During The Game Awards 2025, indie studio Sluggerfly dropped a demo for Super Meat Boy 3D, giving players a small bite of what this notoriously tough platformer looks like in this new perspective.
The demo runs about 15 minutes or so — depending on how good you are — and eases you into the basic mechanics and world.
Even with the jump to 3D, it immediately feels familiar. The levels are new, but the pain and the bloodiness is the same. Super Meat Boy 3D still plays like the classic, just with a big visual beef up and some fresh challenges to keep things interesting.
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The original Super Meat Boy came out more than 15 years ago and quickly built a reputation as one of the hardest platformers around. I played it back then and remember having a good time — right up until I rage quit, which I can imagine wasn’t too far in.
I’d like to think my skills have improved since then, so giving this new version a crack felt like the right thing to do.
The story hasn’t changed much either. An bad guy in a mech suit kidnaps your pink, cubey meat girlfriend, and you’ve got to chase her down. True love type shit.
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So how does it feel to play?
Picture Astro Bot challenge levels, but swap most of the charm for spinning saw blades, meat grinders, and constant death. Lots of death.
You can play with a keyboard or controller. I tried both, but keyboard felt like I was one bad jump away from smashing my keys. Controller was way more comfortable and quickly became my preferred way to play.
There are no checkpoints, and it’s as unforgiving as ever. That said, you respawn almost instantly. So even though it’s annoying to continuously die, it never feels overly slow to get back to where you were.
Each failed attempt leaves behind a bloody trail showing where you died, and at the end of a level you get a replay that stacks all your runs on top of each other — messy, chaotic, and very fun.
If you played the demo at Gamescom this year, this is the same slice of the game. The full release is expected to add things like boss fights and more variety.
I’m not totally convinced I’m built for the full experience, but if you love tough platformers and don’t mind failing over and over again, this one’s worth adding to your wishlist.
Super Meat Boy 3D is coming to PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S in 2026.
