What an emotional rollercoaster of a headline, right? If this is your first time hearing about this game then there's a lot to unpack here, so let me give you a hand: The Golden Girls Take Manhattan DX was a fan project based on the Golden Girls TV series, featuring its iconic quartet of charming older ladies in a turn-based RPG/Life Simulation hybrid reminiscent of the Persona games. "Was" being the key word here; The Golden Girls won't be taking Manhattan anytime soon, as the project is officially canceled as of yesterday:
Hey All: Bad News and Good News: We unfortunately need to cancel the game. The scope of it is significantly larger than what we're equipped to handle.
— The Golden Girls Take Manhattan DX (@tggtmdx) October 30, 2023
The project's lead developer, Chris Lundgren, who goes by Mechazawa on X (formerly Twitter), made some additional comments on the cancellation, mentioning that the project was putting too much of a physical and mental strain on them to justify continuing it. "I wanna make new stuff with people without being tied down to a project that’s a bit too bloated." They also released a GitHub dump containing all the original code written for the game, free to inspect and reuse for anyone who was interested in it.
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I'd been following the project for a while already, so I have to admit that this announcement has me a bit heartbroken. Every time a development update (usually in the form of a near-incomprehensible screenshot) crossed one of my social feeds, it immediately made my day! I
was really hoping to write about the game getting a release date here someday, but I guess the Girls will be confined to endless TV reruns for a while longer.
That said, The Golden Girls Take Manhattan DX only had a slim chance of ever making it across the finish line in the first place. Potential legal issues surrounding this IP aside (this project seemed to count on Disney not remembering that they own The Golden Girls), making a whole Persona parody game on the scale of what this team seemed to have attempted was clearly a massive undertaking, especially for a fan project.
I don't blame Mechazawa and the rest of the team at all for bowing out to focus on their own well-being instead.
To everyone who believed in us, thank you. Like honestly thank you so much. I still don't think it would have gotten this far without support, and even though we aren't really able to finish it, I think all of us have at least have learned a lot making this game.
— The Golden Girls Take Manhattan DX (@tggtmdx) October 30, 2023
And who knows, maybe someone with more knowledge, experience and/or financial means could come along someday, finish what they started and finally give us the true Golden Girls video game experience we've all been craving. It could even be you!