Open Beta
The Open Beta will begin at 10 a.m. Pacific on October 1 and it closes at 6 p.m. Pacific on October 4, 2026. Escape from Playtime uses that window for a Windows playtest of up to 8 players, with 4 recommended. You connect your Steam and Discord accounts on FirstLook before the crew goes in.
The test locks the route to the first four shifts, and not all of the Smiling Critters will be playable. Signup lives on Mob Insider at playtest.mobentertainment.com. The playtest is a separate Steam app from Early Access, and that app releases on October 1, 2026. Codes do not work outside the window.
Checklist before the window
Tick these on the machine you will actually use. Checks stay in this browser only, so a second PC starts blank. These checks are the limits of the test, not a countdown.
The in-game lobby is still being tuned, so gather people with Steam friends lists. Controller support is partial, some controllers fail, and keyboard plus mouse is the optimal pair. Full audio is English, with French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, and Simplified Chinese also available.
What the beta build contains
Read the beta column for the test you can join in the first week of October. The other column is the October 21 build, which is a different package and a different party size. Do not mix the 8-player test cap with the 1 to 4 player game.
Bring a keyboard even if you own a pad. Partial Controller Support does not promise your model will survive the tutorial.
Up to 8 players can join this open beta, and the recommended crew is 4. The unlocked route is the first four shifts. Some Smiling Critters stay outside the playable set. Puzzles, enemy types, and lore-focused content are not all present.
The following build is Early Access on October 21, 2026, with a planned full eight-character roster, one starter zone, and a core enemy lineup. That party is 1 to 4 players total, not the beta cap.
Faults worth knowing before you queue
Using non-roman characters in your username may crash the game. Steam remote play or stream input is not carried over and can break voice chat. Textures and sections of floors or walls can clip. The final Boogie Bot in the tutorial can hang the game if it kills you. None of those faults has a workaround except the RTX reflection, which you fix in the NVIDIA control panel by turning Anisotropic Filtering off.
A Critter may die instantly after the Syringe revive. The Redemption will have bugs. Barry's progress bar sometimes fails to reset. The full list is on the known-issues page. If the test hangs, there is no second set of steps beyond that list. The beta also asks for a survey when you leave and again after the test.
FirstLook is the signup desk, and Mob Insider at playtest.mobentertainment.com is the door. Finish onboarding there or the beta will not count you in.
A LUNCH door is a factory sign you can call out, not a schedule for the beta clock.
Discord is required alongside Steam at signup, so a crew should connect both accounts before October 1.
The recommended crew of 4 sits inside a hard cap of 8 because eight is chaos. It is not a third game mode.
Windows 10 or Windows 11 is the operating system line, and the test does not add a console build.
Connect your Steam and Discord accounts on FirstLook, then keep both logins ready before 10 a.m. Pacific on October 1.
The window closes at 6 p.m. Pacific on October 4, 2026, and a checklist tick does not extend that clock.
Up to 8 players is the beta cap, and 4 is the recommended crew, so a full test lobby is optional rather than required.
Only the first four shifts open for the test, which means a fifth shift button is outside this build.
Not all of the Smiling Critters will be playable, and the missing toys are not named.
Mob Insider at the playtest site is the signup desk, and the separate playtest app releases on October 1.
The in-game lobby is still being tuned, which is why Steam friends lists are the invite method to trust.
A LUNCH door is a factory sign you may see inside the test, not the hour the servers open.
Remote play that fails to carry input can also break voice chat, so run the test on the machine that has the game installed.
Non-roman characters in a username are a crash risk, so a Latin display name is the safer badge for the weekend.
The tutorial Boogie Bot can hang the game on a death, so a practice wipe may need a full restart.
Family Sharing and the age ratings do not change the beta clock. They say who can share the game and how old a player should be.