Sad Cat Studios Delays REPLACED Again, Now Launching April 14, 2026 After March Date Slip
Sad Cat Studios has delayed its long awaited cyberpunk platformer REPLACED once again, moving the release from March 12, 2026 to April 14, 2026. The game is currently slated to launch on PC and Xbox Series X and S, and the studio is framing this push as a final stretch delay focused on polish, stability, and incorporating actionable community feedback gathered from the newly released demo.
Earlier this month, ahead of the year’s first Steam Next Fest demo surge, Sad Cat Studios published a playable demo for REPLACED that remains available on the Steam page for REPLACED. In its statement, the studio emphasized that the game is technically finished, but internal review plus external feedback made it clear the team needs a few more weeks to land the day 1 experience at the quality bar players expect.
The studio positioned the delay as a quality assurance and refinement decision rather than a content scope pivot. Sad Cat Studios described this as their first title and said the closing phase of development revealed additional work required to ensure the launch build is polished, stable, and true to the vision they have shared since the game’s early reveals. The team also highlighted how impactful the demo has been as a feedback pipeline, calling the public demo release nerve wracking, while also describing player reviews, gameplay clips, and enthusiasm as a major motivator that is actively guiding final tweaks intended to help the full game shine.
— REPLACED (@REPLACEDGame) February 18, 2026
This is not the first time REPLACED has had to shift its schedule. Following its E3 2021 reveal, the project was previously delayed amid the disruption caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a situation that was widely reported at the time and raised concerns from players about the project’s long term viability.
Since then, Sad Cat Studios has continued moving forward, issuing additional delays before landing on a March 2026 target, and now shifting once more to April 2026. The encouraging part for fans is that the new April 14, 2026 date still sits within the Spring 2026 release window the team previously communicated. That window was also reinforced publicly during Gamescom 2025 coverage, including reporting that framed the game as still on track for Spring 2026.
From an industry execution perspective, this type of delay can be a smart risk management move, especially for a small team launching a visually distinctive title into a crowded release calendar. Shipping a build that is stable and tuned matters more than ever, because platformer feel, responsiveness, and performance consistency are the difference between a breakout hit and a review cycle that permanently anchors the conversation. The demo is doing what a demo should do: validate the direction, surface issues early, and let the studio optimize the day 1 build before the spotlight turns into a scorecard.
Did the REPLACED demo increase your confidence that this extra time will pay off, or are you at the point where you need a flawless launch build before you fully buy back in?
