Absurd New Boxing Game Looks Like Punch-Out With Muppets

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Summary

  • Felt That: Boxing is a quirky game with puppet art and Punch-Out!! vibes.
  • Independent games strive to fill the Punch-Out!! gap with unique characters and fast-paced gameplay.
  • Felt That features puppet boxing, minigames, and stunning Unreal 5 graphics, setting it apart in the indie scene.

The upcoming boxing game, titled “Felt That: Boxing“, showcases a unique art style that combines the grit of real-life boxing with the whimsical charm of Jim Henson’s Muppets. One of its lead developers has described it as a game where “odd, furry puppets had a dramatic offspring with Punch-Out!!.” This intriguing title is one of the many exciting announcements to come from the Summer Game Fest 2025.

Since the Nintendo boxing series “Punch-Out!!” paused production following the 2009 Wii version, numerous games have endeavored to replicate its style. The independent gaming community in particular has made several attempts to develop a successor with similar elements like lightning fast reactions, speedrunning techniques, and unique characters. Now, indie games such as “Thunder Ray” and the upcoming “Big Boy Boxing” are joined by another contender.

For the first time, viewers caught a glimpse of the upcoming game titled “Felt That: Boxing” during the Summer Game Fest, where the trailer was unveiled. The video showcased our main character, Ezra “Fuzz-E” Wright, who’s initially a fragile puppet. The storyline revolves around his quest to become a boxing champion in an attempt to save his former orphanage from being torn down.

Felt That: Boxing Features Slapstick Puppet Gameplay

In the trailer’s gameplay segment, Fuzz-E squares off against a vibrant group of adversaries within the boxing arena. Those who have played Punch-Out!! will recognize the third-person camera perspective, which highlights the size disparity between the fighters and offers the player a clearer view. Besides the main bouts, Felt That offers an assortment of mini-games designed to enhance Fuzz-E’s abilities. These training exercises involve tasks such as cleaning toilets, evading flying pieces of toast, and punching chunks of frozen meat, similar to how Rocky Balboa trained.

In a unique blend of styles, the game Felt That offers a mix of physical comedy, offbeat humor, and over-the-top storytelling that appeals to diverse tastes. This game is likely to stand out among many gaming enthusiasts, not just for its entertaining content, but also as a remarkable technical feat. During its introduction, Geoff Keighley revealed that the trailer footage was all captured in-engine using Unreal 5. Given the high-caliber team responsible for it, it’s no wonder that the game showcases a photorealistic art style. The co-developers, Sans Strings Studio and Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, have built a reputation for pushing the limits of animation technology. One of the founders of Sans Strings, Sébastien Deguy, is an award-winning innovator in computer graphics, having won both an Emmy and an Oscar for his groundbreaking work in this field.

During the Summer Game Fest, numerous other game unveilings also took place. In the big leagues (AAA), spectators were caught off guard by the announcement of the upcoming main installment in the Resident Evil series, titled Requiem. There were also several quirky indie games similar to Felt That showcased, such as the cooperative stop-motion platformer Out of Words and the action game that resembles a Game Boy title, Mina the Hollower.

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2025-06-07 07:44