Creator of acclaimed retro-style RPG Chained Echoes prepares a lawsuit against physical game publisher, and looks to compensate Kickstarter backers

Chained Echoes' lead developer, Matthias Linda, is preparing a lawsuit against physical games publisher First Press Games as disc copies of the acclaimed turn-based RPG are overdue by two years.

Before Chained Echoes came out as one of the best RPGs and most overlooked retro throwbacks in recent years, it was actually a success on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, but many of the people who backed the game's physical editions still haven't received their copies.

"It’s been a bit over 2 years since the physical copies were supposed to be released by First Press Games and so far in 2026 nothing has arrived except the regular Playstation 4 edition," Linda writes in an update on the game's Kickstarter page. "Because of that I had to make a decision: I am terminating my business relationship with FPG and I am preparing a lawsuit."

Linda says the "decision wasn't easy" and he can't divulge too much information for obvious legal reasons, though he's apparently hard at work figuring out "ways to compensate all of you Kickstarter backers who backed the physical editions."

Affected backers have two options at the moment. You can either wait for another publisher to print copies of Chained Echoes, which might take a while since "it is possible that new versions can only be produced once the lawsuit is over," or you can apply for a refund by sending an email to the link provided in the dev's blog post.

"In case someone upgraded their Kickstarter order to a better or different version with the vouchers through FPG’s store I decided to compensate for that as well. This applies only to orders that were done with the Kickstarter voucher, not orders that were done independently," Linda adds. "I understand that a lot of people are frustrated with the situation, the long waiting time and the vague information. I’m very sorry for the circumstances."

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