If you’re a fan of mind-bending puzzle games that aren’t quite what they seem on the surface, you’ll want to keep your eyes on Stip.

Belgian solo developer Sam Agten (working under the studio name SixtyFour and previously known for the tactical hacking RPG Midnight Protocol) has officially released a public Steam demo for his latest creation: a minimalist, deceptively simple number puzzle game where the rules are yours to figure out, the puzzles actively misbehave, and looking beyond the edges might just be a mistake.

What Is Stip?

Named after the Dutch word for “dot,” Stip asks players to solve clean, grid-based logic challenges by placing numbers into dots based on specific constraints. You assign, undo, deduce, and repeat. On the surface, it feels like a cosy, satisfying brain-teaser designed to deliver quick dopamine hits and relaxing number crunching.

However, beneath its crisp minimalist aesthetic lies something much more sinister—a self-described Metroidbrainia where the game itself appears to be hiding something from you.

Key Features You Can Expect in the Demo

• Rule Discovery: You aren’t handed an instruction manual. Players must experiment through trial and error to deduce constraints and discover hidden puzzle mechanics that alter how you interact with the board.
• An Intricate Puzzle Box: The puzzles are nested inside maze-like rooms that hide environmental clues, secret items, and off-kilter challenges.
• Puzzles That Misbehave: Stip will flatter you with motivational confetti, shower you with quirky number facts, and urge you to keep moving forward… all to stop you from noticing the fraying edges of its reality.
• Transmedia Secrets: Keep your eyes peeled everywhere—from store pages and trailers to press releases. Secret codes (like pressing ‘C’ in the demo to enter hidden inputs) unlock deeper layers of mystery.

Award-Winning Pedigree

Stip has already turned heads across the indie gaming scene, picking up the award for Most Anticipated Belgian Game of 2026 at the Belgian Game Awards.

What started as Agten’s lighthearted attempt to make a cosy game his mother could enjoy quickly “spiralled out of control into something demented,” blending mathematical wonderland logic with an eerie, attention-craving meta-narrative.

Try the Demo Now

Ready to dive down the rabbit hole and test your deduction skills? The Stip demo is available now on Steam, with a full release scheduled for PC and Nintendo Switch later this year.

Just remember: keep your eyes forward, ignore the glitches, and whatever you do… don’t touch anything you shouldn’t.

Find out more here

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