The Next BIG Thing: Wacky Puzzle Adventure Across Crazy Hollywood Movie Genres

Liz and Dan Walk Into a Horror Awards Ceremony

The Next BIG Thing, developed by Pendulo Studios and published by Focus Entertainment, is an adventure game for Windows and macOS whose Steam product date is 2011. Its opening setting is a Hollywood horror-movie awards ceremony attended by Liz Allaire, a talented journalist who cannot count up to four, and Dan Murray, a tough macho who cannot stand beetles. From that starting point, players help the pair solve numerous mysteries, and the story develops through twists and turns rather than a straight line.

The fiction is built on the question of what happens if horror movies' monsters were actually played by real monsters. In this Hollywood, those monsters are now forced to appear in children's movies, romantic comedies and musicals, and the possibility of an eventual rebellion hangs over the industry. Around the Awards ceremony, solving puzzles and following the mysteries moves the adventure across these crazy movie genres. Presentations on Steam describe high-definition art, an animated-movie look, an awesome soundtrack and delightful dialogue.

Solving Wacky Puzzles Through Crazy Hollywood Genres

The adventure pushes Liz and Dan through wacky puzzles, mysteries and odd situations tied to a totally crazy Hollywood where movie genres keep shifting. The documented fiction sets horror-movie monsters as real monsters, now forced to appear in kids' movies, romantic comedies and musicals, with the possibility of a rebellion hanging over that industry. Players help the two leads solve the numerous mysteries of this story, which unfolds through twists and turns rather than a single straight path from the awards ceremony onward.

Because the puzzles are interwoven with the shifting movie genres, each scenario places the characters inside a different Hollywood production: a children's film, a romantic comedy or a musical, alongside the horror creatures. The player's concrete task is to solve those mysteries, puzzles and situations as they arise, using the adventure-game framework built by Pendulo Studios and published by Focus Entertainment. The creatures from fantastic movies appear as a cast of colorful characters whom the heroes meet during their adventure, keeping each puzzle grounded in the strange film industry rather than a generic setting.

Monsters Forced Into Kids' Movies, Rom-Coms and Musicals

The alternate Hollywood is defined by a single joke taken seriously: the monsters of horror movies were played by real monsters, and those creatures have now been forced into children's movies, romantic comedies and musicals. That premise gives the adventure its shape, since every genre the heroes enter is a workplace for the same disgruntled cast. Hanging over the industry is the open question of whether the monsters will eventually rebel, a possibility that colors the puzzles and mysteries Liz and Dan must work through as the plot takes its twists and turns.

Across these productions, the heroes meet a cast of colorful characters that includes some of the most legendary monsters and creatures from fantastic movies. These encounters keep the strange film industry present rather than letting it fade into a generic backdrop. Liz Allaire, a talented journalist who cannot count up to four, and Dan Murray, a tough macho who cannot stand beetles, remain the pair the player guides through the crazy mysteries, puzzles and situations, with each genre setting supplying the circumstances those puzzles are built around.

An Animated-Movie Look With Dialogue and Soundtrack

The presentation of the adventure follows the model of a full animated feature, with a production the game's store profile likens to that of a great animated movie. That animated quality is matched by a high-definition standard applied to the game's visuals and by a distinct art style of its own. In practice, this means the puzzles, mysteries and tributes that carry Liz and Dan through their multiple movie-genre scenarios are framed by cartoon-feature staging rather than a flat or minimal look.

Sound carries the cinematic presentation alongside the imagery. The profile lists an awesome soundtrack and delightful dialogue as elements of the production, so spoken exchanges between Liz, Dan and the colorful monsters sit over a musical score rather than silence. These audio elements accompany the wacky puzzle-solving and the shifts between children's films, romantic comedies and musicals, giving the game its animated-movie feel across each genre the heroes enter during their adventure.

First published Oct 20, 2026.