MANOR, Texas | August 25, 2026 | Elbow Elbow Games will release a free demo of Hauntworks, its dark-comedy haunted-house management sim, on Steam this Friday, August 28. The demo spans the game's entire first act, about an hour of play. Hauntworks will appear in Steam Next Fest this October ahead of its Early Access launch on October 30, 2026, the night before Halloween.
In Hauntworks, you wake up dead. The Bureau of Liminality has assigned you a haunted house and five demanding Patrons whose appetites you must satisfy. Scare your guests to harvest screams, laughs, vomit, and mind shards; pipe those reactions through production chains to feed the Patrons; recruit monstrous staff who'll help (but might kill the guests); and assemble the gate to escape limbo before the Bureau notices the bodies piling up. Fear is fun. Death is paperwork.
The demo carries players through the end of Act 1: building out the manor, meeting the Patrons, and surviving a first brush with the Bureau's investigators. It runs on PC and Steam Deck.
"You wake up dead and immediately get assigned middle management," said Chris Roberts of Elbow Elbow Games. "That felt honest to me. I wanted a management sim where the product is a feeling. Screams, laughs, sanity: you harvest what the guests bring in. The demo is the whole first act: five Patrons to feed, guests to terrify, and a very polite government agency quietly hoping you fail."
The demo will be free to play from the Hauntworks Steam page on August 28, where the game can be wishlisted now: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4242200/Hauntworks/
A full press kit with trailer, screenshots, logos, and ready-to-use footage is at https://haunt.works/press. Press and creators can request a demo key by emailing press@haunt.works. Creators are free to feature Hauntworks in videos and streams, including monetized content, with no additional permission required.
Watch the trailer: https://haunt.works/trailer
About Elbow Elbow GamesHauntworks is made by Elbow Elbow Games, a solo studio. It is the studio's debut title, built in Godot. Learn more at https://haunt.works.
Press contact: press@haunt.works