Rivalry

Rivalry is a solo-developer Early Access game that has been in development since its Steam launch on January 22, 2016. The developer, Kew McParlane, has been posting regular status updates throughout development — reaching update #112 by March 2023 — documenting steady progress on features like online networking, skins, leaderboards, and most recently a major arena update. The Arena Update (Status Update #112, March 14, 2023) was the last major content release and the most recent communication from the developer. It added nine arenas, a new weapon, blood color options, and camera controls. However, the same post explicitly listed several features still to be completed: sound effects and music, network game lobby UI polish, network game restart UI polish, and general bug fixing. These items have appeared on the developer's "remaining tasks" list across many updates dating back years, confirming they are genuine outstanding work rather than aspirational extras. Since March 14, 2023, there has been no further communication from the developer — no patch notes, no status updates, no announcements. This breaks a pattern of fairly consistent engagement that had been maintained since 2016. The game remains purchasable on Steam in Early Access with no statement from the developer about whether development is continuing or concluding. The combination of openly unfinished features and a prolonged silence of over three years raises genuine uncertainty about the game's development trajectory.