Double Fine’s Kiln Re‑Emerges With a 2026 Release Window and Closed Beta
Double Fine has always been the studio that wanders off into the woods, comes back holding something strange, and somehow convinces you it’s brilliant. But this time? They didn’t just wander. They vanished for almost a decade and returned clutching a clay pot with googly eyes and unresolved emotional baggage.
At the Xbox Developer Direct, Double Fine finally dragged Kiln back into the daylight — the multiplayer pottery‑brawler fever dream that first popped up in 2017 before evaporating like it never existed. Now it’s back, fully chaotic, fully committed, and fully Double Fine.
And honestly, it might be the most Double Fine thing they’ve ever cooked up.
A Game Jam Dare That Got Out of Hand
Kiln started life during Amnesia Fortnight, the studio’s annual two‑week “let’s see what happens if we stop being normal” ritual. The original pitch in 2017 was beautifully unhinged:
“A multiplayer, team‑based brawler where you sculpt your own clay warrior and then smash everyone else’s to pieces.”
That’s the whole thesis. No notes.
You play as Mountain Spirits — supernatural weirdos who spin clay “Vessels” on an ancient pottery wheel. Those Vessels become your fighters: golems shaped by your hands, your chaos, and whatever questionable artistic choices you make under pressure.
A prototype existed. A few images leaked. Then Kiln disappeared for nearly ten years like it got lost behind the couch.
Ten Years Later, the Pot Finally Cracks Open
At Developer Direct, Double Fine resurfaced with a trailer that feels like someone filmed a dream you’d have after binge‑watching The Great Pottery Throw Down. It opens with Tim Schafer calmly working a pottery wheel like he’s about to host a community workshop — and then smash cut to absolute ceramic carnage.
Clay warriors. Limbs shattering. Pots detonating like handmade grenades.
Creativity and destruction sharing the same oxygen.
Kiln isn’t just a generic brawler; it’s a physics‑driven pottery playground where the shape you sculpt directly determines how your Vessel moves, fights, and eventually explodes into shameful shards.
Tall and tanky?
Short and stabby?
A cursed teapot that looks like it escaped your grandma’s mantle?
All valid life choices.
A Decade of Silence, Now a Full Game
Insider Gaming reports that Kiln has grown up a lot since its 2017 prototype. The core loop is still the same:
Sculpt your fighter.
Bring it to life.
Enter the arena.
Reduce someone else’s creation to dust.
But now it’s wrapped in polished physics, destruction tech, and a full spread of multiplayer maps built around what Double Fine calls the “spirit of creativity.”
Honestly, the meta might end up being:
“Make a pot so ugly it psychologically destabilizes your opponents.”
Spring 2026 Release — and a Closed Beta Incoming
Double Fine confirmed Kiln is launching in Spring 2026, with a closed beta on the horizon. It’s coming to:
- PlayStation 5
- Xbox Series X|S
- Windows PC
- Xbox Cloud Gaming
- Xbox Play Anywhere
- Game Pass Ultimate
This isn’t a side project or a novelty. This is a full multiplatform swing — a real contender in the party‑brawler space.
And it might be the first one in years that isn’t just “Smash Bros, but…”
It’s pottery. It’s physics. It’s chaos. It’s art class with violence.
The Bottom Line: Only Double Fine Would Spend 10 Years Perfecting a Pottery Fight Simulator
Kiln feels like the kind of idea that should’ve stayed a game jam dare — and yet Double Fine spent a decade quietly turning it into something real, polished, and genuinely exciting.
It’s weird. It’s charming. It’s destructive.
It’s Double Fine being aggressively Double Fine.
And if that trailer is any indication, Kiln might be the next great “what if we just let players be unhinged” multiplayer hit.
