Haunted Paws lets you and a friend navigate a haunted house as two dogs trying to find their missing human friend

Haunted Paws Closed Alpha Trailer | Wholesome Direct 2025 - YouTube Haunted Paws Closed Alpha Trailer | Wholesome Direct 2025 - YouTube
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Haunted Paws has received a new trailer as part of the Wholesome Direct this year, giving a further look into what the life of a puppy trying to track down their owner would look like. Except it's not your normal manhunt; you'll have to work your way through a haunted house instead. At least you don't have to do the whole thing alone though. Oh no, you'll need to enlist the help of a friend to come along with you.

You'll both need to work together to solve the mystery of where your human friend has ended up, and won't be able to do simple things like opening doors on your own. Instead, these things all require two sets of paws. So, be sure to pick someone you really enjoy playing games with because things could get a little frustrating otherwise.

Outside of solving the overarching problem, Haunted Paws gives you plenty of smaller challenges to complete as well, such as marking your territory 30 times. You know, all that good dog stuff. There are plenty of cute interactions for you and your puppy pal to unlock and break up the spooky environments too.

Most importantly though, you can fully customise your puppy. You'll be able to select the breed and change the fur colour, all the way down to the collar, letting you bring your own dog to life in the game. Though, if you stuck my pomeranian in a haunted house I'm pretty sure he'd just sit by the door and cry until it all blows over. Which isn't too dissimilar from what I'd do, really.

Although no release was announced, a closed alpha is happening right now to coincide with the Wholesome Direct. Hopefully we start to see more information about Haunted Paws after a few people have had the chance to hop in, because this seems like one of those games that will descend friendships into chaos for the sake of becoming a dog for a little bit. And I'm fully here for it.

Kara Phillips
Evergreen Writer

Kara is an evergreen writer. Having spent four years as a games journalist guiding, reviewing, or generally waffling about the weird and wonderful, she’s more than happy to tell you all about which obscure indie games she’s managed to sink hours into this week. When she’s not raising a dodo army in Ark: Survival Evolved or taking huge losses in Tekken, you’ll find her helplessly trawling the internet for the next best birdwatching game because who wants to step outside and experience the real thing when you can so easily do it from the comfort of your living room. Right?

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