Mimic vs Terrible Lizards

• NPC Killer Android: Stalks the ship's hallways independently. While it is an enemy, players can 'tame' or direct it temporarily by using the voting system to assign it a specific human target.
  Rogue Artificial Intelligence
• Twitch Chat: When integration is enabled, the streamer's audience can cast votes to manipulate the Android and trigger environmental chaos, acting as a chaotic companion.
  External Audience

• Payphone Voice (Audio Guide): Provides urgent guidance and directions through ringing telephone handsets scattered across the attraction zones.
  Human (Telephone Voice)
• Battery-Powered Handheld Radio: Picks up static-filled emergency broadcasts, warning the player when aggressive predators are nearby.
  Electronic Device

• Shuttle Components: Randomly generated throughout the dark corridors, maintenance bays, and storage rooms of the Icarus; must be transported to the escape shuttle.
• Security Keycards: Found in administrative offices or on the bodies of fallen crewmates; used to bypass locked bulkheads and access restricted survival areas.

• Dalton's Dinos Audio Cassette Tapes: Found inside ticket booths, employee breakrooms, and executive offices; uncovers the sinister history of the park and staff disappearances.
• Vintage 1990s Dinosaur Souvenir Plushies: Hidden on high rafters, behind gift shop display racks, and inside prize arcade cranes; unlocks bonus concept art in the gallery.
• Redacted Genetic Lab Research Logs: Discovered in subterranean observation rooms and containment consoles; details the cloning experiments that spawned the mutant creatures.

• Sci-Fi Horror
• Deep Space Survival
• Social Deduction
• Shapeshifting Alien
• Betrayal
• Asymmetrical PvP
• Corporate Espionage

• Dinosaur Horror
• 1990s Route 66
• First-Person Parkour
• Retro Roadside Americana
• Subterranean Facility
• Genetic Experimentation
• Survival Horror

• Suspicion Vote (Android Targeting): Social/UI Mechanic
  Players have no guns; instead, they cast votes against suspected individuals. A majority vote directs the lethal NPC Android to hunt down and eliminate the accused player, making words the deadliest weapon.
• Mimic Assimilation: Biological Attack
  The Mimic's primary method of attack. It drops its human guise to reveal its true biological terror form, instantly eliminating an isolated crew member before shifting into their shape.
• Omen Poltergeist Abilities: Environmental Sabotage
  Used by deceased players to exact revenge or help friends. Omens can forcefully shut doors, trigger alarms, and manipulate the environment to trap living players with the Android or the Mimic.

• Parkour Momentum Dash & Slide: Evasion Traversal Maneuver
  The player's primary means of survival, allowing high-speed sprinting, crouch-sliding under obstacles, and vaulting over barriers to escape charging dinosaurs.
• Heavy-Duty 1990s Incandescent Flashlight: Environmental Illumination Tool
  Rugged metal flashlight used to cut through subterranean darkness and temporarily disorient light-sensitive troglodytic raptors.
• Scaffold Wall-Run Technique: Parkour Traversal Mechanic
  Momentum-driven technique to sprint horizontally along billboards, chain-link fences, and concrete walls across bottomless chasms.
• Environmental Audio Distractions (Soda Cans & Rocks): Stealth Lure Item
  Scattered junk items thrown across rooms to produce sound, luring predatory dinosaurs away from locked exits.
• Hydraulic Emergency Blast Door Switch: Environmental Trap Mechanism
  Wall-mounted industrial levers pulled during chases to drop heavy steel doors, trapping pursuing carnivores behind you.

• Standard Icarus Flight Suit: Provides zero ballistic protection; purely a cosmetic uniform worn by the doomed crew members of the spaceship. It offers no defense against the Mimic's attacks or the Android's programming.

• Vintage Denim Travel Jacket: Abrasion Resistance +15%, Sprint Mobility 100%; durable 1990s denim jacket that protects the player from scrape damage during wall-runs.
• Athletic Cross-Trainer Sneakers: Grip Traction +30%, Landing Impact Dampening +20%; rubber-soled 1990s sneakers essential for sticking pipe landings and wall-runs.
• Reinforced Work Gloves: Climbing Speed +25%, Splinter Protection 100%; heavy leather gloves found in maintenance sheds that facilitate rapid chain-link fence climbing.

• Classic 1992 Graphic Tee: Vintage cotton short-sleeve shirt featuring faded retro prints from early 90s road trips.
• Distressed Blue Denim Jeans: Rugged, comfortable jeans cuffed at the ankles to prevent snags during slides and leaps.
• Dalton's Dinos Souvenir Cap: Green-and-yellow baseball cap embroidered with the smiling mascot cartoon dinosaur logo.

