Japanese developer aNCHOR have announced a delay in the release date of Muv-Luv: Project Mikhail.

During the second Producer Letter, producer Sho Hamanaga discussed Season Mode, answered fan questions, difficulty, and where the game fits in the wider universe.

While story mode is from the perspective of protagonist Takeru Shirogane, Season Mode features you as a surface pilot. All players of this mode share a single world (or server), where they must work together to complete missions, defeat BETAs, and use their parts to enhance their Tactical Surface Fighters (TSFs).

The missions players can choose will help “shape the world” in the way they wish; whether it is to save it or destroy it. Players can also co-ordinate to make their collective vision a reality. Choice Chat may be implemented post-launch as oppose to at launch, depending how development goes. Feedback post-launch will also be used to further improve the game.

Players will also be able to customize the colors of their TSF, with major parts having four slots that determine what color individual bits are. The game will also be purely third-person, but first person is being considered as a bonus.

In addition, the BETAs bright-yellow blood will cover your TSF as you fight. Damage indicators can also be toggled; so your damage numbers will or will not be shown. If players increase the game’s difficulty, they can also gain better items. The high-powered lasers of the Laser Class BETAs are always to be avoided however.

Muv-Luv: Project Mikhail is also stated to be designed to bring Muv-Luv fans into adventure games. While being accurate to the series’ is important, Hamanaga stated that if what is fun and what is accurate collide, he would chose fun as a priority.

The game will have a Limited Edition, but not at launch. Development budget is currently focused on the game itself, but when a Limited Edition is release, the developers will ensure it is fair to those who had already bought the game.

However, Hamanaga also stated “This game isn’t just for Japan, it’s for the whole world, so we’re changing the feel of the character designs a little. We’ll have more to show you in that front later.” While the nature of these changes were not detailed, Hamanaga was backed by shelves filled with Muv-Luv manga, featuring plenty of fan service on their covers.

You can find Producer Letter #2 below.

Finally, Hamanaga noted that while the game had aimed for an August 2021 launch, this would now be delayed to the end of September to October. Noisy Pixel reports that in the Japanese version of the producer letter, this was September 2021 for Windows PC, and October 2021 on Nintendo Switch.

The reason for the delay was cited as how it took longer than planned to bring in Alternative‘s complex story into the game.

The Muv-Luv series began as a dating sim, with protagonist Takeru Shirogane discovering he is to be wed to a heiress of a powerful and influential family. Sequel series Muv-Luv Unlimited begins with Shirogane learning he is in an alternate world, where aliens called BETA have invaded Earth, and must fight back with Tactical Surface Fighters.

Muv-Luv: Project Mikhail launches September 2021 on Windows PC, and October 2021 on Nintendo Switch.