HOPE 01 Early Access Launch

HOPE 01 entered Steam Early Access on September 15, 2026, as a single-player pixel-art extraction survival RPG from Bending Boy Games. This page is the day-one snapshot: what the store promised, what the developer said in the EA questionnaire, what happened to the demo, and how to start without treating a first-week build like a finished 1.0 balance pass.

The trailer on this page is the public GameTrailers upload of the official demo launch trailer. For the living plan after week one, use Roadmap. For the play loop, use Getting Started. For FPS, dodge, or black-screen issues, use Troubleshooting. For campaign stakes, see Multiple Endings and the fan Early Access Review.

Store snapshot

• App ID: 4562940. Pre-launch posts also advertised Steam + GOG; treat Steam as the primary verified storefront for EA day-one unless GOG listing is confirmed on your region page.
• Developer / publisher: Bending Boy Games.
• Pitch: Wake in a deteriorating underground facility with a request to find HAB 01. Explore the interconnected Hab Cluster, help survivors, fight enemies and bosses, extract loot, scan it, print it, dictate a fate of humanity across multiple endings.
• Tags players actually use: Early Access, extraction shooter, survival horror, souls-like, Metroidvania, inventory management, looter, female protagonist, 2D, single-player, PvE, multiple endings.
• Mature note: includes some pixelated blood.
• List price: $11.99 USD. Introductory −10% (to $10.79) was advertised through September 22, 2026.
• Achievements: 21, including publicly visible names such as Well-read, Collector, Find Hab 01, and Hope 01.

HOPE 01 official demo launch trailer

What the developer said was already in

The Early Access questionnaire is more useful than a recap video:

• Campaign completable with multiple endings.
• 250+ items to collect (store feature text also says 200+ useful fabricator items and 70+ weapons — we keep both phrasings).
• 60+ enemies, numerous bosses, 50+ quests.
• First-ending playtests around 50–70 hours.
• EA length about a year or less because most initial planned features are already in.
• More quests, endings, guns, gadgets, enemies, and boss fights planned on top.
• Price planned to stay the same after EA.
• Feedback via Discord and Steam forums.

That is a lot of game for a 70 MB Windows download. It is also still labelled Early Access because difficulty, fabric amounts, enemy balance, boss fights, and quests are explicit tuning targets. A Steam community post before launch said the focus of EA would generally be difficulty — fabrics, enemies, bosses, quests — and that a design-philosophy post would follow so feedback could stay useful.

Demo takedown

The HOPE 01 Demo (app 4604250) went up around April 24, 2026, as a one-to-two-hour slice: 40+ guns, 20+ gadgets, one NPC quest slice, a tiny labyrinth, one boss, one spawn. Shortly before EA, the developer posted that the demo would be taken down for launch because the EA build had moved, with a possible return later. Do not expect a demo save to be a perfect tutorial of the September 15 map. Systems — fabricator scan, extracts, fabrics — carried forward. Room count did not stay tiny.

If you played the demo, still read How to Extract and Fabricator. Muscle memory helps; overconfidence about “I already know medical” does not.

Launch-week player notes (not patch notes)

Public Steam activity in the first hours included:

• Positive user reviews calling out inventory-management-with-tension, Steam Deck comfort, and the loop of kill / loot / extract.
• A thread about extremely high FPS making input feel delayed. Cap the frame rate. System Requirements.
• A minor single-button dodge bug-fix note in community content. Dodge (double-tap A/D, plus whatever single-button bind your build has) is load-bearing. Controls.

We will not invent a numbered patch list beyond what those public notes show. When Steam news posts a changelog, this page should be updated from that source, not from rumour.

How to start on a launch build

1. Install the tiny client. English only.
2. Cap FPS if the mouse feels late.
3. Hideout drills: scan, stash, drag-load a mag, seat a light. Getting Started.
4. Tick Loadout Checklist.
5. One short extract. Then another. Then print food.
6. Join Discord if the UI or a boss feels broken — the developer asked for that.

Do not binge-print military fabrics on day two. Fabric economy is a stated EA lever. Scan the library, spend like a miser, and let patches come to you.

What “completable” does not mean

Completable means you can finish a run with an ending. It does not mean:

• Every gun is balanced.
• Every district is equally fair.
• The Manorial timer is the timer they will keep forever.
• The 16 MB RAM store line is a good joke they meant to tell. System Requirements quotes it anyway.

Play it because the loop is in. Stay cautious because the numbers will move. The Roadmap is the honest “what is missing on purpose” page.

Other official media from the demo period

Useful public videos besides the trailer on this page (each wiki article embeds at most one):

• Indie Games Hub official demo trailer (mSTUoLKuYK8) — linked from some store roundups.
• Longplay-style sessions used elsewhere on this wiki for Getting Started and Fabricator.

If you only watch one thing besides the trailer, watch a full raid that misses an extract. That is the game.

When you are done with history, go loot. HAB 01 is not in the news hub.