Instead of traditional RPG skill trees, progression and capabilities are defined entirely by the secret roles randomly assigned at the start of a match. Crew members must master environmental interaction and deductive reasoning to repair the ship. The Mimic can shapeshift into other crew members and utilize hidden vents to assassinate isolated targets. Dead players transition into an 'Omen', an invisible ethereal form with a unique skill set allowing them to poltergeist objects, slam doors, and sabotage or assist the living, ensuring that death is a transition into a new playstyle rather than the end of the game.

Terrible Lizards strips away combat in favor of pure, momentum-based parkour agility. Rather than numerical skill trees, player progression is tied to mastery of movement mechanics: Wall-Running (building speed across vertical billboards and concrete walls to cross bottomless pits), Momentum Slides (ducking under hydraulic doors and dinosaur tail sweeps while maintaining sprint velocity), Cat Leaps & Mantling (scrambling up rusty chain-link fences and shipping containers), Trampoline Bounces (using tarps and canvas awnings to launch high into rafters), and Balance Beams (speedily traversing narrow steel girders above prowling beasts).

The primary map is the Icarus spacecraft, a densely packed, multi-level industrial labyrinth composed of dimly lit hallways, cramped ventilation shafts, and critical infrastructure rooms (such as the reactor core and escape shuttle bays). While the physical square footage is relatively contained to foster tension and forced encounters, the map is highly interactive. Players can utilize vents to traverse secretly, while malfunctioning doors and failing lights alter the navigability of regions in real-time as the ship breaks down.

The game takes place across a continuous, multi-tiered environment spanning the surface tourist attraction and sprawling subterranean research caverns. Key zones include: The Route 66 Dino Midway (the sun-bleached outdoor park packed with gift shops, dinosaur statues, ticket booths, and billboard scaffoldings), The Paleontology Exhibition Pavilion (a dusty indoor museum with skeletal displays, rope barriers, and suspended pterosaur models), The Underground Dig Site (vast excavated limestone caverns lined with scaffolding, mine carts, and deep chasms), and The Sub-Level Genetic Laboratory (a sterile, blood-streaked 1990s bunker featuring containment pens, decontamination chambers, and toxic waste canals).

• The Icarus: Deep Space Vessel
  The massive, doomed spaceship serving as the primary map. It is suffering from catastrophic systems failure and is on a direct collision course with a star.
• Escape Shuttle: Evacuation Pod
  The sole means of survival for the Crew. It is broken at the start of the match and requires coordinated resource gathering to become operational.

• The Broken-Down Sedan: 1980s Passenger Car
  The player's overheated station wagon parked stranded on the shoulder of Route 66, setting the entire survival nightmare into motion.
• Subterranean Mine Hauler Cart: Industrial Rail Cart
  An abandoned electric rail cart used as dynamic parkour stepping stones across flooded cavern chasms.

• The Mimic: Extraterrestrial Biological Terror
  The central antagonist of the game. It is a highly adaptable alien parasite capable of flawless biological mimicry, infiltrating the human crew to consume them one by one.

• Mutant Dilophosaurus: Genetically Modified Theropod
  Relentless apex pursuer featuring grotesque double skull crests, chasing players through exhibit halls with terrifying speed.
• Subterranean Troglodytic Raptor: Blind Cave Dromaeosaur
  Pale, blind pack hunters patrolling subterranean catwalks that hunt purely by sound, vibration, and air currents.
• The BrachioTitan: Colossal Mutant Sauropod
  A gargantuan, mutated dinosaur whose earth-shattering footsteps cause cave ceilings to collapse into platforming hazards.
• Corrupted Animatronic Pterosaur: Mechanical Mascot Hybrid
  Swinging ceiling animatronics that malfunction and lunge from the shadows as hazardous obstacle hazards.

• The Crew: Survivors
  Everyday engineers, scientists, and workers trapped on the Icarus. They must rely on teamwork, repair mechanics, and deductive reasoning to survive the nightmare.
• The Corporate Agent: Saboteur
  A covert operative planted by the corporation. They masquerade as a normal crew member but actively sabotage repairs to ensure the Mimic survives for corporate research.
• The Omen: Spectator/Interventionist
  The ethereal form taken by a player after they are killed. They wander the ship unseen, using poltergeist abilities to either aid the remaining crew or sow further chaos.

