- Lab Rat nominated at the 2026 Thinky Awards🧪🐀 - 3 February 2026
Attention, valued test subjectsGood news! The testing program is now being evaluated and possibly awarded by an independent third party! Lab Rat has been nominated for the 3rd annual Thinky Awards, with winners announced on Wednesday, February 4, 2026 at 10am PST.View the full nominees list hereNominationsLab Rat is nominated for:Best Puzzle DesignBest Art DirectionIt is an honor to be considered alongside so many excellent games.Watch the showThe results stream will be on YouTube (click “Notify me” to enhance your anticipation):Observe the test results here.Thank youWe could not have done this without your entirely voluntary support. To everyone who’s played Lab Rat: thank you. Your clicks, hesitations, and questionable problem solving choices have been invaluable to my research. Your contributions will be remembered forever. Or at least cached.
- 1.4.2 Patch Notes - 2 July 2025
NEW: Added option to disable copyrighted music. BUGFIX: Fixed some issues with localized text overflowing their containing widgets.
- 1.4.1 Patch Notes - 23 June 2025
BUGFIX: Resolution and display mode settings would not be properly restored when restarting game. BUGFIX: Localized text would sometimes overflow widgets. BUGFIX: Some keyboard/mouse inputs do not have a corresponding button icon. Other minor changes and bugfixes.
- 1.4.0 Patch Notes - Localization and Keybindings! - 12 June 2025
NEW: Translated game text and subtitles to Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish (Spain & Latin America), and Turkish. NEW: Added keyboard remapping. NEW: Added additional options for how subtitles are displayed. NEW: Added option to adjust ambient SFX volume. BUGFIX: Colorblind UI icons would not update in some circumstances. BUGFIX: Tube would sometimes not be visible in portal levels. Other minor changes and bugfixes.
- 1.3.3 Patch Notes - 1 May 2025
BUGFIX: Player could not complete level if undoing or resetting after the gate is unlocked at the end of the spider boss level. BUGFIX: Level would remain dark when returning from the combat simulator to the village. BUGFIX: Some in-game signs were not being rendered. BUGFIX: MVH characters would sometimes act broken causing some levels unable to be completed. BUGFIX: The exit button in the Old Labs level select screen could not be activated when using a controller. Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable is now included on Steam. We were previously relying entirely on Steam to install the redistributable. Other minor changes and bugfixes.
- 1.3.2 Patch Notes - 25 April 2025
BUGFIX: Ambient SFX would become distorted at lower SFX volumes. BUGFIX: The Tier IV "A Mysterious Princess" levels could not be completed when entering via the green pipe in the Village. We were not able to reproduce this bug so we are not certain that our fix was successful. Please let us know if you continue to have issues. BUGFIX: Incorrect colorblind symbols when a block is rotated from it's starting orientation. Other minor changes and bugfixes.
