Ghost Town Games on Stage Fright: 'It's More of an Evening Thing' as the Studio Moves Beyond Overcooked

Ghost Town Games — the studio behind Overcooked and Overcooked 2 — has opened up about its next project, Stage Fright, in a new interview. The co-op puzzle game was first revealed at The Game Awards 2024 and confirmed for a 2027 release during the September 2026 Nintendo Direct.

Founders Oli De-Vine and Phil Duncan spoke candidly about the journey from Overcooked's origins to Stage Fright's design. The pair recalled that Overcooked's success was far from obvious at launch — every publisher they approached turned them down except Team17, and even that partnership came with cautious expectations. The moment it clicked that they'd made something special? When strangers started referencing Overcooked in conversation without knowing who they were talking to. De-Vine described it as "weird" and "amazing" in equal measure, and Duncan laughed recounting a moment when someone asked if his cooking game was "kind of like Overcooked" — not realising he'd made it.

Stage Fright moves the co-op chaos out of the kitchen and into a spooky, puzzle-filled playground. The inspiration, according to Duncan, came from escape rooms — a format that shares Overcooked's DNA of a group working toward a common goal under time pressure, with communication at the centre. The studio describes the tone as deliberately less frantic than Overcooked: "We're not making a party game now, it's more of an evening thing," suggesting a slower, more considered co-op experience rather than the kitchen-fire panic the series is known for. A spooky Nintendo series also apparently provided some creative inspiration, though the interview stops short of naming it directly.

Stage Fright is currently targeting a 2027 release. Given Ghost Town's track record of turning co-op concepts into relationship-testing classics, it's one to watch — even if this time the arguments might be about puzzle logic rather than who burned the soup.