The trailer for Join Us first appeared during the Xbox Showcase in June, giving viewers a glimpse of a darkly humorous cooperative cult simulation. In the clip, robed cultists gallop atop pigs while firing an array of absurd weapons, culminating in a shot of colossal, Cthulhu‑like tentacles looming on the horizon. One of the most memorable, yet unseen, moments was the inclusion of a "snake gun" – a weapon that literally shoots serpents.
According to Joe Dietsch, the CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, the idea originated from a casual conversation with his team member’s son. "He asked, ‘What if there was a snake gun?’ and because we had built a flexible gun‑creation tool, I was able to prototype it in roughly half an hour. The kid went nuts, and we kept the weapon in the final build," Dietsch recalls. That anecdote perfectly captures the chaotic, over‑the‑top gameplay that Join Us promises.
The game is an open‑world sandbox survival experience set in a 1970s‑style cult where players can recruit followers or team up with friends in co‑op mode. It also highlights the studio’s technology‑first philosophy, which has enabled a small team to deliver a high‑fidelity title that would normally require a much larger workforce. Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, summed up their ambition: "We wanted to be disruptors.
We told everyone we could build a AAA‑quality game with just twelve people, and they laughed. But our background in indie filmmaking taught us how to punch far above our weight." The founders’ Hollywood pedigree runs deep. Dietsch studied film at Chapman University, where he met Louie Gibson – son of actor‑director Mel Gibson – who later co‑founded Wolf Haus.
Together they co‑wrote and co‑directed two feature films, Happy Hunting and Manifest West. Abbott, on the other hand, is the son of veteran makeup artist Larry Abbott and helped launch Ascendant Pictures, the production company originally founded by Chris Roberts before his shift to Star Citizen. Abbott later produced movies such as Fight for ’84 starring Jamie Foxx.
Their collective experience in low‑budget, high‑impact filmmaking gave them the confidence to approach game development with the same scrappy mindset. Join Us began as a personal experiment for Dietsch in Unreal Engine. "Unreal was free to download, and I’d always loved games but felt there was a huge barrier to actually creating something," he explains.
He taught himself the engine through YouTube tutorials, built a few tiny prototypes, and eventually settled on a doomsday‑cult survival concept that blended his love of grindhouse cinema with interactive gameplay. The initial proof‑of‑concept was rough but promising, and after showing it to Abbott, the duo took the demo to Dooma, a production partner that helped shape the early vision. The narrative side of Wolf Haus was bolstered by Dooma’s CFO and narrative director, Dooma Wendschuh.
Wendschuh’s career started in film as a producer and screenwriter before transitioning to video games in the early 2000s, where he contributed writing to titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins through his studio Sekretagent Productions. He later founded several tech ventures, most notably a cannabis‑formulation company called Ebbu, which sold for roughly C$430 million (US$330 million). After cashing out, he bought a remote island restaurant in Canada, intending to retire.
Yet a sudden call from his old Hollywood‑Hills roommate, Michael Abbott, pulled him back into the industry. "I saw the demo Joe had built and it blew my mind – that’s what got me out of retirement," Wendschuh says.
With Wendschuh on board, the studio recruited seasoned industry veterans: Reid Schneider, former vice‑president at Warner Bros. Games and now head of Raccoon Logic (the studio behind Journey to the Savage Planet), joined as a strategic advisor, and Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, an ex‑Ubisoft Montreal programmer, became chief technology officer. This core group of thirteen full‑time staff members formed the backbone of Wolf Haus. Funding proved to be the next major hurdle.
The team began pitching in the summer of 2023, a period marked by a downturn in the gaming market. Despite the challenging climate, the concept attracted interest, and after several rounds of outreach, the studio secured a seed round from Lifelike Capital and Krafton, both taking equity stakes. Their representation by Creative Artists Agency (CAA) – which also handles high‑profile titles like 007: First Light – added credibility.
"Having Derek Douglas, who had represented me for twelve years in games, as our agent was invaluable," notes Wendschuh. A hallmark of Join Us is the way it was built. From day one, Wolf Haus emphasized tool creation.
"Every system we design must be scalable and debuggable by a single person," Dietsch explains. The first year of development was split between iterating on game design and engineering the internal toolset that would allow a small team to expand content across a six‑kilometre‑square open world without the project collapsing under its own weight.
This tooling philosophy also aligns with the investors’ expectations. Krafton and Lifelike funded the project directly, allowing the studio to remain self‑sufficient while using a portion of the capital for marketing and project finance.
When asked about the role of generative AI, the team is unequivocal: they do not rely on it for creative work. "We believe a game needs a human touch.
Using AI to generate assets would defeat the purpose of why we love making games," says Dietsch. Wendschuh adds that the only AI tools they employ are mundane productivity aids, such as calendar scheduling and email drafting.
Interestingly, Krafton, which has publicly positioned itself as an "AI‑first" company, explicitly required Wolf Haus to avoid generative AI in the creative pipeline as a condition of their investment. This mirrors a similar stance taken by Neon Giant, another Krafton‑owned studio. The commitment to handcrafted content extends to the game's massive map and its audio. The entire six‑kilometre‑square world was built by hand, and all 15,000 voice lines were recorded by human actors, a point the team stresses as a badge of authenticity.
"Even as a tiny indie, we felt it was crucial to keep the experience human," Dietsch emphasizes. Dietsch also reflects on the differences between film and game development. In cinema, a concept can take years to materialise, requiring approvals, casting, and massive budgets before a director ever sees a single frame. In contrast, games allow immediate iteration: "You can have an idea at breakfast and see it in the engine by lunch.
That immediacy is exhilarating." Wendschuh notes that film production is heavily front‑loaded, with intense, short‑term bursts of activity on set, whereas games benefit from a more distributed workflow and fewer gatekeepers. "Anyone can pick up a camera and shoot a backyard movie, but without star power or distribution, it rarely reaches a wide audience.
A game, however, can find success with a small team and no A‑list talent, thanks to digital distribution platforms," he says. Both founders agree that, at their core, the creative impulse is the same across mediums: storytelling, evoking emotion, and delivering an experience. Dietsch recounts that as a child he was torn between making movies or games, a decision that ultimately hinged on a Christmas gift—a camera. He taught himself programming on a TI‑83 calculator, laying the foundation for a career that now straddles both worlds.
"Whether you’re making a film or a game, you’re trying to tell a story and engage an audience. The tools change, but the goal stays the same," he concludes. Join Us is slated to bring its bizarre, over‑the‑top cult simulation to players soon, promising a blend of dark humor, cooperative chaos, and a meticulously crafted world—all built by a team that proved you don’t need a massive studio or generative AI to create something unforgettable.