If you thought the folks at Claymatic Games were done bringing their clay creations to life when production wrapped on Platypus Reclayed (which I didn't even know existed until just today), you thought wrong. Their next game is called Knuckle Creek, and today PR issued a press release to let us know that we should expect it on Oct. 29, 2026.
Knuckle Creek is described as an "arena brawling party game," which theoretically puts it in the room with the likes of Powerstone or even the Smash Bros. games. But in this case, the combatants were created using some unholy mix of clay animation, scanned clay models, and 3D modeling.
Oh, and eight players can duke it out all at once, either in couch play or online. Here's a new trailer so you can see it all in action.
A single-player campaign lets players battle in dozens of stages while controlling one of several unique heroes. Options include Hot Dog Man, who fights off crows, a local vampire working against the local townsfolk and their nasty pitchforks, and a boxer named Apollo Crude (get it?), who goes up against the fearsome Karate Club.
The game apparently lets players assemble costumes. They'll mix and match hats, shoes, jackets, and more, all presented in the clay visual style. The customization extends to multiplayer modes, where you can join your friends in a bout against AI bots.
"With a low barrier to entry but high skill ceiling, Knuckle Creek is the perfect ‘afterparty’ game, where anyone can hop in and have a good time," said Anthony Flack, the lead games designer at Claymatic Games. "We really leaned into the comedy too, with all the silly characters and situations - I recorded thousands of voice samples to bring the cast to life and we put a lot of jokes in. It is a very slapstick game where you can drop an anvil on somebody’s head or throw a pig. We want to make people laugh.”
Here's another trailer, this time with a sing-a-long song:
The list of key features in Knuckle Creek is as follows:
48+ handcrafted solo stages, as well as endless and randomised solo challenges
Up to 8-player local and online multiplayer, including bot support
Hundreds of cosmetics included — hats, jackets, shoes, hair, all in glorious clay
Bluegrass and blues inspired soundtrack
Friends Leaderboards and star-ratings for every stage
Made with a mix of stop-motion techniques and 3d graphics by the Platypus Reclayed team
For those who have forgotten, the original Platypus was a horizontal shooter created, designed and programmed by Anthony Flack (with help from a few others). It eventually received a PSP port, which I recall liking well enough at the time, as well as a sequel in 2007. After that, there wasn't a lot of noise until Flack bought the rights to the game in 2019. Then Platypus Reclayed released last year and now here we are, deciding whether we want to wishlist the game on Steam.
It will be interesting to see where Flack's clay ambitions go from here.
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