You wake up in a wrecked tavern with a crushing hangover, no memory of last night, and the kingdom’s crown missing. The prime suspect is you. That’s the setup for Olaf and the Crowning Hangover, a comedy puzzle adventure from Hidalgo Code, the studio of Ukrainian solo developer Volodymyr Mikhav. On October 6, the free Steam demo gained full voice acting, with Brock Baker, known for his impressions and character voices, playing three roles: Olaf, the grumpy orc carpenter Grimlark, and the narrator.
The game follows a dwarf searching for a vanished crown, told through slapstick comedy and spatial puzzles. The full version is targeting a 2027 Steam release.
A Hangover, a Missing Crown, and an Executioner Waiting
Olaf is a dwarf gem-cutter who comes to in a trashed tavern. He remembers nothing of the night before, and the royal crown is gone. The problem: the most likely suspect is Olaf himself.
With an executioner waiting, he has to clean up whatever mess he made and track down the crown. Starting from the ruined tavern, he travels across the kingdom, through a mill, a farm, the castle kitchen, and the dungeon, piecing his lost memories back together.
The story runs through roughly 1,000 lines of dialogue. Players talk to an eccentric cast to reconstruct what happened to Olaf the night before. Alongside Grimlark, there’s King Charles de Valois, who is spectacularly bad at hiding his gambling habit.
Tidy Up, Trap Yourself: Sokoban Turned Inside Out
The core of the game is a spatial puzzle system that twists classic Sokoban. Where traditional Sokoban has you push boxes and obstacles to clear a path, here you return scattered objects to their proper places. Heavy items are pulled rather than pushed.
The catch is that every object returned to its place becomes a fixed obstacle. Each chair, table, and barrel you repair makes the room tidier but shrinks the space Olaf can move through.
Fix a table first and you might block the exit. Move a barrel first and you might open a new route. Because the order of repairs changes the available paths, a miscalculation can leave Olaf walled in by his own cleanup.
The rules expand as the game goes on. You lead lost patrons in a snaking conga line to safety, and slide across beer-soaked floors to slip past patrolling guards in stealth sections.
Beyond the tavern, the game moves to the mill, the village farm, the castle kitchen, and the dungeon. A built-in level editor lets players create puzzles and share them with others. Retro pixel art pairs with modern puzzle design.
Brock Baker Joins the Demo
Voice acting is the update’s biggest change. The mill scene in the existing free demo is now fully voiced, with Baker performing Olaf, Grimlark, and the narrator.
The developer said that above all he wanted to make a story that moves people, and that voice acting has made the characters and story feel far more alive.
The free demo is available now on Steam. The studio pitches it as a good moment both for newcomers and for players who tried the earlier demo and want to hear the new performances.
Early Recognition
Olaf and the Crowning Hangover has drawn attention for its puzzle design and humor well ahead of launch. It won Best Game Design at Games Gathering and was featured in the Baltic Showcase.
Puzzle outlet Thinky Games selected it as one of the standout “thinky” demos of Steam Next Fest. Tiny Gaming also praised its classic appeal, citing clever puzzles, witty writing, and a cheeky premise.
The developer plans to announce further festival and showcase appearances in the coming months.
A Game Jam Idea, Grown Over Years
Hidalgo Code is the studio of solo developer Volodymyr Mikhav, based in Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine. Olaf and the Crowning Hangover is his first commercial game. It began as a small 2020 game jam project and grew over several years into a full blend of comedy, puzzles, and adventure.
The full version is targeting a 2027 Steam release. It will feature English voice acting, with text in English, Ukrainian, German, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese. Korean is not among the languages announced so far.
Who This Is For
Strong fit for: puzzle fans who enjoy Sokoban-style spatial logic with a fresh rule set; players who like comedy-forward adventures with lots of dialogue; anyone who enjoys sequencing puzzles where order matters; players interested in level editors and community-made puzzles; fans of Brock Baker’s character work.
Cautious fit for: Korean-language players, since Korean is not among the announced languages; anyone who needs a price or firm date, as neither is confirmed; players easily frustrated by self-blocking puzzles, which are central to the design.
Less ideal for: those seeking action or reflex-based gameplay.
The Takeaway
Olaf and the Crowning Hangover takes the oldest puzzle genre around and inverts its logic: cleaning up is what traps you. Pair that with a hungover dwarf framed for royal theft, a gambling king, a conga line of lost drunks, and Brock Baker voicing three characters, and the result is a puzzle game with real personality. From a 2020 game jam to a 2027 target, it has been a long road for one developer in Kropyvnytskyi. The free demo shows how far it has come.
Free demo on Steam now, with new voice acting. Full release: 2027 (target).
Information regarding ‘Olaf and the Crowning Hangover’
| item | detail |
|---|---|
| Developer | Hidalgo Code |
| Publisher | Unconfirmed |
| Genre | Comedy Puzzle Adventure |
| platform | PC (Steam) |
| Release date | Scheduled for 2027 (Free demo available) |
| price | Unconfirmed |
| language | English (voice and text), Ukrainian, German, Simplified Chinese, Japanese (Korean not supported) |
| Reactions/Evaluations | Winner of Best Game Design at Games Gathering, Selected as an Outstanding Thinky Demo at Steam Next Fest |
| Steam Page | Shortcut |
