KUTO Closed Playtest — Request Access on Steam
We're looking for people to play an early build and tell us what's wrong with it. Requesting access is one button on the Steam page, and we let people in in waves.
Andrii Kovalenko2 min read
KUTO at the Ukrainian Games Festival 2026
KUTO: The Lock of Time is in the Ukrainian Games Festival 2026 on Steam. The festival runs August 17-24, 2026. What is in it, and where to find us.
KUTO: The Lock of Time is one of the games in the Ukrainian Games Festival 2026. The festival runs on Steam from August 17 to 24, 2026, and opens at 10am PT on the first day.
What the festival is
This is the fifth edition. It is run by the Palaye publishing agency together with the Ukrainian Games initiative, and for one week the Steam hub gathers Ukrainian-made games in one place: discounts on released titles, free demos, new releases, and upcoming games you can wishlist.
Entry was free for developers, and the organisers filter who gets in. Games sold in rubles without a good reason are out. So are games that ship a Russian localisation but no Ukrainian one, and studios that still work with Russian partners or market their games in Russia.
Where we are in it
KUTO: The Lock of Time is in the festival as an upcoming game. It is a single-player time-bending action Metroidvania. You play Jokoan Kuto, an outcast from the Order of the Time Guardians who survived betrayal by merging with the titan Kronos, and you fight with the Scythe of Kronos in hand. Five time keys exist. You carry two of them into a run, and that choice is the run.
It is coming to Steam in Early Access, on PC, in English and Ukrainian.
Where to look
The festival hub is Ukrainian Games Festival 2026 on Steam. Our page is KUTO: The Lock of Time on Steam, and the Discord is where the build gets talked about between updates.
If you find the game through the festival, the wishlist button is the thing that helps most. Steam reads wishlists when it decides who to show a game to at launch, so a click there does more for us than anything else on this page.
Frequently asked questions
- When is the Ukrainian Games Festival 2026?
- It runs on Steam from August 17 to August 24, 2026, opening at 10am PT on the first day.
- Is KUTO: The Lock of Time part of the Ukrainian Games Festival 2026?
- Yes. It is in the festival as an upcoming game, so you can watch the trailer and wishlist it from the festival hub or from the Steam page.
- Does it cost anything to take part in the festival?
- No. It is free to browse, and entry was free for developers. The festival is a Steam sale page, not a ticketed event.
- Which games get into the Ukrainian Games Festival?
- Ukrainian-made games. The organisers exclude games sold in rubles without good reason, games with a Russian localisation but no Ukrainian one, and studios that still work with Russian partners or market their games in Russia.
Keep reading
KUTO Playtest — Sign Up for the September Build
The first playable slice — one level, the Minotaur, Athena, and time rewind — goes to testers in early September. Here's what you'd be playing, what isn't in yet, and how to sign up.
KUTO: The Lock of Time — story, combat, Steam
A 2D action-platformer metroidvania built around rewinding time. Jokoan Kuto, the Scythe of Kronos, the Rewind Key.
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A player who can bend time changes the rules of every encounter. Good enemy AI has to stay dangerous after the rewind as well as before it.