Rebuilding the Past in Winter Burrow

With the cold part of the year quickly closing in and the holidays coming up, there's really no better time, in my opinion, to curl up with a cozy game and get lost in a world that's a lot smaller than yours. In Winter Burrow, the latest release from Pine Creek Games, this idea is pretty literal - it's hard to get much smaller than a mouse's world.

Hope, Hardships, and the Meaning of Home

In Winter Burrow, you play as a plucky little mouse who moves back to their childhood woodland home after the passing of their parents in the big city. They return to find the place worn down and slightly dilapidated, having been left in the care of an aunt who has had some difficulty maintaining it with her age and the harsh winter conditions. It's now your job to rebuild your home and protect the only family you have left.

In the process, you meet your neighbors and help them resolve their own issues. The various animals of the woodlands have problems they can't solve alone - missing friends and family, misplaced resources, dangerous predators, and more become the focus of your interactions. Each character must learn to trust and confide in you to gain your help, and give you something in return; you all grow stronger and safer together.

This game is delightfully precious. It had me tearing up in the intro; though we never get a name for our little mouse, I wanted to protect them immediately. The game's story explores the ideas of grief and hardship, but also love and community during difficult times. It's an exploration of interdependence and support, where even the harshest worlds can't keep you isolated or underfoot forever. I feel like that kind of hopeful commentary is especially poignant at the moment, and I'm happy to see the game tackling these concepts with sensitivity and kindness.

A Nostalgic Art Style

What really drew me to this game in the first place was its aesthetic. Winter Burrow has a cartoon style that looks like a hand-drawn movie from the early '90s. My first thoughts were of The Secret of Nimh, An American Tail, and The Rescuers - the woodlands portrayed here could easily be a part of any of those stories. There's a bit more realism, though, that I deeply appreciate. The world feels grounded, fantastical, but following a sort of logic that mimics our world. I absolutely adore all of the deep, woodsy scenery (especially the reflective puddles! What a nice touch.)

The character designs are equally wonderful, reminding me of series like Redwall and Watership Down. The animals look more realistic, but still wear adorable Victorian-English-style clothes. They fit so well into their little burrows and camps, looking quaint and charming while keeping some of the darkness that seeps from the background of the game's story. I especially love Bufo the Frog with their button-up dress at a mason's table.

The music that accompanies your adventure is subtle, orchestral, and adventurous without taking over the scenes or taking you out of the semi-isolated experience. My favorite track is the one that plays as soon as you leave The Burrow; it feels foreboding, perfect for braving the wilds to rebuild and reclaim your home.

Interesting Mechanics and Gameplay

Winter Burrow's mechanics are pretty standard fare for a survival game, with a few interesting additions that caught my attention in the trailers and have become some of my favorite aspects of play.

The gameplay loop reminds me of Don't Starve. You have four attribute bars to manage: Health, Hunger, Warmth, and Breath. The first three are standard fare. Being attacked by a bug (the antagonists in the setting) will lower your health, but sleeping will renew it. Your hunger goes down naturally over time, but you can forage and cook food to refill it. Your warmth goes down over time when you're outside, especially at night, but can be refilled at any fire or in your home, and heat loss can be slowed by upgrading your clothing or eating certain foods.

I found the addition of Breath interesting; it's a measure of exertion that, if it runs out, limits your ability to interact. For example, chopping wood or picking stone will deplete the bar, and once it's empty, your character pants and will not continue the action until it refills. Though the refill is quite fast, taking only a few seconds, it can be inconvenient if it happens mid-combat! I thought it was a clever way to remind the player that exerting energy in a freezing environment is a challenge, and you need to be clever with your action economy.

I also love that the main mechanics of the game include knitting; I get to spin yarn and knit cute little outfits to keep my mouse warm! It's great! Their little needles are so cute in the menu animation. Aside from knitting, you can also cook a variety of sweet and savory treats and brew up teas for your mouse to enjoy, all made from the meats, berries, and nuts that you forage. The crafting system is simple and straightforward, with organized menus of raw materials and tools, furniture sorted by type, and various other extras that help you on your journey.

I do have two small gripes about the mechanics. First, there is currently no map of the forest for you to reference, which can make quest completion difficult and often means you get a bit lost if you stray too far. This can be dangerous if you're not carrying a campfire kit, kindling, or food. There are plans to implement a map according to the development notes on Steam, so I have no worries about this as a long-term issue. Secondly, there is no way to sort your inventory, either on your person or at the Burrow. This is a bit frustrating and can make finding the materials you need or checking to see how much of certain things you have tedious and frustrating. Yet again, though, there is an inventory management system in the works, so I am content to be frustrated a little longer.

Other than that, I deeply enjoy the loop of the game. It's satisfying to play for long stretches; you always feel like you have something to do without your list of quests feeling overwhelming. The open-world setup makes hopping between tasks easy and allows you to build your skills over time. If you get stuck on something, you can put it on the back burner until you have the experience or materials necessary to complete it without any consequences. I really appreciate the variety of characters and quests, and how they interact with each other to create a cohesive world.

Winter Burrow is Wonderful

Overall, I'm thoroughly impressed with Winter Burrow and the team at Pine Creek Games. They've managed to create something that soothes the cozy game itch perfectly, without feeling like it's just another farming sim slop piece in an extremely saturated genre. The unique and beautiful art and music, mixed with engaging NPCs and solid, simple mechanics, make for a relaxing, comforting experience that you're happy to dive into for hours at a time, fully immersing yourself in this lovely little world.

I can't wait to see where Winter Burrow goes from here, and how the community - which is already growing - thrives as the game matures. I definitely believe that, in a too-fast, too-big real world full of over-our-heads problems, sometimes scaling it back to mouse-level can give us the clarity and comfort we need to make it through the darkest part of the year.