- Ranked #1 Most Played Demo at Steam Next Fest, experienced by over 6 million people cumulatively
- Surpassing 1 Million Wishlist Items… ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ Reviews Upon Official Launch
Lefto Studio, an indie developer from Istanbul, Turkey, officially released the 3-player cooperative bomb defusal game ‘BOMBANANA!’ on Steam on September 2, 2026.
The price is $7.99 (€7.99/£7.15), and to celebrate the launch, a limited-time 20% discount sale is also being held.
‘Bombanana!’ is a title that garnered attention after its demo, unveiled at Steam Next Fest last June, received an explosive response. At the time of its official release, it had secured over 1 million wishlist items, and the cumulative number of demo players reached 6 million.
The Bomb Disposal Operation of the Blind, Deaf, and Mute Monkeys
‘Bombanana!’ is a cooperative party game where exactly three players form a team to defuse a bomb. Players take on the roles of a blind monkey, a deaf monkey, and a mute monkey, respectively, and must defuse the bomb using only limited information.
The game’s setting is inspired by the Eastern concept of the ‘Three Wise Monkeys’ . Since the three players must verify and convey different information, smooth communication is paramount; however, confusion arises at every moment because the information each player can see and hear is different.
The bombs are subject to different modules and rules, and teammates must exchange information to find a way to defuse them within a limited time. During this process, shouts, hand gestures, and conflicting instructions mingle, creating comical situations distinct from typical cooperative games.
The official version offers three game modes: Campaign, Endless, and Custom.
The campaign consists of 30 handcrafted levels with progressively increasing difficulty, and in Endless mode, you must overcome procedurally generated waves. In Custom mode, you can directly set bomb difficulty, timers, module types, environmental hazards, and the number of allowed mistakes.
In addition, new environments, puzzles, modifiers, full-body emotes, and voice-synchronized animations have been added. The monkey character has also been revamped, and player interactions, including slapping, have been introduced.
Convenience features such as a global lobby browser, room codes, controller and Steam Deck support, and a colorblind mode have also been included in the official version.
Comedy created by colorful 3D visuals and interaction
With its official release, ‘Bombanana!’ unveiled a new art direction that emphasizes its unique character while maintaining the basic gameplay of the demo.
Based on Steam tags, it emphasizes comedy and a cute atmosphere with colorful and stylized 3D visuals, and true to its ‘Dialogue Heavy’ nature, communication through voice and gestures functions as a core gameplay element.
Overseas media outlets have noted these characteristics, stating that while typical bomb defusal games require concentration and silence, ‘Bombanana!’ is a game that makes the noise and chaos filling the living room itself the fun.
Istanbul indie studio formed by the creators of ‘Liar’s Bar’
Lefto Studio is an independent game development team based in Istanbul, Turkey, led by Ufuk Girit.
The development team has prior experience participating in the development of social and party games such as ‘Liars Bar’ and ‘We Are So Cooked’. Based on this experience, ‘Bombanana!’ also focuses on communication between players and the fun arising from unpredictable situations.
Lefto Studio is in charge of development for this official version, and publisher TARK is in charge of service.
Surpassing 1 Million Wishlists… Will the Demo Success Carry On to the Official Release?
‘Bombanana!’ ranked first among approximately 5,000 entries for the most played demo at Steam Next Fest held last June. It left a strong impression, recording a peak concurrent user count of about 40,000 and a cumulative total of about 675,000 unique players during the festival.
User interest continued steadily thereafter, and by the time of the official release, the number of wishlists had exceeded 1 million, and the cumulative number of demo players had also increased to 6 million.
The demo currently holds an ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ rating on Steam, with 97% of its 1,395 reviews being positive. The full version also secured the same rating immediately after launch, with 96% of its 929 reviews being positive.
In the Steam community, there were also positive reactions regarding the development team’s response, including the provision of a public lobby browser from day one and active support for the multiplayer environment.
However, some media outlets analyzed that while the high wishlist and number of demo players are clearly indicators of the game’s initial popularity, the real test will be whether it can secure a sufficient number of players in the long term, given that the game is based on three-player co-op.
On the other hand, positive evaluations continued regarding the fact that the content of the full version, such as 30 campaign levels and 3 game modes, was sufficiently expanded even after the demo.
‘Bombanana!’ is a case where the popularity of a demo that garnered attention at Steam Next Fest, featuring a simple yet powerful cooperative idea, was successfully carried over to an official launch.
In particular, the unique game structure requiring exactly three people to share different information, and the various modes and content supporting it, are cited as strengths.
With the game having secured an ‘overwhelmingly positive’ rating upon its official launch, the key point to watch for ‘Bombanana!’ going forward will be how long it can maintain this initial buzz and develop into a stable 3-player cooperative community.
Information related to ‘BOMBANANA!’
| item | detail |
|---|---|
| Developer | Lefto Studio (Istanbul, Turkey) |
| Publisher | TARK |
| Genre | Cooperative Party Puzzle, Casual, Comedy |
| platform | PC (Steam, Windows·macOS) |
| Release date | September 2, 2026 |
| price | $7.99 (20% launch discount) |
| personnel | Exactly 3-player online co-op |
| result | Over 1 million on wishlists, 6 million cumulative demo users, #1 most played demo at Next Fest 2026 |
| Reactions/Evaluations | Steam ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ (Full Version 96%, 929 reviews); Demo ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ (97%, 1,395 reviews) |
| Steam Page | Shortcut |
