Gorgeous Ghibli-esque exploration adventure Europa delayed to “summer”

Europa, the absolutely lovely looking Ghibli-inspired exploration adventure from developer Helder Pinto, has been delayed – and will now likely launch for PC this “summer”.

Europa – a “peaceful game of adventure, exploration, and meditation” set on a terraformed moon in Jupiter’s shadow – has been in the works since 2017 (Pinto, a former principle art lead at Blizzard has described it as a “passion project”), but it finally got a release date at the end of last year, with the team aiming to launch on 16th April 2024.

However, with that date just weeks away now, Pinto has made the decision to push Europa’s release back by a couple of months, “probably until summer”.

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Europa Release Date Trailer (Wholesome Snack: The Game Awards Edition 2023)

“Europa began as a side project I created alone,” Pinto wrote in a message shared on Steam, “and in the years since it has grown more than I ever could have dreamed, though we are still working in the evenings and weekends around our day jobs. I’m very proud of what we’ve done together – which is why I can’t stand the thought of releasing the game before it’s in the condition we want it to be.”

In a video accompanying the delay announcement, Pinto added, “We want to make sure we tell [our] story right through gameplay, so we’ve been working on our cinematics a lot and I’ve also been working a lot on the pacing of the game.”

“I know a lot of people have been excited for the launch,” Pinto’s statement concluded, “and I’d like to apologise, and ask that you kindly hold on just a little longer. I promise the extra time will be well spent, and I really believe the final work will be worth the wait. We’ll let you know the new date as soon as we’re 100% confident we’re ready to launch.”

Europa is already shaping up to be something a bit special, so taking a little more time to get things just right sounds like absolutely the correct course of action. And if you haven’t checked it already, Europa’s demo – which Eurogamer contributor Liv Ngan was quite taken with earlier this year – is still available to play on Steam.

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