FLING UP TOGETHER Demo Climbs Into Steam Next Fest With Proximity Voice Chat

FLING UP TOGETHER, the upcoming two-player cooperative physics platformer from OFF BOX Studios, has received a substantial demo update for Steam Next Fest. The revised free demo is available on Steam during the festival's October 19 to October 26 run, giving PC players a chance to try the game's demanding rope-based climb with several new social and collectible-focused additions.

The central new feature is proximity voice chat. Rather than requiring pairs to rely on a separate call while scrambling through the game's vertical stages, players can communicate directly in-game as they plan jumps, warn each other about hazards, or react when an attempted rescue turns into a disastrous fall. It is a natural fit for a game built around two people being literally tethered together, where every decision can affect both players.

Alongside voice chat, the updated demo introduces character skins and emotes, plus optional discoveries spread away from the primary route. Treasure chests have been hidden throughout the world, and collectible bugs offer another incentive for players to look beyond the next required platform. The additions suggest that the demo is intended to represent more than a brief mechanical test, encouraging repeat climbs and more thorough exploration.

One Rope, Two Players, One Shared Fall

FLING UP TOGETHER is structured around a simple but high-pressure premise: two players are attached to one rope and must ascend a towering Arabian-inspired setting filled with sky islands, suspended ruins, monumental bridges, gaps and moving obstacles. Progress depends on players using the rope as both a safety line and a launch tool. One climber can pull their partner into the air, fling them across a divide, or catch them during a fall.

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That partnership comes with unusually strict consequences. The game does not let one player quietly advance while the other struggles somewhere below. Each ascent is shared, and a fall costs the whole team its progress. The result is a co-op structure where positioning, timing and trust matter constantly. A player who rushes too far ahead can create a problem for both climbers; a well-timed pull, meanwhile, may turn a near failure into a recovery.

The studio describes the game's design as forced interdependence. There are no separate checkpoints for each partner and no route through the climb that allows one person to carry on alone. The rope connects every success and every mistake, making even basic movement a conversation between two players.

"Next Fest is where a lot of players will meet the game for the first time, so we wanted the demo to feel like a real taste of the full climb," Ammar of OFF BOX Studios said. "Proximity chat was the big one. The rope already makes you talk to each other, now the game is part of that conversation."

That observation gets to the heart of why voice chat is the headline change. Co-op physics games frequently produce unexpected outcomes, and FLING UP TOGETHER's shared rope means those outcomes are likely to be particularly immediate. Being able to call for a catch, count down a launch, apologise for a mistimed move, or simply laugh at a collapse without leaving the game should make the demo feel more cohesive for pairs discovering it during the event.

Coordination Extends Beyond the Rope

The rope is not the only feature requiring teamwork. FLING UP TOGETHER also uses color-coded co-op puzzles. Each player can stand only on platforms matching their own color, which means reaching the next area involves more than simply jumping upward. Players need to account for where both characters can safely land and how one person's placement may enable the other's next move.

This system should keep both players active during puzzle-solving sequences. Instead of having one person wait while their partner completes a task, the color restrictions make each climber's route relevant. A successful climb can require a player to hold a position, create the correct rope angle, or launch their partner toward a platform they cannot reach themselves.

It also reinforces the game's promise of shared responsibility. In a conventional platformer, a missed jump is generally an individual problem. Here, the rope can turn that missed jump into a rescue opportunity, a collision, or a reset for the entire pair. The same applies to environmental dangers. Moving obstacles and precarious routes are designed not just to test reflexes, but to create situations where players must respond to one another in real time.

A Vertical World Built for Big Mishaps

The setting combines a vertical progression structure with Arabian-inspired scenery. Players climb through floating islands, old ruins and large bridges suspended high above the world below. This visual approach gives the game an imposing sense of scale while serving its core platforming purpose: each new ledge represents a chance to gain ground or lose it.

OFF BOX Studios is positioning failure as part of the entertainment rather than only a punishment. Physical comedy, exaggerated characters and obstacle-driven chaos are intended to keep mishaps amusing, even when they erase a hard-won section of progress. That balance will be important for a game where both partners pay for a single fall. A reset can be frustrating, but it can also become the story players remember from a session if the reason for it is spectacular enough.

The addition of emotes may contribute to that tone. Players will be able to express themselves mid-run, whether the moment calls for celebration after a difficult save or a wordless response to a partner's questionable decision. Skins likewise give pairs a way to personalise their climbers before heading back up the tower.

Secrets Add a Reason to Leave the Main Path

For players more interested in exploration than a straight race upward, the demo update adds hidden treasure chests positioned off the main route. Reaching them may mean taking a more dangerous path, investigating distant ledges, or working out how to use the rope for a less obvious swing or throw. Because the game's movement depends on two people coordinating their actions, even a side trip can become its own miniature co-op challenge.

Collectible bugs are also placed throughout the world. The announcement does not detail what gathering every bug will unlock, but their inclusion gives completion-minded players a second type of target while they climb. Searching for them could be especially appealing to teams that have already reached the available demo endpoint and want to revisit sections with a more exploratory mindset.

These features broaden the potential pace of the experience. Some groups may focus entirely on making a clean ascent. Others may stop frequently to search for chests, experiment with their rope movement, and chase collectibles in awkward positions. The latter approach carries an obvious risk in a game where an overconfident detour can cost all current progress, but that risk is aligned with FLING UP TOGETHER's larger emphasis on humorous failure.

What Players Can Try During Steam Next Fest

The free demo is available during Steam Next Fest from October 19 through October 26. It offers PC players an opportunity to see how the rope-and-fling mechanic works in practice, particularly now that built-in proximity voice chat has joined the package.

• Two-player rope platforming: Pull, swing, launch and catch a partner while navigating vertical routes.
• Shared progression: Both players rise or fall together, with no individual route to safety.
• Color-based platform puzzles: Each climber is restricted to platforms of their assigned color.
• Proximity voice chat: Communicate inside the game while planning jumps and reacting to trouble.
• Skins and emotes: Add personality to climbers and moments during a run.
• Hidden chests and collectible bugs: Search side paths and hard-to-reach areas for optional finds.
• Physics-led comedy: Expect awkward collisions, frantic saves and memorable falls around moving hazards.

FLING UP TOGETHER is planned for Steam, though OFF BOX Studios has not announced a release date in the available details. For now, Steam Next Fest is the immediate chance for prospective players to test whether they and a chosen partner can stay coordinated when every jump, pull and panic-stricken rescue is tied to the same rope.