Rain Games is about to find out what happens when word of mouth actually arrives on time. Knuckle Jet, the studio's long-awaited sequel to Teslagrad, was set to launch on Steam September 1 and was already sitting at 37,000 wishlists before release.
That number matters more in context. Teslagrad, the 2013 puzzle-platformer that put the Norwegian studio on the map, went on to sell more than 2 million copies across 13 platforms, but almost entirely without early buzz. "We're usually not the best at getting out the word early, and have had to rely on word of mouth from amongst our fans," studio co-founder Peter W. Meldahl said. "Even Teslagrad 1, which ended up selling over 2 million units in the end across its 13 platforms, didn't have a tenth of this when it came out initially."
Knuckle Jet trades Teslagrad's magnetism-based puzzles for jetpack-driven, momentum-heavy combat, judging by the free demo already live on its Steam page. It follows Anastasia, an orphan taking on the industrialist Tychoon and his robotic enforcers across a steampunk world called Motorland, with local co-op and competitive multiplayer built in alongside the single-player campaign.
A small studio's slow build finally pays off
Teslagrad's slow-burn success came almost entirely from players discovering it years after launch, not from a marketing push. A near-40,000 wishlist count ahead of day one suggests that history caught up with the sequel before it even shipped, likely helped by years of goodwill from the original and Rain Games' Gamescom presence this year, where the studio offered review keys to outlets on-site.
For a studio that has openly said marketing isn't its strong suit, that's a meaningful shift. It also raises the bar for what counts as a successful launch this time. Teslagrad became a sleeper hit over years. Knuckle Jet now has to prove it can convert day-one attention into day-one sales, a different kind of test than the one its predecessor faced.
The release date moved, out of respect for Norway's king
Rain Games has since pushed the launch back. Days after announcing the September 1 date, the king of Norway passed away, and the studio decided not to release a game on the day their monarch is buried. Royal funerals in Norway are traditionally held within 14 days of a death, a period considered a time of national mourning, so Rain Games moved Knuckle Jet's launch to September 15 to fall after that period ends.
The studio also pulled its original release-date trailer and replaced it with a new version reflecting the updated date, rather than leave an outdated announcement live. Knuckle Jet now releases September 15 on Steam, with the free demo still available in the meantime.
