BUCKLE UP, DUDES! How Many Dudes? will be launching on Thursday, July 30th at 10AM PST / 5PM UTC!

The demo for HMD has been downloaded by more than 475,000 people, which is, y’know, a LOT. More than we ever expected!

Since y’all gave us more than we expected, we’ve been cooking up a whole lotta game to balance things out. FAIR IS FAIR. Here’s what you can expect from the full release (screenshots aren't translated, but everything will be for the launch!):

42 Dudes across 6 Dude Families. New Dudes include Mummy Dude, Druid Dude, Alien Dude, Pirate Dude, Cowboy Dude & more, plus reworks to a handful of the Dudes in the demo.

With 5 Dudes in a Team, that’s 850,668 possible team comps to play with - more than 137x the comps possible in the Demo. For those of you who played the demo for a few dozen hours and were wondering “how will there be more game than this?” Well, this is how!

“Should I give my Wizard Dudes a Medical License? Or let my General Dudes have Therapy?”

You can look forward to asking and debating questions like these thanks to the new Trinkets system. Defeating Act Bosses now rewards Trinkets - equippable items that amplify an entire Dude Type on your team. You decide which Dude type gets these bonuses, granting each run a whole new dimension of strategic chaos. 

The Trinkets include things like the Baseball Bat, Face Tattoo, and Taser, and can add new synergies to just about anything, letting you break the game in totally new ways.

“Should I give my Spartan dudes a Chili Dog or a Baguette?”

Wandering Dudes already come by your ranch in the Demo - the Merchant Dude, Dude Whisperer, Business Dude, and Scavenger Dude. For the launch, we’ll be adding a handful of new Wandering Dudes who add more unique choices and strategic depth to each run.

The Food Dude grants a choice of delicacies to empower a chosen dude type, each granting significant stat boosts. The Promoter Dude offers a wager in an underground fight, and the Smuggler Dude will let you nab relics from Dude Families not on your Roster.

Once you’ve taken your Dudes all the way to the G.O.A.T. in Tier 1, new levels of challenge unlock. Tier 2 and Tier 3 introduce increasingly unhinged Final Bosses, enhanced difficulty, new enemies to fight, and new metaprogression unlocks.

And of course Endless Mode remains after defeating any final boss, which lets you keep on fighting to see just how far your team can go.

We’ve updated the Metaprogression system with more unlocks, including starting cash & consumables, those wonderful Pocket Dice, and access to the new Ensemble Mode.

Ensemble Mode lets you pre-select Dudes to take on your run, much like how the Daily Dude works. As you earn Silver and Gold Stars across the challenge Tiers you’ll gradually unlock all 5 slots, letting you assemble your dream team without alt-F4ing a dozen times and praying to the gods of RNG.

And you don’t have to fill all the slots - any Dudes left open will have a random flyer selection during the run, just like in Classic Mode. It’s a great way to play when you’ve got a theory about a few Dudes who would work well together, or are pushing for a new record to brag to your friends about.

From 475k demo downloads to earning a spot in the Top Demos of Steam Next Fest, How Many Dudes? has been full of surprises for our small team. Thanks to all of you who have played, wishlisted, and popped into the discord[discord.gg] to say hello - it’s made working on the game an absolute blast.

Now I gotta get back to cookin’ so we can finally answer the question: How many dudes does it take to make How Many Dudes?