Haunted Paws: How Two Developers and Two Puppies Got Close to a Million Wishlists
A two-person studio in Lithuania, a haunted mansion and a missing owner called Maya. The cozy co-op horror game is now set for May 2027, after a gamescom award, a copycat scare and a top-20 Next Fest demo.
Somewhere in a haunted mansion, a girl named Maya is locked away by monsters. Coming to save her are the least likely heroes in horror: two puppies, one sniffing the floor for clues, the other barking at a suit of armour that has just moved.
Haunted Paws is a two-player cozy horror adventure from LazyFlock, and it is now set for May 2027 on PC, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, with the exact day still to be announced. A demo is on Steam now, and it was one of Valve's 20 most-played demos of Steam Next Fest in October 2026.
Two developers, no publisher
LazyFlock is a two-person team based in Kaunas, Lithuania, and it has no publisher. Development began in 2022, the game was announced in June 2024, and by late August 2026 it had passed 900,000 Steam wishlists, a figure most indie publishers would dream of. For context, around 10,000 wishlists is often cited as a benchmark for a commercially viable small indie launch.
How it plays
You and a partner each create a puppy, choosing a breed, fur colour, distinctive features and accessories, so your dog can look like a real one at home. Then you head into the mansion:
- Dig, sniff and bark to solve puzzles and uncover secrets.
- Sneak past and flee from monsters, or fight back in short action sections.
- Face bosses such as a Bull Monster and a Bird Monster, alongside Possessed Knights, a giant spider and a scarecrow.
- Learn each creature's dark past, revealed when you defeat it.
The adventure moves beyond the mansion to places like a circus and a portal realm. It is pitched as atmospheric rather than truly frightening, and runs roughly four to six hours, which makes it a good fit for a weekend with a partner, a sibling or a child.
A copycat scare
Success brought an unwelcome side effect. In January 2026, LazyFlock warned that a game called Ghostly Whiskers, which swapped the puppies for kittens and appeared to use AI-generated art, was heading to the PlayStation Store before Haunted Paws was even finished. The studio called it "a direct copy". The episode was a reminder of how exposed small teams can be when a game goes viral before launch.
By the numbers
- 2: developers, and 2 puppies.
- 900,000+: Steam wishlists by late August 2026.
- 4 to 6 hours: expected length.
- May 2027: release window on PC, Switch and Switch 2.
- Korean: interface and subtitles supported.
Why it matters
Haunted Paws shows how far a sharp, easy-to-explain idea can travel. "Two puppies save their owner from a haunted house" fits in one sentence and one GIF, and that is a big reason it spread so widely without a publisher. It also sits in a sweet spot the market keeps rewarding: short, couch-friendly co-op games built for exactly two players, in the tradition of It Takes Two.
The Switch and Switch 2 versions, announced at the Future Games Show in August, matter too. This is a game made for families and couples, and Nintendo's consoles are where many of them play together.
WGC's take: the challenge now is scope. Two people are shipping a game with three platforms and almost a million people waiting. A May 2027 window gives them breathing room, and that is the right call.
Where to play
Download the free demo and wishlist Haunted Paws on Steam. For a sunnier co-op adventure arriving sooner, see our guide to Hela: of Mice & Magic, out December 1.