• The College Student (Protagonist): Stranded Traveler / Player Character
  A resourceful college student stranded in 1992 on Route 66 who must rely on athletic parkour skills and quick wits to survive the nightmare.
• The Mysterious Phone Caller: Enigmatic Guide
  A distressed voice on the attraction payphones who directs the player deeper into the complex, pleading for help to rescue a missing child.
• Arthur Dalton: Founder of Dalton's Dinos (Audio Logs)
  The ambitious and reckless entrepreneur whose obsession with prehistoric resurrection transformed his tourist trap into a genetic slaughterhouse.

• Escape the Icarus: Crew Primary Objective
  Scavenge the failing spaceship for repair parts, fix the escape shuttle's core systems, and launch before the vessel crashes into the sun.
• Corporate Cover-up: Agent Primary Objective
  Subtly sabotage the crew's repair efforts, sow discord using proximity chat, and ensure the Mimic survives for company retrieval.
• Total Assimilation: Mimic Primary Objective
  Use the ventilation system, shapeshift into trusted crew members, and quietly kill everyone on board without getting targeted by the Android.

• Stranded on Route 66: Prologue & Exploration
  Explore the crumbling entrance of Dalton's Dinos in search of a telephone after your car breaks down in the desert.
• Escape the Underground Dig Site: High-Speed Parkour Chase
  Sprint, wall-run, and mantle across collapsing mine scaffolds to outrun the relentless mutant Dilophosaurus.
• The Deep Facility: Finding the Child: Climactic Campaign Finale
  Navigate the lowest containment sectors, evade the colossal BrachioTitan, and uncover the secret behind the telephone voice.

The game operates exclusively as a multiplayer experience accommodating up to 10 players in matchmaking (and historically up to 8 in private lobbies). It heavily leans into Asymmetrical PvP and Social Deduction. Players are randomly assigned one of three factions (Crew, Corporate Agent, or Mimic) every round. The 'Guess Who' style deception is amplified by the ability to connect private lobbies, making it a definitive 'The Thing' style party game for friend groups, as well as a chaotic public matchmaking experience.

The game is designed exclusively as a single-player horror parkour experience. By focusing purely on solo play, WDR Studios crafted tightly paced horror encounters, intimate environmental storytelling, and intense, adrenaline-fueled chase sequences where player momentum and claustrophobia are paramount.

Mimic is set to launch into Early Access on Steam on October 27, 2026. While specific premium editions have not yet been heavily detailed, the base game includes the full asymmetrical multiplayer suite, private custom lobbies for up to 8 players, and integrated Twitch chat features. The developer, Ryan Laley Games, plans to eventually bring the title to the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.

Terrible Lizards launches globally on October 29, 2026, for PC via Steam, Xbox Series X|S (Day One on Xbox Game Pass), and PlayStation 5, priced at an accessible indie launch price of $19.99 USD. A standalone playable PC demo featuring the opening Route 66 roadside entrance and initial dinosaur chase was released on Steam on September 24, 2026, receiving 'Very Positive' community acclaim. Pre-order bonuses on console and early Steam buyers include a digital soundtrack featuring original songs by JT Music.

The Early Access model indicates a robust post-launch roadmap. The developer intends to balance the asymmetrical gameplay through community feedback. While traditional paid DLC has not been outlined, the game features a highly customizable 'Affixes' system—modifiers like 'One Hit Kills', 'Invisible Mimics', and 'Permanent Fire'—that remix gameplay. Further map variations, new Android AI behaviors, and expanded Twitch chat integration are expected to be the primary focus of updates.

WDR Studios and Behaviour Interactive plan to support the game post-launch with community-requested features. Planned updates include a dedicated 'Speedrun Mode' featuring in-game leaderboards, precision split-timers, and customizable ghost runners, an endless 'Survival Chase Gauntlet' where players must outrun escalating waves of mutant dinosaurs across procedural corridors, and expanded accessibility difficulty presets.

• Q: How is Mimic different from Among Us?
  A: While it shares the social deduction DNA, Mimic is a hardcore, realistic survival horror game built in Unreal Engine. It features proximity voice chat, a roaming AI Android that players can weaponize via voting, and dead players return as interactive 'Omens' rather than passive ghosts.
• Q: Can I fight back against the Mimic?
  A: There are no traditional weapons. You must rely on environmental awareness, running, hiding, and using the voting system to trick the NPC Android into killing your enemies.
• Q: What happens when you die?
  A: You become an Omen. Instead of just watching, you can interact with the ship's environment to sabotage doors, lights, and systems, directly affecting the outcome of the match.
• Q: Does it support private matches?
  A: Yes, players can host private lobbies for up to 8 (or 10) friends to experience the paranoia in a closed group, which is highly recommended for the best proximity chat experience.

