Fortune's Run

[h1]Is the game any good?[/h1] This game's development has been fraught with so many problems. The game is quite good from what little I have played of it. It's an immersive sim with a cool sci-fit setting, decent combat and stealth mechanics, and plenty more going for it beyond that. For a... 1? 2? 3 person team? It's incredibly impressive, in my opinion. A game that has a lot of passion put into it.... but at this point I would say do not purchase for five reasons. [h1]Why you shouldn't buy it...[/h1] [b]First[/b], the primary developer Dizzie has said they now are getting none of the money from this game, and it is all going to someone who stole the game from them. If that is true, then I would not support it. [b]Second[/b], I know some people believe that everything the developer has said up to this point is a lie. If that is true, then I would not support it. To be clear, I do not know what to believe. But either way, whether everything really happened and someone is stealing the payments or whether everything is a lie, you should not support it currently (yes, I am "sitting on the fence", I am not going to be THAT parasocial and trusting of developers and random forum commenters I don't know in person). [b]Third[/b], it has been almost two years since the last update to the game. [b]Fourth[/b], in the most recent news update the developer has said "I'm giving up. I will not work on this game anymore unless I am entitled again to legal ownership and proceeds from sales, this is ridiculous. Goodbye everyone." Work has been halted on Fortune's Run for nearly two years, and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future, if not forever. [b]Fifth[/b], Dizzie said in her Discord that she is currently working for another studio on another game. So regardless of whether she intends to finish this or not, it is currently not the focus. [h1]The problems...[/h1] I do not really know what to believe, the situation is kind of insane regardless of whether any of it is true or not. It's... a lot. Here are links to the community updates from Dizzie and Kim that provide context: September 2023: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1692240/view/3702578812068779512]After one or two delays, the game is launched into early access.[/url] Various updates to the game and the community from Team Fortune (Dizzie and Arachne) follow for awhile. July 2024: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1692240/view/4234028300480496465]Dizzie's partner Arachne has health issues and a botched surgery, Arachne's health is the priority, Dizzie is now effectively a solo developer.[/url] January 2025: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1692240/view/532087801681805318]Dizzie says Arachne left her and the project. Dizzie's "violent" past from her old lifestyle caught up to her, and she was going to be sentenced to three years in prison.[/url] February 2025: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1692240/view/503942939329691755]"Prison time!" Things will be run by her friends while she is gone.[/url] February 2025: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1692240/view/503943107742531606]The friend Kim introducing herself.[/url] August 2025: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1692240/view/533233357413155273]A letter Dizzie says she wrote to us from prison. Included is a link to her Patreon with a comic she started drawing.[/url] April 2026: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1692240/view/492721254199986235]Dizzie says she has been released from prison and is in a halfway house. Reminds us Arachne has left the project. Says she is figuring out how to get to 1.0, and that Kim is awesome and is working a day job so they can finish the game.[/url] August 2026: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1692240/view/695395921862592057]Accusations and claims, both personal and professional, against Kim. Claims of Valve refusing to pay them. Much more. Permanent (?) halting of development.[/url] Dizzie has said more on her Patreon and Discord. If I were to ever offer a piece of personal advice to Dizzie, it would be for her own sake not to openly broadcast so much of this kind of thing to the general public. I think it will only continue to make things harder for her in the long run. [h1]The developers...[/h1] I've never spoken to Dizzie before that I can recall, besides one or two brief interactions either in the forums or the Discord. The community that formed around this game certainly seems to like her a lot. She was pleasant enough with me, and she always sounded passionate about Fortune's Run. I've never spoken to Dizzie's ex Arachne that Dizzie said left them and the project, I know nothing about them besides the little bits of information presented by Dizzie in a couple of community updates. I'm unsure of how much of the game's development she was responsible for. I've only ever really spoken to Kim, the "local friend" that became Dizzie's partner, impromptu community manager, and briefly a co-developer... maybe? Kim seemed very nice, we ended up talking about music and other things for hours once last year. She put out community updates on Steam and would regularly talk in the Discord server about how she was helping Dizzie with legal troubles, her plans for the future when it came to helping Dizzie finish this game, and then making her own game later down the road. Make of all of that what you will. [h1]The verdict.[/h1] I have my own theories about everything due to events in my own family, but I will keep that to myself. I don't know any of these people. I don't have any behind-the-scenes information. I make no claims to understand what is happening. I hope everyone that has been involved with this project from beginning to end gets whatever help they may need in their lives and comes out of this improved and better equipped for adversity. The game is spectacular. I would have loved to have seen a finished version of it. I feel that quality on par with this in early access from such small teams is extremely rare. Regardless of all of that, the best thing you can probably do for yourself and the developer when it comes to Fortune's Run is to not purchase it. 1.0 will likely never see the light of day, and Dizzie has said she has currently moved on to working on another game called [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1761910/Athanasia/]Athanasia[/url] for Momentum Games LLC. If for some reason you wish to attempt to support her future work, that's (probably?) the best way of doing it. I wouldn't buy an unfinished game with no end in sight drowning in problems, nor would I throw money at Patreon. For what it's worth, Athanasia looks decent so far, and it isn't her project so it isn't solely up to her to finish it, so I might buy it. Though be warned that she claimed today that the publisher won't pay her (among other things) and another developer from the studio chimed in and said he would see to it she was paid even if it was out of his own pocket... again, make of that what you will. I've since left the Discord server, I've got my own problems and no longer wish to know. If Fortune's Run is ever truly finished, that's probably still years away at this point. I'll change the review if surrounding circumstances ever seem to calm down and that day actually comes. I wish the current and former developers well.