Haunted Paws Hits 1 Million Wishlists With a Free Next Fest Demo Update

A two-person idea about letting players explore a haunted house as a pair of puppies has turned into one of the breakout stories of this year's Steam Next Fest. Lithuanian studio LazyFlock announced on October 19 that Haunted Paws had crossed 1,000,000 wishlists on Steam, and marked the milestone with a free demo update that adds seven new playable dog breeds right as the festival's final week gets underway.

Haunted Paws casts two players as puppies whose owner has been kidnapped by supernatural creatures and locked inside a haunted mansion. Working in local or online co-op, the dogs dig, sniff and bark their way through the house's rooms, using smell-based clues to track down the culprits and free them from their own dark pasts. LazyFlock describes the tone as deliberately split down the middle: cute and spooky in equal measure, aimed at players who want something eerie enough to feel like an adventure but gentle enough to play with a kid, a partner or a co-op-shy friend.

Two puppies, one haunted mansion

The core loop is built around cooperation rather than combat. One player can bring in a friend for free through the game's Friend's Pass, meaning only one person needs to own a copy for both to explore the mansion's halls, basements and gardens together. Each dog can dig up buried clues, sniff out hidden passages and bark to distract or startle the creatures stalking the grounds, and progress depends on using those senses as a team rather than on reflexes alone. Before setting out, players also build a character that resembles their own dog, picking a breed, fur color and distinguishing features, then dressing it in whichever of the demo's growing wardrobe of accessories catches their eye.

A free demo update timed to Next Fest

LazyFlock's Steam post framed the wishlist total as a thank-you moment for a community it has been building since the game's 2024 reveal. "Haunted Paws has reached 1,000,000 wishlists on Steam! Thank you for your incredible support and for sharing our game with your friends," the studio wrote, tying the celebration directly to its participation in Steam Next Fest, which runs through October 26.

The update itself is built almost entirely from community requests. Seven new breeds, the German Shepherd, Great Dane, Jack Russell, Mastiff, Retriever, Rottweiler and Shiba Inu, join the demo's existing roster, alongside nine new hats and accessories: an Aquarium Hat with animated sloshing water, an Eyeball Hat whose eye tracks around on its own, plus a Clown Hat, Top Hat, Swirl Glasses, Spider, Flower, Helmet and Buttons. LazyFlock also quietly expanded customization for the demo's most talked-about secret: a kitten that can disguise itself as a puppy to join the adventure, now with its own adjustable fur.

That kitten has become something of a mascot in its own right. In a Steam post published the week the demo launched, LazyFlock explained how the character came to exist at all: players who tried an earlier closed playtest kept asking to play as a cat, so the studio gave them one, wrapped in a convincing disguise. "She wears a dog costume, and you can even set her bark to 'meow,'" the studio wrote. "Does that give her away? Apparently not! Everyone in the game treats her like a puppy."

From a small studio to a Next Fest standout

LazyFlock first revealed Haunted Paws for PC in 2024 and has spent the time since building toward release through a string of closed and open playtests, each one feeding back into the demo's art, camera work and encounter design. The approach has paid off: the current demo build, which went live on October 8, has been one of the more visible co-op titles in this month's Next Fest lineup, sitting alongside far bigger-budget games in Steam's festival rankings. The studio has also confirmed Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 ports are in development, alongside the existing PC version, though a release date for any platform has not yet been set.

Players who want to try the breeds and hats for themselves can grab the free demo directly from the Haunted Paws Steam page before Next Fest closes on October 26. LazyFlock has encouraged players to post their breed-and-hat combinations in the Steam discussion threads, suggesting the pet-customization side of the game is likely to keep growing well past the festival window.

What's next for the mansion

With a seven-figure wishlist count now in hand, the pressure shifts to turning that interest into a launch window. LazyFlock has not announced release pricing, a release date, or which platforms will ship first, but the studio's post-Next Fest roadmap is expected to lean on the same playtest-and-iterate loop that has carried Haunted Paws this far: more breeds, more accessories, and, if the last year is any guide, at least one more surprise hiding in plain sight.