One rabbit refuses to work without her best friend. Another hates standing at the front. A third wilts in the sun. Getting all of them out the door on the right mission is the job, and the puzzle, in HopScout, the new logic puzzle game from Korean indie studio Studio Doodal, maker of LAPIN and Solateria. The studio has opened the game’s Steam store page and released an official trailer.
Players take the role of Libe, leader of a rabbit burrow, assigning rabbits with different personalities and preferences to missions that suit them.
Leading the Burrow
HopScout shares its world with LAPIN, the studio’s 2023 release.
As Libe, players assign rabbits with distinct personalities and tastes to missions. Some want to work alongside a particular friend. Others would rather not take the lead.
Each mission has its own requirements, so players have to weigh both the rabbits’ temperaments and the mission conditions. Finding an arrangement that leaves everyone satisfied is the heart of every puzzle.
The story takes place more than three years after the ending of LAPIN, the studio’s 2D precision platformer, and familiar characters from that game return to connect the two worlds.
Items That Bend the Rules
Players can use items that change placement conditions. Put a sunshade on a rabbit who hates the heat, and she can be sent on a mission in strong sunlight. Fans, umbrellas, lanterns, and an herbal field guide each have different effects and ranges. Rather than simply following the conditions as given, players combine items to find solutions.
The game includes more than 90 stages. Solving each day’s puzzles reveals the daily lives and hidden stories of the rabbits who live in the burrow. Hearts earned from completed puzzles unlock entries in the Rabbit Encyclopedia, and solving a puzzle perfectly earns furniture for decorating the burrow.
Studio Doodal recently shared on its official account that it is developing a touch in which a different rabbit flips the calendar and claps each time the day changes.
From Platforming to Puzzles: Doodal’s Third Game
Studio Doodal began in December 2019, when six university students came together to make LAPIN. Released in 2023, LAPIN is a 2D platformer about the adventures of a group of rabbits, available on PC, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4 and 5.
The studio’s second game, Solateria, a parry-focused 2D Metroidvania action game, launched on Steam on March 12 this year.
Unlike those action- and combat-driven titles, HopScout focuses on puzzles built from combining character traits and conditions. The studio plans to keep its emphasis on characters and story even as it changes genres.
HopScout will launch on Steam with support for five languages: Korean, English, Japanese, and Simplified and Traditional Chinese. Pricing has not been set, and the game can be wishlisted on Steam now.
Who This Is For
Strong fit for: fans of LAPIN who want to revisit its world and characters; logic puzzle players who enjoy constraint-based assignment puzzles; cozy-game fans who like collecting, decorating, and character stories; Korean-language players, with Korean supported from the start.
Cautious fit for: LAPIN and Solateria players expecting action or platforming, since HopScout is a pure logic puzzle game; console players, as only PC is announced.
Less ideal for: those looking for reflex-based challenge or combat.
The Takeaway
HopScout is a thoughtful pivot for Studio Doodal: from precision platforming and parry combat to the quiet logic of keeping a burrow full of picky rabbits happy. Returning characters, 90-plus stages, item-driven rule-bending, and a rabbit encyclopedia give it real substance, and the studio’s focus on personality carries straight through. It’s a fitting third game for a team that started as six students with a rabbit platformer.
Release target: first half of 2027, PC (Steam). Wishlist available now.
‘ HopScout ‘ Game Information
| item | detail |
|---|---|
| Developers and Publishers | Studio Doodal |
| Genre | Logic puzzles, cozy, housing collection |
| platform | PC (Steam) |
| Release Target | First half of 2027 |
| Supported languages | Korean, English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese · Traditional Chinese |
| Steam Page | Shortcut |