• Q: What is Terrible Lizards?
  A: Terrible Lizards is a first-person horror parkour platformer developed by WDR Studios (JT Music) and published by Digital Pajamas and Behaviour Interactive.
• Q: When is the release date for Terrible Lizards?
  A: Terrible Lizards launches on October 29, 2026, for PC via Steam, Xbox Series X|S (Day One on Xbox Game Pass), and PlayStation 5.
• Q: Are there weapons or combat in Terrible Lizards?
  A: No, combat is not an option in Terrible Lizards. Players must rely exclusively on fluid parkour movement—running, jumping, wall-running, sliding, and climbing—to evade deadly predators.
• Q: Where does Terrible Lizards take place?
  A: The game takes place in the summer of 1992 at 'Dalton's Dinos,' an abandoned Route 66 dinosaur roadside attraction in New Mexico and the secret facility hidden beneath it.
• Q: Is there a playable demo available?
  A: Yes, a free playable PC demo is available on Steam, offering a thrilling first-look at the game's parkour mechanics and initial dinosaur chase sequences.

Powered by Unreal Engine, the game embraces a dark, cinematic sci-fi aesthetic inspired by classic horror films like Alien and The Thing. The visuals prioritize heavy shadows, flickering emergency lighting, and volumetric fog to obscure sightlines and induce paranoia. The Mimic's transformations are depicted as gruesome, evolving biological horrors, standing in stark contrast to the cold, industrial metallic surfaces of the Icarus and the rigid, unfeeling design of the roaming maintenance droids.

Powered by Unreal Engine 5, Terrible Lizards contrasts the sunny, nostalgic kitsch of retro 1990s Route 66 Americana with horrific, blood-soaked subterranean body-horror. Lifelike dinosaur models feature slimy, deformed mutant hides, exposed biological cybernetics, and twitching animatronic endoskeletons. Volumetric dust motes dance in flashlight beams, while dynamic neon signs flicker against crumbling brickwork.

Audio design is arguably the most critical mechanic in Mimic. The game features proximity voice chat, meaning sounds carry realistically through the dark corridors of the Icarus; speaking too loudly can attract both the Mimic and the NPC Android. The ambient soundscape is characterized by eerie silence broken by the groaning hull of the failing spaceship, alarm sirens, and the terrifying mechanical footsteps of the hunting Android. Deception relies entirely on what you hear and who you believe.

Created by the musical minds behind JT Music (John Gelardi and Christian Ames), the audio landscape is one of the game's standout achievements. Dynamic synth-horror and industrial percussive scores surge in tempo whenever a predator spots the player, transitioning seamlessly from ambient desert wind to pounding, heart-stopping chase rhythms. Realistic prehistoric guttural roars, clattering claws on metal gratings, and chilling 1990s audio cassette tape logs enhance the terrifying atmosphere.

The UI is designed to be minimalistic to heighten immersion, keeping the screen clear of clutter so players focus on the dark environments. The most critical UI element is the Voting and Suspicion system, which allows players to cast a vote against a suspected Mimic; doing so commands the NPC killer Android to seek out that target. Additionally, proximity chat indicators provide spatial awareness of who is speaking in the dark, and an objective tracker outlines the necessary repairs for the escape shuttle.

The user interface is entirely diegetic and minimalistic to immerse the player in the 1992 survival scenario. There is no intrusive health bar or stamina meter; instead, player fatigue is communicated through heavy breathing audio, subtle peripheral vignetting, and heartbeat acoustics. Interactive parkour surfaces (such as wall-run planks and climbable pipes) are subtly highlighted through authentic environmental cues like yellow caution paint and scuffed wood.

While comprehensive accessibility menus have not been fully detailed, the game's heavy reliance on audio cues and voice chat means that visual indicators for sound (like speaking icons) will be necessary. As an indie title built in Unreal Engine, standard features like subtitle support, adjustable FOV, mouse sensitivity sliders, and remappable keybinds are expected at the Early Access launch.

WDR Studios included comprehensive accessibility options: full controller and keyboard/mouse remapping, customizable Field of View (FOV) slider (up to 110 degrees) to combat motion sickness, toggleable screen shake and head bob, high-contrast subtitles with directional speaker tags, customizable colorblind modes, and an optional 'Chase Assist' mode that widens timing windows for ledge mantling.

