Underplayed Gems

Nightmare Puppeteer (2020)

Nightmare Puppeteer cover
Developer
Imagination Rabbit
Platforms
Windows
Genres
Indie, Simulation
Rating
4.4 of 5, 72 player ratings
Typical playtime
about 2.2 hours
Where to get it
Steam
The 3D catalog: game boxes on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalog in 3D

The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this game is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

Feels like a playful, surreal sandbox where you build and puppeteer weird animations with easy, experimental tools.

experimentalsurrealplayfuldarkly funnymoddablesandboxpsychedeliceasy to use

What players say

Players describe it as a bizarre, cursed video creation tool rather than a typical game. The learning curve is steep and the tutorial is confusing, but those who stick with it find endless creative possibilities in its puppet manipulation and AI-generated scenes.

Screenshots

Nightmare Puppeteer screenshot 1Nightmare Puppeteer screenshot 2Nightmare Puppeteer screenshot 3Nightmare Puppeteer screenshot 4Nightmare Puppeteer screenshot 5Nightmare Puppeteer screenshot 6

More games like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. Not quite it? You can browse by platform and genre, or take this one into the 3D catalog and ask the Catbot for something closer.