Dumpster Gang

You fling a boombox at John Exterminator the moment his cage drops, he staggers back, and your trapped friend scrambles out before the whole crew bolts for the fence. That split second of improvised teamwork is what Dumpster Gang is built around, and it works best when everyone is shouting at once. The setup is a co-op sandbox for one to four players, where raccoons break into suburban houses and farms at night and carry off whatever they can lift.

Breaking Into Houses in Dumpster Gang

Each raid hands the crew a checklist of petty crimes. At the suburban house you clog the toilets with far too much toilet paper, chug cups of coffee, wreck the garden, and steal the lawnmower. Raccoons can pick up and carry almost anything.

Getting inside is part of the puzzle. You throw an object to smash a window, then clamber over walls and fences to reach what you came for. Previews also show stolen goods being dragged to a hole in the ground outside, which works as your drop point.

Between raids, the game lets you decorate a hideout with your loot. That small reward loop gives every night a reason beyond the mess.

John Exterminator and the Cage Problem

Once John Exterminator rolls up in his van, he drops a cage and stomps around the property hunting for raccoons. If you run out of stamina while he is close, he catches you and delivers a kick, so sprinting blindly is a mistake. Stealth-minded players will like the safer play, which is to break line of sight in a cubby hole and wait until he wanders off.

A caught raccoon sits in the cage until a teammate picks the lock. Stunning John with something thrown, like that boombox, buys the time for a rescue. Scattering in four directions feels natural, but it leaves nobody available to pick the lock.

Rescues turn each chase into a small story. It is usually decided by who panics first.

Hats, Chickens, and Co-op Chaos in Dumpster Gang

Hats grant abilities such as higher jumps or resistance to thrown objects, so mixing them across the crew makes sense before a raid.

Chickens are the silliest tool on offer, because holding one lets you glide around in the goofiest way imaginable.

Emotes are the social weapon. Slapping a teammate with one while they pick a cage lock cancels the lockpicking animation, which is as self-defeating as it is funny, and friend groups who treat every raid like a comedy sketch will get the most from it.

Where the Loop Starts to Repeat

Early previews raise a fair worry: the core loop looks limited. John Exterminator does not appear to adapt the way a Hello Neighbor-style antagonist would, so a second raid can feel like a replay of the first. Players who want a deep, evolving stealth challenge should keep that in mind.

The farm map changes the checklist, with goals like breaking into the barn to milk a cow and splashing the milk on the farmer’s bed, yet the structure stays familiar. The preview covers only the first two maps, so how much variety the full game holds is still an open question.

Coverage often files the game under friendslop, meaning a co-op game designed for laughing with friends rather than mastering systems. By that standard the silliness is a feature, and the real test is whether new hats and raids keep the crew coming back.

Dumpster Gang is easiest to judge by the stories it produces: the boombox throw that rescues a caged friend, the stolen lawnmower, the milk on the farmer’s bed. John Exterminator only becomes dangerous when the crew stops talking.