As I wrote in my Discord,
The reason is my inexperience as a developer/publisher. As you understand, this is my first Steam release, excluding the demo. And I face a lot of nuances for the first time. So, I’ve sent the game’s build to Steam for verification too late. About Feb 12-13. Now it’s obvious that they just won 't check it in time. And if they do, after that may appear problems that cannot be solved in the remaining day or two. And announcing the delay on the day of the release would be even more wrong than today.
The yellow text on the image translation: "The nearest release date immediately after the completion of the verification of the application build"
The demo, by the way, was checked in the shortest possible time, although it came out for the festival, when, the Steam administration was more loaded, I thought. So I hoped for the speed of their work.
The release of the game will shift by 12 days, until March 1.
In theory, I could have moved it literally for a couple of days. But, firstly, fewer people would have had time to find out about the news, and secondly, I would have had to go out under several major releases. And thirdly, it is not known how long the verification will last. Extra 12 days, I think, would be enough in any case.
In general, the news is extremely unpleasant, but there is no other way.
On the other hand,
A lot of content that I’ve planned to add with updates after the release, will be in the game already at the start. Also 12 days of extra polishing and tests will be really good for the quality of the game.
In general, the new release date is March 1.
I understand, not your fault, I was in the same boat recently…
I hope this will be faster for you than me and that you won't have other problems with Steamworks! 👍