Twitch Played Punch Club And Got A Girlfriend
Punch crocodiles with Twitch chat
First Twitch mastered Pokemon. Then Twitch mastered Halo. Then Twitch played and eventually (sort-of) mastered Dark Souls. With each step, each new game, the global AI known as "Twitch" learned more about humanity until in 2026 Twitch chat controlled all of the world's major elections and the global economy.
But first, a bunch of them came together to get Punch Club [official site] released two weeks early. Now that's accomplished and the game's out, Twitch resumes scheming.
Take Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, mix it up with that part in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas where you go to the gym and mash buttons to virtually work out, garnish with a bit of management sim and...yeah, I think that's Punch Club (formerly known as VHS Story). Also, there's a story about your dad being murdered and for some reason you fight crocodiles?
Let's talk about the gimmick. Capitalizing on Twitch's love of brute-forcing games that could otherwise easily be played alone, publishers tinyBuild decided to pin Punch Club's release date on the purple masses and create Twitch Plays Punch Club.
"When Twitch Beats Punch Club, the game will launch on Steam," tinyBuild said in the announcement. "The fate of the game is in the hands of the Twitch chat. Maybe we'll just never get to launch the game. That would be a bummer, but hey, we're willing to take that risk. For science."
Unsurprisingly, they walked back that statement, saying the game would launch January 25th regardless of whether Twitch had completed it or not.
It was a genius marketing move though. Proof? Here I am writing this story, covering a game I'd never paid attention to until now, and I spent most of my morning watching Twitch direct a half-naked man through his gym routine—though that's pretty much what I do every day.
After 36 hours, Twitch completed the game, so all's well that end's well. Here are Twitch's final stats:
Punch Club is now out on Steam for £6.99. As for the Twitch Plays Punch Club channel? There are already people calling for a replay in chat, so don't be surprised if they end up collectively punching crocodiles for the next few weeks.