Taking to its Twitter page, Team Reptile confirmed that the planned 2022 launch for Bomb Rush Cyberfunk has been scrapped. The developer is now targeting a summer 2023 release window, extending the wait for players to start shredding their way through the game’s stylistic cityscape by several months.
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The developers explained that, like with most delays, they’re pushing the game back because it turned out that it won’t be ready in time for the original release window. They’re convinced that Bomb Rush Cyberfunk won’t be in a state they’d be “personally satisfied with” if they force it out this year. As such, the team will be taking their time, but added that they’ll be releasing several new visuals this week to show how the game’s shaping up.
Understandably, fans are disappointed to have to wait nearly a full year more. On the other hand, though, Team Reptile’s hesitance to rush the game makes sense considering the backlash to games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, which launched in such buggy and unpolished states that it left a stigma over them for months, even years. That’s why fans were calling for Sega to delay Sonic Frontiers after initial gameplay reveals came off to many as unfinished. In light of that, then, a delay could be considered the lesser evil.
When it finally arrives next year, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk should give fans what they’ve been wanting ever since Jet Set Radio went dormant in the early 2000s. Players will be free to skate across large and open maps, using the urban terrain to chain all sorts of tricks in gameplay enhanced by stylish cel-shaded graphics and a soundtrack from Jet Set composer Hideki Naganuma. What’s more, players will have other means of getting around aside from the classic rollerblades, such as skateboards and BMX bikes.
But in an interesting twist, it might not be the only major skating game on the market in the foreseeable future. It was reported earlier this year that Sega may finally be developing a new Jet Set Radio game after 20 years. While the report stressed that the game is still early in development and may ultimately be canceled, the mere possibility of a new game actually happening is more than Jet Set has gotten in a long-time, and will no doubt give fans plenty to think about while they wait for Bomb Rush Cyberfunk to release.
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is slated to launch in summer 2023 for PC and Switch. The game is also confirmed to be coming to other unspecified consoles.
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