Waltz and Jam is a top-down action-adventure about a small ghost and the shapeshifting black creature stuck to him. Its gameplay trailer from The MIX Fall Game Showcase 2026 runs just over a minute. It covers traversal, combat, toy weapons, puzzle rooms, and boss fights, then ends with a release date and a reminder that you can already play part of it.
Quick answer: Waltz and Jam launches December 3, 2026, on Steam, Nintendo Switch, and PS5. A playable demo is out now on Steam.
Waltz and Jam release date, platforms, and demo
Waltz and Jam, the studio behind the game, confirmed the date earlier in October at the Triple-i Showcase 2026. The MIX trailer repeats it on the closing key art. The game has no announced launch time yet, so the date is all there is to track for now.
| Detail | Status |
|---|---|
| Release date | December 3, 2026 |
| PC | Steam |
| Consoles | Nintendo Switch, PS5 |
| Demo | Available now on Steam |
| Developer | Waltz and Jam |
One cut of the MIX footage shows a Nintendo Switch 2 logo on the end card, while the main trailer and the studio’s store links list Nintendo Switch. Nintendo’s eShop is the place to confirm which console version you are buying once preorders open there.
Who Waltz and Jam are
Waltz is the set playable lead, resembling a white ghost formed from a bedsheet. Two oval openings serve as eyes, a metal pull-ring sits atop his head, and he wears red-and-white sneakers. In earlier trailer footage, he wakes in a graveyard coffin, confused about his location.
Jam is the other half of the title. It’s a black, blob-like creature with round eyes and a glowing blue tongue, and it latches onto Waltz almost immediately. Jam isn’t a sidekick that follows you around. It changes shape to do most of the heavy lifting in movement, fights, and puzzles.
Jam’s traversal abilities and controls
Most of the trailer’s opening seconds go to getting around. Jam glides across gaps, boosts off cliff edges, blasts through walls, and at one point carries Waltz over sandstone blocks while spraying water. The on-screen button prompts use a controller layout and spell out what each move does.
| Prompt | Action shown |
|---|---|
| LT Glide | Float across gaps |
| LB Explode | Blow up obstacles |
| RT Shoot Water | Spray water while riding |
| B Ram | Charge into objects |
| Y Dismount | Get off a ridden creature |
| R Adjust Direction | Aim a throw or move |
| X Throw | Toss carried objects |
The water and ram prompts appear while Waltz is steering a stone creature, which suggests some areas hand you a temporary mount with its own move set. A stylized fish-shaped boat also cruises across sand dunes in one cutscene.
Toy weapons and combat moves
Waltz’s arsenal comes out of toy boxes. The trailer shows him unboxing kits that hold a boxing glove, a wrench, a sword, and a Toy Hammer. Picking up the hammer triggers the banner “Acquired a Toy Hammer!” with the description “It seems capable of smashing solid things,” so gear doubles as a key for breaking through parts of the world.
Combat is built around four moves, each flashed on screen as it lands on regular enemies:
- SLASH, a quick blade strike
- PUNCH, tied to the boxing glove
- GRAB, for seizing enemies
- SMASH, the hammer’s heavy hit
A tool and weapon display sits in the top-right corner of the screen, so you can see what Waltz has equipped at any point.
Bosses: Big Tree and Shadow the 221st
Two bosses are named outright. Big Tree comes with a “Defeat Big Tree” objective and a health bar over the arena, and Shadow the 221st follows shortly after. Both are large enemies that take up much of the screen.
Other trailers frame the bosses as a set. The release date and demo trailer says “Seven Sins stand in your way” and shows a stamp card that fills with marks as fights are won. Earlier footage also teases a fiery horned beast in a ring of lava, a duel against fencing shadow figures, a giant moth, and an owl chef.
Story setup, characters, and locations
Waltz is lost in a place called Downtown and is trying to find a way up. That goal drives a string of quest objectives tracked in the top-left corner, such as “Go to the Sanctum Grove,” “Find the Duneling Village,” “Avoid the Angel and Escape This Place,” and “Find the Last Sanctum.” The trailer closes on a severed, glowing hand resting on an altar, with no explanation attached.
Three characters get name tags in the footage:
- Low, an eye-faced figure who hands Waltz something with “I know you’ve got a million questions. But first, take this!”
- Heart, who runs a mobile shop
- Pipa, an artist bird who has misplaced a painted key to a locked Study
Named areas include Downtown, Sanctum Grove, Duneling Village, Fargo Storage, the Underground Prison, a Temple, and the inside of a creature’s belly. The trailer spells that creature’s name two ways in objectives, “Bloopo” and “Bioopo,” so the final spelling isn’t settled yet.
Puzzles and timed challenges in Waltz and Jam
Puzzles lean on Jam’s abilities and carried objects. One objective asks you to “Change the Direction of the Conveyor Belt,” while throwing puzzles show a grid guide and an aiming arc so you can line up where an object will land. Blue circles mark landing spots during platforming.
There are also timed obstacle courses. A running clock appears on screen during one run, ticking from 00:30.71 to 00:29.78, which points to a countdown-style challenge rather than a free-form stage. Other objectives pair puzzles with tools, like breaking a wasp nest on the first level with the hammer or tracking down tree roots to destroy in the Underground Prison.
All of it lands in under two months. If you want to see how Waltz and Jam’s traversal and toy combat feel before December 3, the Steam demo is the way to do it.
