Hypnospace Outlaw sequel Dreamsettler has been cancelled

Dreamsettler, the sequel to Hypnospace Outlaw, has been cancelled, a deeply apologetic and saddened Jay Tholen has confirmed.

In the 10 minute video blog, Tholen goes into some of the creative struggles that he faced in trying create a sequel to the 2019 indie hit. He heaps praise upon his developers, Mike Lasch and Mark LaCroix, and says that publisher No More Robots were great to work with, and instead shoulders the blame for the cancellation himself, citing difficulties with working in a more structured and precisely budgeted manner.

In the end, it seems that the project basically ran out of money to let Tholen’s emerging, improvisational vision for the sequel come together. They even launched a Patreon a few months ago to try and gain additional funding and support, but this wasn’t enough to support the development. Tholen has said that, if supporters wish, they may request a refund for their last payment, which will come out of his own pocket.

Tholen intends to try to release some of the work that had already gone into Dreamsettler, though is not clear on what form this will take and when it can happen.

Following on from the late 90s OS and internet simulator detective story of Hypnospace Outlaw, Dreamsettler was going to jump ahead to the early 2000s, incorporating a more animated rendition of operating systems and websites from that time, even going so far as to having a fictionalised version of Flash in the game. A key hook was that, with you turning to be an independent private investigator, you would be building your own website within the game, as well as taking on and solving cases.

It’s obviously a real shame that this project couldn’t come together, as Hypnospace is certainly one of the more distinctive and special titles from the past decade.