Night In The Woods Follow-Up Revenant Hill Canceled Due To Developer Illness

gameinformer.com:

Revenant Hill, the next game by the makers of Night in the Woods, has been canceled. The reason is that the game's narrative designer and writer Scott Benson is battling a severe illness that has forced him to step away from the project.

Benson reveals on his personal X account that he’s been battling severe heart failure over the past 12 months, which has greatly limited his ability to work. You can read his post below. 

So. Over the past 12 months or so I got very sick and it didn't go away. Eventually I was diagnosed with severe heart failure, most likely from a virus. It will continue to greatly limit me for the foreseeable future and as such I've had to stop working in the manner I once did.

The Glory Society, the studio behind Revenant Hill, posted a statement on Twitter (which is now the sole image on the studio’s website) explaining that Benson’s absence requires the team to not only cease development of the game but for the studio to suspend its operations. The indie studio was founded by Benson and his wife, Bethany Hockenberry, who has also stepped away to support him. The statement explains that with such a small team of employees, losing two key staff members was too much of a blow for work to continue as planned. The Glory Society's statement reads in part, 

Benson is known as one of the writers and artist/animator of 2017’s critically acclaimed Night in the Woods, which he made alongside co-writer Hockenberry and late designer Alec Holowka. Following the game's success, he and Hockenberry formed The Glory Society in 2019 alongside musician/artist Wren Farren. Revenant Hill, the studio's first project, was revealed in May during a PlayStation Showcase. Set in 1919, it starred a cat named Twigs who, after