Human: Fall Flat Veterans Found Pretty Cool Games, Backed by Hypergryph

Pretty Cool Games is a new independent British studio founded by Sitara Shefta and Will Dudley, two veterans who worked on the development of Human: Fall Flat. The company has already secured funding from Coreblazer, Hypergryph's investment division, the Chinese studio best known for Arknights, and is now expanding its team to begin production on its first game.

Shefta will serve as CEO after being CEO and studio director at No Brakes Games, where she helped build the Human: Fall Flat team. She previously worked on LittleBigPlanet 3, Dead Island 2, and Disney Infinity. Dudley will be chief creative officer, bringing experience from both independent and AAA productions, including Human: Fall Flat and Fable: The Journey. Pretty Cool Games' official website describes the company as a fully remote UK entity, focused on creating new intellectual properties for PC and consoles.

The first project is still in its early stages, but the direction is already quite clear. Dudley described it as a physics-based AA sandbox focused on player expression, built around emergent systems capable of producing unpredictable situations. Shefta explained that the team will follow a "gameplay-first" approach: ideas are rapidly prototyped, tested, and modified based on how they actually work in the player's hands.

According to information reported alongside the announcement, creative references for the project include Nintendo, Hazelight, Disney parks, and the physical comedy of films like The Pink Panther. This approach is consistent with the experience gained on Human: Fall Flat, where physics and unpredictable object behavior become part of the comedy itself. However, the detail on artistic references is reported by secondary sources and does not currently appear in the studio's public presentation.

There is also another element already public: the UK Games Fund lists Pretty Cool Games' debut under the name Possession, describing it as a "physics-based adventure sandbox" with multiplayer and a fantasy setting. It is not yet clear whether Possession will be the final title under which the game will be marketed.

Coreblazer's funding also represents, according to VGC, Hypergryph's division's first European investment. Pretty Cool Games aims to remain a contained structure: the stated goal is not to quickly build a large studio, but to maintain a small team where every developer can directly impact the project.