• Mimic utilizes Unreal Engine to render its dark, atmospheric sci-fi corridors and complex dynamic lighting. The game emphasizes real-time proximity audio computation and AI pathfinding for the roaming Android.
• Laptop Performance Note: Because of the heavy reliance on dynamic lighting and uncompressed proximity voice channels, laptops should ensure stable network hardware and robust CPU cooling to prevent audio desync or frame drops during intense chase sequences.
• Laptop Consideration: G P U T G P: Target a minimum of 65W TGP for 1080p low/medium settings, and 85W+ for stable 60 FPS on higher graphical fidelity.
• Laptop Consideration: Cooling Thermals: Adequate ventilation is critical. The combination of Unreal Engine rendering and real-time voice calculations will stress both the CPU and GPU simultaneously.
• Laptop Consideration: C P U Power Limits: Set power profiles to 'Performance' to prevent clock speed throttling, which could delay voice comms—a critical survival mechanic.
• Laptop Consideration: M U X Switch Optimus: Using a MUX switch to force the discrete GPU will reduce input latency during tense evasive maneuvers.
• Optimization Detail: Upscaling Tech: Support for temporal upscaling techniques like DLSS or FSR is expected to help maintain high framerates in heavily shadowed environments.
• Optimization Detail: Key Settings Impact: Shadow Quality, Post-Processing (for film grain/horror effects), and Anti-Aliasing have the largest impact on GPU overhead.
• Game Name: Mimic

• Built in Unreal Engine 5 with responsive first-person momentum physics, high-velocity wall-running mechanics, and atmospheric volumetric lighting. Requires a 64-bit operating system. Designed for high refresh rates (60-120+ FPS) to ensure smooth input responsiveness and accurate parkour timing.
• Laptop Performance Note: Fast camera rotation, high-speed environmental streaming during continuous wall-runs, and dynamic creature pursuit AI place sustained demands on mobile processors and discrete GPUs. Gaming laptops should maintain at least 60W to 85W TGP and run with high-performance cooling profiles to avoid frame drops during tense escape sequences.
• Laptop Consideration: G P U T G P: Ensure mobile GeForce or Radeon GPUs sustain at least 60W-80W+ TGP to maintain a locked 60+ FPS during frantic, multi-obstacle dinosaur chases.
• Laptop Consideration: Cooling Thermals: First-person momentum physics and real-time shadow casting generate sustained heat; elevate the laptop or use a cooling pad to maintain peak GPU boost clocks.
• Laptop Consideration: C P U Power Limits: Set Windows power settings to High Performance to prevent micro-stuttering during sudden ledge grabs and momentum-based directional shifts.
• Laptop Consideration: M U X Switch Optimus: Enable discrete GPU mode via internal MUX switch or NVIDIA Advanced Optimus to minimize display latency for frame-perfect jump and slide timings.
• Optimization Detail: Upscaling Tech: Supports NVIDIA DLSS 2/3, AMD FSR 2/3, and dynamic resolution scaling.
• Optimization Detail: Key Settings Impact: Volumetric Lighting, Motion Blur, Shadow Quality, and Screen Space Reflections have the greatest impact on maintaining 60+ FPS.
• Game Name: Terrible Lizards

• Upscaling Tech: Support for temporal upscaling techniques like DLSS or FSR is expected to help maintain high framerates in heavily shadowed environments.
• Key Settings Impact: Shadow Quality, Post-Processing (for film grain/horror effects), and Anti-Aliasing have the largest impact on GPU overhead.

• Upscaling Tech: Supports NVIDIA DLSS 2/3, AMD FSR 2/3, and dynamic resolution scaling.
• Key Settings Impact: Volumetric Lighting, Motion Blur, Shadow Quality, and Screen Space Reflections have the greatest impact on maintaining 60+ FPS.

• G P U T G P: Target a minimum of 65W TGP for 1080p low/medium settings, and 85W+ for stable 60 FPS on higher graphical fidelity.
• Cooling Thermals: Adequate ventilation is critical. The combination of Unreal Engine rendering and real-time voice calculations will stress both the CPU and GPU simultaneously.
• C P U Power Limits: Set power profiles to 'Performance' to prevent clock speed throttling, which could delay voice comms—a critical survival mechanic.
• M U X Switch Optimus: Using a MUX switch to force the discrete GPU will reduce input latency during tense evasive maneuvers.

• G P U T G P: Ensure mobile GeForce or Radeon GPUs sustain at least 60W-80W+ TGP to maintain a locked 60+ FPS during frantic, multi-obstacle dinosaur chases.
• Cooling Thermals: First-person momentum physics and real-time shadow casting generate sustained heat; elevate the laptop or use a cooling pad to maintain peak GPU boost clocks.
• C P U Power Limits: Set Windows power settings to High Performance to prevent micro-stuttering during sudden ledge grabs and momentum-based directional shifts.
• M U X Switch Optimus: Enable discrete GPU mode via internal MUX switch or NVIDIA Advanced Optimus to minimize display latency for frame-perfect jump and slide timings.