Pumpkin & Patch Beginner Guide — First Hour

Pumpkin & Patch is a 2D Metroidvania from Gourdfield Games that launched on October 1, 2026 for Windows. You play Patch, a one-eyed Shiba Inu who recently lost his family, and the game follows him and his new friend Pumpkin on a journey to the Underworld in search of answers. This beginner guide covers what to do in the opening hour, which systems actually decide your progress, and the habits that cause new players to stall.

What kind of game this is

Steam lists Pumpkin & Patch under Action and Adventure, and the store text calls it a Metroidvania. That second label is the one that shapes everything else. You explore one connected world, and the abilities you find are the keys to routes you can already see but cannot yet cross. Patch starts the game limited by his lack of sight, and that is the exact problem Pumpkin's Lamplight exists to solve: it illuminates what is not visible to the naked eye, including hidden secrets.

The setting also has two spellings in the official copy. The long description calls it the Hallowed Lands, a whimsical yet spooky world, while the short description says the Hollowed Lands. Which spelling is final is not documented yet, so read both as the same place.

The first hour: what to learn first

The opening is built around movement and projectiles rather than melee combos, and the store text is explicit that running and shooting is a viable way to play. That keeps the early checklist short:

• Learn the projectile timing before anything else, because combat is primarily ranged.
• Treat the parry as a resource rather than a default, because the store calls it limited.
• Use the parry on incoming shots to send them back, or on melee attackers to stun and heal.
• Fire Lamplight at any wall or floor that looks suspiciously empty.
• Map the ground you can already reach, because the rest opens up later through abilities.

The parry is the real skill check

The parry is the one mechanic the store page describes in detail, so it is worth treating as the game's skill check. It is a limited ability, which means it is not something you can hold forever, and that limit is the whole point. Used against a projectile, it deflects that projectile back at the enemy that fired it. Used against a melee attacker, it stuns them, and the same sentence says the parry heals the player.

The store page calls this high risk, high reward, and the risk is real: the same text warns that ignoring obstacles while running and shooting will get you hurt. The enemies to expect are the classic Halloween monsters the page lists by name, which are mummies, witches, vampires and the boss it calls the dreaded Spider Queen.

Upgrades change how you move, not just how hard you hit

Upgrades in Pumpkin & Patch are described by what they let Patch do, not by damage numbers. Lamplight reveals what is hidden. Embershot is used to launch Patch higher than any dog. A third ability freezes water into icebergs that Patch can control, which converts a water hazard into a platform you steer.

That gives you a practical order of operations when a route looks impossible. Water usually wants the freeze ability, a long vertical gap usually wants Embershot, and an area that looks like it should contain something usually wants Lamplight. The store page also says new abilities are found within the world, so the answer is usually exploration rather than a shop.

Choices, endings and the cast

Progression is not purely linear. The store page says that once you have the basics down, options open up to tackle obstacles as you see fit, and that this leads to different possible endings. It warns that Pumpkin and Patch are searching for different things and that helping them both may not be easy, so those two threads are the choice you are managing. Other characters ask things of you as well, and the one the store names is the intrepid Captain Peg.

If you are still deciding whether to start, the release date page has the launch facts and the current cost, the demo page covers the free version, and the gameplay page goes deeper into combat and the ability loop.