Image: Hot Dog Day Games & Midnighters

Proving once again that sometimes all you need is a tiny idea to build on, 3D platformer Puppy Truck is about being a tiny truck that is also a puppy. What that means is that you're a wildly scampering little cartoon mecha-beast with wheels for feet, able to drift, drive, and vroom your way up any vertical surface so long as you've got the stamina. And puppies, as we all know, have endless stamina. And better yet, the demo starts you out in a literal sandbox, just asking you to run around and figure out just what trouble you can get into.

So much of this demo is carried by the character. It's impossible not to love the way Puppy Truck moves, legs windmilling in the air as you float-jump (like Yoshi's Island by way of Scooby Doo), and revving excitedly in place before boosting along, and leaning hard into sharp turns. When playing with a gamepad (which I'd highly recommend), you can also accelerate and brake/reverse with the left and right triggers, letting you scoot around like a proper car when travelling longer distances too.

Beyond the character, the thing that struck me was the sheer freedom of movement you're given right off the bat. You're given a loose objective to find some better music to accompany your exploration, a huge open garden to explore (with a sandbox at the center, but no walls stopping you), and a quick camera fly-by of the environment to give you some hints, but otherwise it trusts you to just do whatever.

And you can do whatever! Other characters can wall-run, but Puppy Truck is shockingly agile for something without hands or feet. It can drive straight up vertical surfaces for a LONG way before tiring. Ascending the (relatively) huge spaces is just a matter of perseverance, and there's always something interesting looking to find up high.

There's no combat here (do not kick the Puppy Truck!), but there's some mischief to get up to. Barking, butt-slamming, and pushing stuff can annoy people, trigger switches or move objects, opening up more routes, and the game is often happy to suddenly materialize whole new areas up high to explore. With a friendly atmosphere and some accessibility options to make it gentler for the young'uns (including extending Puppy Truck's stamina to boundless levels), I can't see this one being an especially hardcore experience, but a charming one for sure.

There's no release date on Puppy Truck yet, but I'm happy waiting until this one's as big and polished as I can hope. In the meantime, I highly recommend you take that demo for a spin yourself, as it's a joy to run (and roll) around in. Go on, do it. No, I'm not going to throw a tennis ball for you.