Only Up removed from Steam storefront, creator cites stress

Released in May of this year, Only Up took the gaming world by storm. The game required the player to make a series of haphazard and difficult jumps on their way to the moon. In the four short months since its release, it managed to garner mostly positive reviews. It was one of the most popular games on Twitch in June 2023, having over 85,000 viewers and becoming the sixth most popular game on the website.

However, in the most recent community update before the game’s departure, the solo developer wrote that: “This game is my first experience in Gamedev, a game I did for creativity, to test myself, and where I made a lot of mistakes. The game has kept me under a lot of stress all these months. Now I want to put the game behind me.”

Only Up was also previously removed from the Steam store after being found with copyrighted assets. The game returned to the store front after a day with said assets removed.

In some good news,  the developer also included in the afforementioned community update that they have started on their next project. With the working title ‘Kith,’ this suggests it will be a vastly different game focusing on cinematography and realism. They also talk on wanting to recruit more people to work with them to see out their vision.

They went on to say: “What I need now is peace of mind and healing. I plan to take a pause, and continue my education in game design and further with new experience and knowledge to direct my energies to my next game.”

Only Up was removed from the Steam store on September 7th. Had you already purchased Only Up, you will be able to continue enjoying (or raging at) the game.