Earlier this year, a team of former ZeniMax Online Studios employees launched 8th Lantern Studios. The studio has now unveiled the game they are working on called Toypunk. The world premiere happened at the Insider Gaming Showcase on May 28, 2026.
Toypunk is a roguelite shooter looter featuring gun-wielding puppets. According to the gameplay teaser, it appears there will be more than one playable character, with lots of arsenal to fight a horde of enemies, which come in different shapes.
For example, in one instance, the puppet was shooting at rubber ducks bouncing out of a bathtub. In another scene, the puppets were fighting what looked like mad scientists. The team at 8th Lantern Studios surely took inspiration from lots of our childhood characters.
As players progress through different levels, they will get power-ups that will change their gameplay. What got the attention of most gamers is the art style. The characters look like Muppet.
The upgrades are designed to match the art style, which is basically knitted dolls. So, the upgrades look like patches that are sewn to your body. The characters, or puppets, can be customized in different ways.
What kind of gameplay will Toypunk have?
According to the trailer shown at the Insider Gaming Showcase on May 28, 2026, Toypunk will feature both ranged and melee combat. In one scene, the puppet was whipping an enemy with a rubber chicken he found in a trash can.
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It appears 8th Lantern Studios is adding a 2-player co-op mode to the game. Somewhere in the premiere, the developers said, “Grab a friend”. The developers noted that everything shown was early gameplay footage, meaning the final game may be a little different.
On the studio’s website, Toypunk was described as “a comedic third-person shooter roguelite where you control customizable puppets armed with an infinite toybox of absurd weaponry”.
“Fight hordes of cotton-stuffed baddies across fantastical biomes with your friends or on your own. Experience crazy synergies and unlock more toys between runs!”
Although the developer is inviting players to Wishlist the game on Steam, at the time of writing, it had no Steam page, and every search returned blank.
Does Toypunk look like the kind of game you want to play? Share your thoughts with us in the comment box below.
