Hello Everyone,

This is an announcement I never wanted to have to make. An announcement that in my mind is equivalent to failure. But it's announcement that I am forcing myself to come to terms with as something that needs to happen.

Effective today, I am postponing development for the time being. Truthfully, it has been postponed for a while, but now I am making it official.

I have had bits and pieces of this written for years now, just in case I ever felt to myself that I truly needed to step away. For those of you that know me, you know that my mental health, and especially my physical wellbeing have been deteriorating for some time.

I don't sleep at normal times. I have large, varying mood swings depending on the day. I fail to keep promises I make. But more than anything, I let people down. I'm not attributing all of this to the game's development, but the pressure and fear of disappointing you all has certainly exacerbated these feelings.

I'm not naïve however. Many of you will take this as a permanent cancellation. Many of you have likely already written off this project, and Helltaker in general, and I understand. This is not a cancellation, just a postponement.

That said, it has been nearly 5 years since the game's original release. The fandom is a shadow of what it once was. Projects like this are needed to breathe life back into communities, and I wanted to be someone who could do that for a game I truly love.

I try not to specify deadlines anymore, I know I likely won't meet them. I try to push myself some days to get at least SOMETHING related to the project started, but I just can't.

I've been broken down and don't know how to word this in a way that won't be disappointing to all of you. It's one of my many, many flaws as a person.

Call it people pleasing, call it misleading, but no matter how you say it, it's wrong.

My transparency since 2022 has been practically non-existent as well. Update posts are several months apart, and this one is no exception. 

I feel I have failed as a team lead, failed as a project lead, and failed as a face in this community, and I truly apologize.

But, my want is to be better. And thus, I am stepping away for the time being. 

I am going to focus on soul searching, and trying to find out how exactly I can fix what I've done to myself. 

I humbly ask that you all can respect this decision, and I hope I'll be able to see you again sooner, rather than later.

This is not the end, just a pause.

Thank you for supporting the project and our team, and thank you for reading.