For a PSVR exclusive that started development all the way back in 2015—before PSVR was even released—Golem sure has been taking its time. Following several delays, we last heard that the studio planned to launch the game by the end of 2018, but that’s no longer the case.
Highwire Games is the indie studio behind Golem, consistenting of former Bungie veterans Marty O’Donnell and Jaime Griesemer alongside a handful of other experienced game makers.
The bits we know about the unique-looking title is that it will involve the player jumping between various avatars—ranging in size from dolls to giants—as they explore the world around them and tackle challenges small and large.
After an initial delay, Golem was due to launch on March 16th, 2018, but that got pushed back indefinitely as the developers wanted to ensure they could “release a polished VR experience that we are proud of […].” In August Highwire affirmed that though there was no date set, the game was on track for a 2018 launch.
As the end of the year has drawn near, we reached out to Highwire Games who have confirmed that the game is still in the works but won’t see a 2018 release as expected.
“Things are still proceeding; we want Golem to be the game we envisioned and we’re taking the time we need to get it there,” a Highwire spokesperson told Road to VR. “[We’re] not going to talk release timing until we are absolutely sure about it this time.”
It’s unfortunate that the game isn’t likely to grace player’s headsets until at least 2019, but the silver lining is knowing that the worst potential outcome—cancellation—is not the cause.
When we last heard from Highwire in August, the studio said that the game was mostly complete, and that the remaining work was “almost entirely optimization.” It would seem that phase may have taken longer than anticipated.
Characterizing the game’s environment design, a spokesperson at the time remarked that Golem is “closest to [something like] Dark Souls in terms of structure. Not wide open terrain or totally free navigation, but a single large interconnected environment to explore.” That structure, the spokesperson said, led to challenges with level streaming—seamlessly loading parts of the game’s large environments without interruption—something ostensibly made more complicated with the high performance requirements of VR.