Picture this: a windswept, slightly oddball British countryside stitched together with steam-punkish contraptions, a propaganda tower humming in the distance, and you, playing as Duke, a young border collie on a mission to find his lost master. That’s Hounded: a third-person adventure about tracking, curiosity, and tiny supernatural moments that unfold around you.

Who are Imprint Studios (and why should you care)?

Imprint Studios started as a small team of industry veterans who wanted to make evocative, immersive games without getting swallowed by massive studio bloat. They do contract art work to keep the lights on, but their heart — right now — is getting Hounded into the hands of players. The studio’s vibe is hands-on, personal and built around a tight crew that actually enjoys making the world you’ll explore.

What makes Hounded feel different?

At first glance it’s the protagonist that grabs you, a dog. But the clever part is how the team turned the “dog can’t talk” constraint into a design strength. Instead of dialogue, story comes to you through exploration and something the studio calls imprints: little frozen stage-plays tied to a supernatural force called the tide. Interacting with an imprint unfurls multiple points you can inspect, revealing connected narrative fragments, think interactive audio logs that feel alive in the world. That’s how Hounded tells its story without Duke speaking a single line.

“We felt a monologue would undercut the tone — so we made the world speak.”

A world you’ll want to poke at

The team mixes cosy rural British textures (thatched cottages, rolling hedgerows) with anachronistic industry: early electricity networks, strange spherical batteries called Forbes, and odd industrial contraptions that both look beautiful and beg to be interacted with. The result is visual tension, familiar + uncanny, which invites curiosity and exploration. The designers cite things like Dishonored, Stray, Fable 3 and Order 1886 as tonal touchstones for immersion, tone and worldbuilding.

Soundtrack & atmosphere, tiny details that add up

Music and sound are huge here. The composers (Marké & Mojo, Joe and Adam) found the game on social media, reached out, and ended up delivering a score that elevates the art direction by “about 200%,” according to the team. The point: Hounded isn’t just pretty, it sounds like a place you can live inside.

What here how they made it happen.

Dev life: messy, hilarious, and rewarding

If you love behind-the-scenes stories, Imprint are the kind of devs who share the “bugs and wins” cycle: a trailer clip might show Duke moonwalking one day and fur-covered perfection the next. Animation presented its own headaches (four-leg rigs vs Unreal’s bipedal optimizations, Blender vs Maya workflows), but the team solved it together, and the demo they’re proudest of proves it. What stands out most to the founders is building the team and watching it gel: “people are solving problems without us having to step in.”

Kickstarter, community and why your support mattered

Their Kickstarter hit its goal in four days, not just because of cash, but because it validated that a real audience wanted this game. For Imprint, Kickstarter was a market test and a way to build a core audience that gives feedback, shares wild theories, and grows with the game as it develops.

Hounded on Steam!