Steam's new freebie is a spooky and cozy puzzler that's perfect for the month ahead

It’s never too early to start thinking about Halloween, especially as the perfect spooky treat has just landed.

Developer Absolutely Games and publisher Secret Mode is gearing up to launch cozy title Fangtopia on October 26 across PC, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch 2.

PC players are the winners here though, as a free demo for Fangtopia has been released on Steam already, offering that platform an early taster.

If you're burnt out on cozy life sims, Fangtopia could be the perfect game for you. While you will build a monstrous town, there’s none of the usual farming or decorating fare included.

Instead, Fangtopia offers tile-based puzzle gameplay.

Players will “land tiles from a stack, connecting terrain of the same type to score points”. As you do so, you’ll expand your kingdom.

As you progress, your town will boast “misty mountains, dark woods, ghostly railways, snaking rivers, charming towns, and more”.

When players meet certain score goals, they’ll unlock additional landmarks - and the more you expand your kingdom, the more secrets you’ll uncover about the game’s world. It’s very satisfying.

Fangtopia boasts an ASMR audio mode for peak relaxation

Of course, a kingdom is nothing without inhabitants. In order to lure in spooky monsters, you’ll want to complete something known as ‘portal objectives’.

You can then choose where the best place is to house, say, a werewolf or a yeti.

While Fangtopia is spooky themed, it’s not at all frightening, boasting a wholesome and cozy aesthetic.

It shouldn’t stress you out either, as there’s no time pressure involved with players invited to work through Fangtopia at their own pace.

There are over 100 tiles featured in Fangtopia in total, with global and friend leadership boards available if you are competitive.

As with all good cozy games, there’s a collectible too in the form of an interactive sticker book which you can fill in throughout your playthrough.

And if that’s not relaxing enough, how about an ASMR audio mode for “added comfort”? Yes please.

PC players can now enjoy a free demo ahead of the game’s October launch

Again, a brand new demo is available for Fangtopia now - and you can select from Fangtopia Mode or Island Mode.

The former teaches you the basics in a “short and cozy session”. Island Mode, on the other hand, tasks you with connecting remote islands via a ghostly railway with more modes to come in good time.

“With plenty to unlock in the demo (and much more to come at launch), we hope you’ll enjoy discovering and building your perfect pumpkin-filled realm and inviting fiendish friends to take up residence in Fangtopia lush and sprawling kingdom,” devs wrote to Steam.

It doesn’t look as if save data will particularly carry over from this bite-sized taster.

You do have somewhat unlimited access though. Each session in the demo has a 1,000-point limit, but you can play as many times as you like, perfecting the formula in preparation to build bigger towns when the full version of Fangtopia launches next month.