Curve Games and debut studio Coyote House Games have announced that Dumpster Gang, a chaotic co-op sandbox game for one to four players starring raccoons, will launch on PC via Steam and Xbox on PC on December 3rd. It will be on PC Game Pass from day one.
According to a release, a free demo is live on Steam now as part of Steam Next Fest. It covers the tutorial plus the first two levels. A new trailer was released alongside the news.
Steam Next Fest is Valve's recurring event where players can try free demos of upcoming games. Sandbox games, for their part, hand players a set of systems to toy with and no fixed path through them; much of the fun comes from what players cause.
How Dumpster Gang plays
Players control raccoons who scavenge dumpsters, steal junk, raid snacks and generally make a nuisance of themselves. They can team up with up to three friends. Or go it alone. Either way, an evil exterminator is never far behind.
Cause enough chaos and the Exterminator starts hunting the gang down, the release says. Players have to outsmart his traps; anyone who gets caught needs rescuing before the gang ends up behind bars. Heavy loot takes teamwork to carry, while some puzzles need the whole group.
In the demo, players can wreak havoc, eat garbage and kidnap a chicken or two. They can also brew what Curve calls ‘surprisingly good coffee’ (late-night mischief, the release reasons, runs on caffeine).
Between missions, the gang heads home to a hideout. There, players can kit out their raccoon with hats that carry unique abilities, then decorate the place with everything they've stolen. Curve describes the controls as simple, with sandbox systems built to set off ‘ridiculous chain reactions’ and new stories every time.
Coyote House is a new studio formed by two college friends who share a love of co-op games (and of raccoons). One of them, Sam, has a long track record in multiplayer games, including a stint as game director on Midnight Ghost Hunt, plus time in the visual effects (VFX) industry. The other, Jake, comes to games after nearly a decade on animation projects for companies such as Marvel and Warner Music.
London-based Curve Games, part of the Nazara Technologies group, publishes on PC, Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox and mobile. Its catalogue runs to over 50 titles. Among them are For The King I and II, Bomber Crew, Lawn Mowing Simulator and Wobbly Life, as well as Human Fall Flat, which the publisher said has sold 60m units.
The following was sent as a press release to Inven Global.
