Sneaking around to avoid hunters and using your wits to escape their clutches (while squealing your head off in terrified delight) are some of the big joys of gaming. Add to that a big splattering of fun as you and your friends take control of dressed up penguins with silly hats while a creature controlled by another player chases you around a spooky mansion, and you have Sneak Out—a perfect blend of Among Us and party game hit Pummel Party.
Made for short, snappy sessions that you can squeeze in between studying, or for a quick run before dinner, Sneak Out is a game of giddy cooperation, as you and your pals must complete tasks in colourful locations set around a haunted castle. Chat with your friends, fly broomsticks, and complete mini-games, but be careful, because while you're hyperfocused on completing a puzzle, the deadly hunter stalks ever closer, and won't hesitate to swing their scythe down on your silly penguin neck when they find you.
Each match begins with a ritual, during which one of the six players will get pulled into the centre of the circle and transformed into a Hunter, giving the other players a few seconds to run and hide. How you play from that point is up to you. Will you tease and taunt your pursuer to distract them from chasing down your friends? Will you use special abilities to disguise yourself as furniture, or will you simply panic and scatter as soon as you see the villain come running in from the edge of your screen?
You can play cooperatively, staying on the lookout while your fellow player completes a puzzle, and resurrecting them if things go terribly wrong. Or just go full rogue and throw your fellow players into harm's way, for example by bonking them on the head to stun them while you're being chased, leaving them at the non-existent mercy of the monster who'll happily accept your underhand offering.
Should you die (and you will), the show's not over. Instead of twiddling your thumbs and waiting for the next round, in death you return as a ghost, with the ability to float through walls and haunt items like chairs and suits of armour. Again, whether you choose to use these abilities to help still-living players, or to accelerate their deaths so that you jump back into the fray sooner, is totally up to you. Just be prepared to do some friendship reparation if you throw a pot at your pal which renders them helpless and gets them caught.
Between the high chaos of matches, you'll be kicking back with fellow players in the village hub, where you can also use cards to buy new Hunters, Boosters, and cosmetics that rizz up your characters with alligator heads, space helmets, leather jackets, and other sweet gear. The hub is filled with mini-games—from football to dancing—and is also home to your garden, where you can gather resources from the beehives, fishing pier, chickens and fields that you then use to create items for the main game.
Already, Twitch streamers like Annie Fuchsia and PEGTV are throwing themselves into Sneak Out, so join them when the game finally comes to Steam on June 6. You can wishlist it on Steam now so you don't miss the big date, or check out the game on developer Kinguin's storefront, where you'll also find some of the best PC game deals around.
