About

Piñata Puppy World is an upcoming mascot horror adventure video game produced by Real Time Studio and created by Taaryn. The game, which utilizes a VHS aesthetic, is described as an exploration of mental health struggles and complex emotions tied to nostalgic depression that uses the feeling of liminality to "create a deeper, more nuanced experience than many common projects in the indie-horror genre." The game was first teased in November 2024, with a gameplay teaser released in February 2025 alongside the game's Kickstarter campaign. The Kickstarter surpassed its goal that month. Despite some hype for the game, some have called it a scam and criticized Real Time Studio for seeking about $35,000 US in funds for a single chapter of the game that purportedly only runs about 45 minutes in length. The devs denied the 45-minute runtime rumor. The game also received criticism for the gameplay teaser, with some criticizing the game as generic-looking.

History

On November 26th, 2024, the first teaser for Piñata Puppy World was uploaded to the game's dedicated YouTube^[1] channel, garnering over 60,000 views in three months. Aspects of the game's development are tracked through the development company's X account, @StudioIRT.^[2]

On February 2nd, 2025, a gameplay trailer for the game was released on YouTube,^[3] garnering over 800,000 views in three weeks. The trailer suggests that the game will be a first person, exploration-based horror game in which animal mascots are the antagonists.

Kickstarter Campaign

On February 2nd, 2025, the Kickstarter^[4] campaign for Piñata Puppy World launched. Within three weeks, the project surpassed its goal of $35,000 US with around $36,000 US in pledges.^[5]

Continued Production

On February 25th, 2025, the @StudioIRT X^[8] page posted a video introducting people to the voice actors from the game.

Online Presence

Criticism / Scam Accusations

Prior to developing Piñata Puppy World, Real Time Studio developed a Five Nights at Freddy's fan game titled Five Nights at Freddy's: In Real Time that looked to recreate and improve upon the first game in the series. Allegedly, the game's development was met with problems, resulting in one of the devs, X^[6] user @ThatSaladGal, refusing to work on Piñata Puppy World, citing issues with the way Taaryn runs the studio in a post to X made on December 24th, 2024.

On February 21st, 2025, the @StudioIRT X^[7] page made a post clarifying some things about the game following several criticisms about the Kickstarter campaign.

First, the team clarifies that the game is not only 45 minutes in runtime, but is planned to be a "multiple hour experience BEFORE post-game exploration & collectibles." They then deny talk of the game being a walking simulator and accusations that gameplay aspects in the trailer were animated. Finally, they clarify that the game is planned to be multiple chapters, but for now they're focused on the first chapter.

On February 25th, X^[9] user @MechaSFMFART quote-reposted a video from the studio introducing fans to the game's voice actors, writing, "This whole game is a scam btw," garnering over 8,400 likes in a day. In the comments they clarify their claim, writing, "You tell me, 35K for one chapter that will be 45 minutes max. And the game will be 15 bucks 💔."

Search Interest

External References