves, so the map keeps folding in on the places you have already cleared. Watcher's Peak is the home camp, where upgrade items are taken to the last living Memory Tree and spent on taking more hits and dealing more damage, and fast travel links the peak to the rest of the world. Drinkbox designer Chris Brady talks through the level and combat thinking in the same post, and the studio describes a game that is being tuned rather than rebuilt.

Our opinion

A delay with no date to slip is the most honest kind of delay, and it is worth being clear about what changed here: Blighted never had a public release date for players to lose, so this is a window moving rather than a promise breaking. That said, Drinkbox is asking for patience from an audience that has watched plenty of handsome isometric action games arrive unfinished, and "we still need more time to polish" is the phrase that precedes both the best and the worst outcomes in this industry. The encouraging detail is the devlog itself. A studio that can explain why its checkpoints are trees and how its fast travel is meant to work is not flailing; it is telling you the design is settled even if the release is not. The one thing worth watching is whether the extra year buys scope or just buys polish - and with 2027 already crowded, arriving quietly would waste the one advantage a delay gives you.