Demo released for Escape from 8-Bit High

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Eighties-inspired comedy adventure from the creators of D3AD HAND coming to Steam in 2026

The 1980s were a great time for sci-fi, with many enduring film classics ranging from E.T. to Aliens, Blade Runner and Back to the Future, among many more – often reveling in imaginative excesses with a tongue-in-cheek sensibility. (Okay, maybe not so much Blade Runner on the last one.) Forty years on it feels almost quaint, but hoping to recapture some of the same zany, out-there zeitgeist from that time period is the upcoming Escape from 8-Bit High, from indie developer Duck Made Of Wood.

It's the night before prom at Cloudyvale High School, when an intruder breaks into the computer room and inserts an "Evil Remix Tape" and hits play. The effect of this "cursed cassette" is that an "an ordinary Pomodore 64 becomes the stuff of 8-bit nightmares" by unlocking a "malevolent intelligence and a thirst for domination." But that's just the start of Cloudyvale's woes, as the wicked PC "seizes control of an army of classic villains – aliens, mole men, dinosaurs, and zombies – bent on conquering Cloudydale... and then the world." The only ones who can stop them are the last people you'd expect: the alternative rock band Blueberry Finn. Together the trio of Hank, Duck, and Alex must embark on a "bizarre, musical quest" armed only with their "wits, instruments, and a serious grudge against evil hardware." 

If all that sounds like potentially scary stuff, it won't take long for Escape from 8-Bit High to disabuse you of that notion. It's all clearly being played for laughs, including plenty of fun nods at pop culture, such as a familiar mustachioed Italian plumber moonlighting here as a pizza guy, and a group of "middle-aged radioactive martial arts turtles" on the prowl, at least according to gun-toting conspiracy theorists like Hank's Uncle Seamus. As with the developer's 2024 debut D3AD HAND, this game features a decidedly retro pixel art aesthetic, but here there's a layer of VHS-styled visual degradation applied for that extra eighties effect. Gameplay is a bit more modern than its story's time period, using a simple point-and-click control scheme with a context-sensitive "Mouth, Hand and Eye" menu that pops up for interacting with hotspots – of which there are many, most of them optional and purely for fun. 

There will also be lots of items to collect and combine in your inventory to solve puzzles, but what sets this game apart from most traditional adventures is its "Music Battle System." As band members, the guys will periodically get to show off their musical chops (or not) via a rhythm minigame to match moving symbols in time. Fortunately, if you're not interested in indulging your inner Guitar Hero, rest assured that there will be a bypass option to skip the minigame completely. Choices matter here too, as what you decide will determine which of the game's different endings you get.

The full version of Escape from 8-Bit High is due out sometime next year, but you can start jamming right away with the playable demo available now on Steam for Windows Mac and Linux. If you want still more of Blueberry Finn, the band also stars in Day of the Jellyfish, a short FREE bonus adventure released earlier this year about another wave of mutations, this time taking place in the deep blue sea.