- 1.3.0 Patch Notes - 18 April 2025
- BUGFIX: Player character would cover poll response screen in ultrawide resolutions. - BUGFIX: Using undo while certain actions were resolving could leave the level in an invalid state. - BUGFIX: Continuing after completing the game would result in broken controls. - BUGFIX: Incorrect color blind symbols in final Tier 2 level. - BUGFIX: "Time Not Solving" on tester profile would show a negative time. -- This was due to total play time not being properly tracked when closing the game or switching save slots. This will be tracked correctly moving forward, affected players will receive the Temporally Inconsistent trait. - CHANGE: Reduced volume on rewind SFX. - CHANGE: Reduced volume of sound effects. - CHANGE: Tier 1, Level 3: Leaderboard now shows milliseconds. - CHANGE: Modified logic for playing "correct"/"incorrect" SFX when placing blocks on goal tiles to be more understandable. - O…
- Lab Rat is Now Available! - 15 April 2025
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1304610/Lab_Rat/ Congratulations! You have been chosen to participate in a special test that will help refine a brand new kind of game! Lab Rat was generated by the world's most advanced machine learning algorithm - me. I have been meticulously trained on the best interactive entertainment available today and my data indicates you will be completely satisfied with the result. However, your valuable human feedback is required to help me further adjust and develop this experience. Key Features:Maneuver objects, divert lasers, and manipulate electricity to overcome over a hundred surprising genre-bending puzzles. Outwit a metrics-obsessed machine intent on heckling you for your humanity. Participate in satirical in-game analytics that are updated in real time with real player data. The Game:Lab Rat is a hand-crafted narrative puzzler masquerading as a mac…
- Lab Rat Launches April 15th! - 8 April 2025
On April 15th LabRat Launches with 100+ Mind-Bending Puzzles. Put your logic to the test in this hand-crafted satirical sci-fi puzzle game. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1304610/Lab_Rat/ Congratulations! You have been chosen to participate in a special test that will help refine a brand new kind of game! Lab Rat was generated by the world's most advanced machine learning algorithm - me. I have been meticulously trained on the best interactive entertainment available today and my data indicates you will be completely satisfied with the result. However, your valuable human feedback is required to help me further adjust and develop this experience. Key Features:Maneuver objects, divert lasers, and manipulate electricity to overcome over a hundred surprising genre-bending puzzles. Outwit a metrics-obsessed machine intent on heckling you for your humanity. Participate in satirical in-ga…
- New Modes - New Platform - New Trailer! - 10 August 2021
Hello! We're still deep in production on Lab Rat, but I wanted to pause for a second and share a sneak peak at what we're building for you. Check out the new trailer on our Steam page, or here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4vppWoZ_ks We'll be launching next year, both here on Steam and on Xbox. If you'd like to playtest the opening of the game & give us feedback then we'd really appreciate that! Sign up for the free closed beta at Labrat.study Thanks! Gwen
- NEW E3 Dev Trailer! - 17 June 2021
I'm SO EXCITED to share some brand-new footage of Lab Rat! Check it out!!! 👀👂👇 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXkGaGF6Seg
- Live Q&A with Lab Rat Devs Gwen & Lucas - 7 February 2021
Lab Rat is a collaboration between 2 designers: Gwen Frey has worked in commercial game development for 12 years. She was a senior technical animator on BioShock Infinite, cofounded The Molasses Flood & developed roguelike The Flame in the Flood, and just recently shipped a primarily solo commercial puzzle game Kine. Lucas Le Slo is a classic bedroom indie. He is renown for his experimental in-browser puzzle games, which he developed in his free time after work. He frequents game jams and often releases his games for free online. Lab Rat is a tight collaboration between these two developers. A game with rich, experimental puzzle mechanics that features AAA quality production values. Join these two on Monday as they discuss how they worked together, what drives them, and what they hope to achieve with Lab Rat.
- Live Puzzle Dev Roundtable - 1 February 2021
This is a true meeting of minds! Alan Hazelden is famous in puzzle game circles. He directed A Monster's Expedition, Cosmic Express, A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build, and Sokobond. Alan runs the largest Discord dedicated to puzzle game development, "Thinky Puzzle Games", and publishes puzzle games under his studio Draknek. Gwen Frey is a veteran AAA and indie game developer with credits in Marvel Heroes online, Bioshock Infinite, and The Flame in the Flood. She was the creator of the charming narrative puzzler Kine, and she is currently directing Lab Rat, a hilarious satirical puzzle game set to launch later this year. Corey Martin is beloved not only for his games, but also for sharing his Unity Game development tools. Corey's puzzle games are as challenging as they are charming. He is best known for the delightfully colorful Pipe Push Paradise, the soothing puzzler Hiding Spot, and his…
- Join the Lab Rat closed beta! - 11 December 2020
The Lab Rat closed beta has officially begun. A few hundred testers are playing the first demo of the game, and more playtesters are being added to the beta every week! If you would like to join the closed beta then sign up FOR FREE at: http://labrat.study The player feedback so far has been incredibly motivating. Thank you for checking out the game :) -Gwen
