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Steam announcementView the game on SifterSeptember 30, 2026

Escape From Playtime Open Beta!

Hey everyone! Thank you for your interest in the playtest for Escape From Playtime. We're so excited to share the game with you through our partners at FirstLook! If you have not signed up to participate, you still can at this link! In order to be considered, you must connect your Steam and Discord accounts to FirstLook, as weel as complete all onboarding steps within FirstLook.

We want to emphasize that this is very much a playtest looking for your feedback. This build has many work-in-progress aspects, experimental features, experiments with balance, and locked away features. Your feedback from this Beta Playtest will greatly aid in the development of the launch build and beyond! Participating players will be served a survey after closing out of the game, as well as after the playtest concludes on Octber 4 via Firstlook. These are the best ways in which you can share your feedback with us! Additionally, you can join the Escape From Playtime discussion on our official Discord Server. 

The Open Beta will begin at 10 a.m. Pacific Time on Thursday 10/1

The Open Beta will end at 6 p.m. Pacific Time on Sunday 10/4

Distributed playtest codes will not work on Steam outside of this timeframe!

If you encounter any other bugs, please report them on our Bug Board!

Important Tips:

  • The goal is to collect as much loot as you can in the time allotted, deliver it to Barry the cart, hit your quota (shown by a green bar bottom right), and get the heck out! Hopefully you all survive…
  • You can split up, and sometimes that's smart to collect more loot. If you're separated from your group, use the glowsticks! Strategically placing the glowsticks will help your team stick together and navigate back to Barry.

Things to note:

  • We are allowing up to 8 players for this playtest! Your session may not be filled out with a full 8 players, and we recommend 4 players for the most balanced experience at this time. BUT, up to 8 players is possible if you want total chaos. You have been warned.
  • Controller support: You can use a controller... But certain controllers may or may not work at this time. Let us know! That's what the Beta is for. Mouse and Keyboard are currently optimal.
  • The Shifts have been locked to the first 4. This should give you a solid sense of the game, but will leave a significant amount of content for launch. This allows us to focus on balancing/fixing the core loop before unleashing everything.
  • A significant amount of Lore-focused content has been hidden for this playtest. Expect quite a few fun surprises and progression unlocks upon full release!
  • Not all puzzles are included in this playtest.
  • Not all enemy types are included in this playtest.
  • Not all of the Smiling Critters will be playable in this playtest. 
  • Our in-game lobby is still being tuned. For now, use Steam friends lists for invites.

Known Bugs:

  • Graphic bug that causes light reflections to appear unusually red.
  • This could be caused by a driver issue related to RTX graphic cards. To resolve, please try the following:
  • 1. Open the NVIDIA Control Panel
  • 2. Go to "Manage 3D Settings"
  • 3. Under "Global Settings," locate the option for "Anisotropic Filtering"
  • 4. Change the setting for "Anisotropic Filtering" from its current option (2x, 4x, etc.) to "Off" using the dropdown menu.
  • 5. Click "Apply" and then relaunch the game.

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Texture and floor/wall clipping

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Using non-roman characters in your username may cause the game to crash.

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Smiling Critter voice box light inconsistency

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Placeholder models/assets are currently present in this build. Please be aware that some model/asset designs are not final and will be subject to change before release. 

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If a player streams EFP from one PC onto another they’re using via Steam, their Input will not be brought over. This will prevent the voice chat from functioning properly.

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Barry’s progress bar sometimes does not reset to 0% after completing a shift.

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Critters being disassembled too quickly after death may cause the game to become unresponsive and prevent players from spectating.

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Dying to the final Boogie Bot in the tutorial may cause the game to become unresponsive.

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Critters may instantly die after being revived by the Syringe.

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The Redemption has just recently been added, and will have a number of bugs.

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Possessing the Sewing Kit, Doey Bomb, or Hiding Box may interrupt throws, preventing items from being thrown properly.

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Posted by the game’s developer or publisher to its Steam community hub and published by Valve through Steam’s public news API. Sifter reproduces it unedited and writes none of it.