Stupendium Softworks Announces First-Person Horror Debut

The UK games industry gained another independent studio this week when Stupendium Softworks officially announced its formation. The self-funded operation brings together YouTube musician The Stupendium and games industry veteran Alex Oxspring to create what they describe as "delightful, surprising games that are joyful, queer and celebratory."

According to the press release posted on mcv/develop, the studio emerges from years of collaboration between the two founders. Their previous work includes OnlyCans: Thirst Date, a dating sim about soft drinks that has been downloaded more than 350,000 times, and its 2026 spiritual sequel Polyarmory: High Calibre Love.

The Stupendium (they/she) has been making nerdcore music about video games for over a decade. Their anticapitalist anthem The Fine Print alone has accumulated more than 38 million views on YouTube. The videos often involve building massive, custom sets in their studio space — which they now joke about needing to justify with actual game development.

Oxspring brings more than a decade of industry experience to the partnership. They worked on Shooty Fruity at nDreams, and served as a game designer on Dead Island 2 and Deathsprint 66. Many of the Polyarmory team are now transitioning to work on Stupendium Softworks's debut project.

That debut is a first-person horror survival game. Details remain classified, but both founders emphasize a love of deep lore, ARGs, and encouraging players to peel back layers for deeper stories. Principal photography and production are slated for summer 2026.

The studio has made one clear policy statement: they create games without the use of generative AI. This isn't just a technical choice — it's philosophical. Oxspring called out industry waste: poor management, high staff turnover, and low investment in craft. They want to see more emphasis on sustainability and creativity.

It's a stance that will resonate with some developers and alienate others (depending on how much you value speed over craft, I suppose). The official website describes their approach as building worlds that are "stupendously silly but with emotional cores that resonate with our players."

There's something physical about how they describe their process. The Stupendium mentions buying filmmaking equipment that now needs justification. Oxspring talks about principal photography. These aren't abstract concepts — they're cameras, lights, sets, and the actual labor of building something tangible.

The studio operates with a worldwide team of what they call "stupengineers." They believe games should reward people who pay attention and deeply unsettle those who don't. That's a specific design philosophy, not a marketing slogan.

Self-funding matters here. Without investor pressure, the studio can prioritize sustainability over quarterly returns. They're making small, smart games made by real people who commit entirely to the bit. The commitment to no generative AI means every asset, every line of code, every texture comes from human hands.

Whether this approach scales remains the real question. The indie market is crowded, and horror survival games are a competitive genre. The studio's previous projects have niche appeal — dating sims about soft drinks and guns don't exactly have mass market potential.

But that might be the point. Stupendium Softworks isn't trying to make the next Call of Duty. They're making games that use all their talents to give homage to favorite game series and film influences. The first project is in active development, with details kept in what the website describes as "a box buried deep underground in an abandoned mineshaft somewhere."

Summer 2026 production timelines are ambitious. The industry has seen plenty of studios announce projects that never materialize. Whether Stupendium Softworks delivers on their promises will depend on execution, not just philosophy.

For now, the studio invites interested parties to sign up for their newsletter for development updates and "behind-the-scenes nonsense." The tone suggests they know the difference between hype and substance. Whether players feel the same way remains to be seen.

Artūras Malašauskas is an AI Systems Integrator with 20+ years of production-grade web engineering experience. He has designed, shipped, and scaled enterprise Python/PHP systems for logistics, SaaS, and public-sector clients. For the past year, he has focused exclusively on AI integrations: deploying open-source LLMs, building generative media pipelines (image, audio, video), and engineering multi-agent workflows for real production environments. His standard: reproducibility, security, cost-efficient inference—no vaporware. He documents and evaluates emerging AI tooling, separating verified capabilities from marketing noise. Technical editor at: muza-ai.eu, ai-verslas.lt, ai-naujinos.lt Connect on LinkedIn