Decade-long in-development PS5 RPG has Studio Ghibli vibes – and Kickstarter backers crying foul
Back in 1998, two brothers, Kody and J.J. Lee, founded a company, Neostream Interactive Pty Ltd. Originally a multimedia company, it fully transitioned into game development. In 2015, they launched a Kickstarter campaign for their game, aiming to raise AUD 250,000; it has since raised over AUD 300,000. The company, based in Seoul, Korea, hit its goal in a few days and was set to release late in 2016. Fast-forward to now, almost 10 years later, and the game Little Devil Inside is still, somewhat ironically, in development, a story that makes Star Citizen look like a proverbial Boy Scout in contrast.
Neostream has consistently missed every single deadline they set over the past 10 years, including their original release dates of 2016, 2018, 2021, and 2022. In an update posted in April of last year, the developers addressed the delays and other factors that led to them, including downsizing the team back to a "smaller, bonded team". According to the team, the game is still available in a limited-time exclusive release on PlayStation 4 and 5, with ports for Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, but it made no mention of a Steam-based release. The game was featured on Steam Greenlight, a service discontinued in 2017 and replaced by Steam Direct, a much simpler path.
The devs were last seen still updating the site with more info before the title came out, and they continued with “periodic updates” until April 2024. They have gone on to state the obvious further since: “We know this doesn't and shouldn't justify for all the delays and lack of news but we're still here, have been and always will be.“ This update, though sparse, was the first real piece of official news since 2020. Many backers were quick to express their dissatisfaction, especially those whose pledges could not be fulfilled because of the company's changed direction.
According to the developers, multiple issues faced over the years of development have led to delays, including the team’s shift to using Unreal Engine. The closest look one can find of the title is a PlayStation-hosted showcase trailer here and a much more recent one here, while the PlayStation storefront page is still live, showing the title as ‘announced’ to those interested. This could explain the game's vague departure from Steam, where it has removed its landing page and the implied potential exclusivity on PlayStation, even as the (unsecure) Neostream site still shows a Windows logo.
Even now, the Kickstarter page for Little Devil Inside states a ‘fall 2016’ release date. Still, the developers said, “We have genuinely started discussions regarding publishing, and once this clears out, hopefully we'll be able to answer what everyone wants to know.” This was followed by its last known dev update (April 2024), indicating that while future updates might be possible, they are unlikely to be regular, with dozens of user comments on Kickstarter complaining about being ‘scammed’ by the developer remaining unanswered.
While one can hope against hope for a release in 2026, if the developers' track record holds, some may potentially never see one in their lifetimes, as naysayers on the Kickstarter page have more or less implied.
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