Éalú
| Éalú | |
|---|---|
The banner of the game, as seen on Steam. | |
| Developer | Beyond The Bark |
| Publisher | Beyond The Bark |
| Engine | Unity |
| Platform | Windows |
| Release | October 2, 2025 |
| Genres | Point & click adventure game |
| Mode | Single-player |
Éalú (Irish for "escape")[1] is a point-and-click stop motion adventure game created by American indie game studio Beyond The Bark. It is a spiritual successor to the song "Tomcat Disposables", taken from the 2022 album "In case I make it," composed by American singer-songwriter Will Wood. The game was released for Windows on October 2, 2025.
Gameplay
The story is supposed to be an alternative, happier ending to "Tomcat Disposables" from Wood's album "In case I make it,".[‡ 1] The player character, a mechanical mouse, begins going through a maze that they must escape from.[2] Éalú's main gameplay mostly features point and click based puzzles.[3] There is a heavy emphasis on death, as there are many monsters that can kill the player[2] and even a tally for the number of deaths the player encounters.[1]
Development
The game was developed by a four-person team: Ivan Owen, a staff member at Beyond The Bark who contributed to design and writing; Benjamin Orr, who worked on design, programming, and writing; Will Wood, who composed the music and assisted with writing; and JT Paton, who served as the game's illustrator and promotional artist.[‡ 2][1] The game itself was made entirely using stop-motion animation, all hand animated by Ivan Owen.[2] It was inspired by the repetition of daily life.[1]
At the Irish film festival "Dingle Animation", Éalú was selected to be screened under the category "Game Trailers", along with 20 other games.[‡ 3] It was screened on March 22, 2025.[‡ 4] The game was scheduled for and promptly released on October 2, 2025 for Windows.[2][1]
It was originally created back in September of 2024 as an interactive story on TikTok, but the videos have now been taken down.
Reception
The game was praised for its unique animation style.[1][2][3][4]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Evans-Thirlwell, Edwin (October 2, 2025). "Explore a puppetmaker's fear of "dark or fruitless" digital conditioning in Éalú, a deceptively cute stop-motion maze game". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on October 10, 2025. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
- ^ a b c d e Litchfield, Ted (July 24, 2025). "My heart's already been stolen by this stop-motion adventure made out of wood and 'mostly in a garden shed'". PCGamer.
- ^ a b O'Rourke, Barry (October 23, 2025). "New games reviewed: Irish-made Éalú is a must-play puzzler". RTE. Archived from the original on October 23, 2025. Retrieved January 24, 2025.
- ^ Ikuma, John. "Éalú – A Handcrafted Stop-Motion Puzzle Adventure". Stop Motion Magazine. Retrieved January 23, 2025.
Primary sources
In the text, these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):
- ^ Will Wood (May 8, 2025). "Éalú - Gameplay Trailer - Latest Look". YouTube. Retrieved May 16, 2025.
- ^ "Éalú on Steam". Archived from the original on 2025-05-10. Retrieved 2025-05-16.
- ^ "Official Selection - Animation Dingle". 2 November 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2025.
- ^ beyondthebarkpuppets (March 22, 2025). "Hugh thank you to @cyanists for taking photos and a video of our trailer for our #computergame #éalú being screened at @animationdinglefestival today. @orr.benjamin". Instagram.
External links
- Éalú at Will Wood's website