When I first launched Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth, I really had no idea what to expect. From the brief description on the Steam page, I gained some general information about the book series it was based on, but mostly, I just knew it was a game about a fluffy creature.
I am glad to say that this game has really captured a feeling I can’t express in words, though I’ll do my best. From the opening to where the demo I played unfortunately ended, I always felt like I was just turning the pages of that one nostalgic book we all remember from our childhood. Even when staring at the main menu of Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth, I felt that I was about to play something special, and I did.
After starting the demo for the first time, I was introduced to Moomintroll, the titular main character of the correctly named Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth, who was being put to bed. It is explained to young Moomintroll by his parents, Moominpapa and Moominmama, that their kind, the Moomintrolls, always sleep for the entirety of winter and wake up only when the sunshine and warmth of summer come back again. Unfortunately for Moomintroll, he is awakened in the dead of winter night by a sound from outside his room.
“Exploring the Moominhouse as our character is surprisingly eerie.”
Exploring the Moominhouse as our character is surprisingly eerie. When you wake up in Moomintroll’s bed, it is pitch-black, with the only light a pack of matches that gives off an almost horror-game feeling of unease. After an adventure of shutting windows, collecting some broken pieces of Moominmama’s vase for a quest, and finding a squirrel hiding in the attic, Moomintroll is rolling down a snowdrift into a blistering winter storm.
This is where Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth starts to shine: as you walk around Moominvalley, you begin to see that it is indeed a beautiful place to live. However, the entirety of the valley is covered in a blanket of snow and ice, which isn’t very good for a summer creature like Moomintroll. He inevitably pursues the squirrel through the storm in an effort to bring it back home to warm up.
As you walk through the lands of Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth in pursuit and really start to take a look around, it hits you how much this really does look like a storybook. The art style itself pushes this narrative, with most everything being colored in pastel illustrations reminiscent of that one book we all read as kids. Even though everything in the valley is supposedly sleeping or worse, there is never a lack of life to see. In the short demo I played alone, I was introduced to Too-Ticky, a family friend of the Moomintrolls and a mysterious monkey named The Ancestor, who, according to Too-Ticky, is the progenitor of all Moomintrolls.
The music is beautiful as well, but not just because it’s good in general; the timing hits like a sack of rocks. Walking through a field of snow and hearing a little piano riff that interrupts the sounds of wind and ice is a beautiful thing, reminiscent of walking through Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
After you meet Too-Ticky for the first time, you will then gain access to another tool for Moomintroll’s arsenal. The first tool is the aforementioned pack of matches, which lets you have a portable torch as well as a way to light up lanterns you find on the way through the valley. The second tool, perhaps more well-suited to the environment, is a pair of mittens.
Getting these mittens involves chasing down The Ancestor, where we first meet them, and bringing them back to Too-Ticky, where they teach young Moomintroll how to throw their first snowball. Snowballs made from mittens can be used to knock down massive icicles that block a path or to hit things in general (make sure to hit the bucket off the snowman just for fun).
Along with the mittens and matches, there are two other tool slots in the inventory that aren’t included in the demo. A look at the trailer on the Steam page reveals that at least one of the tools will be a shovel for clearing snow, and, in my opinion, the last tool will be an axe, as there are suspiciously large amounts of lumber blocking potential paths in the starting area alone.
“Although the Moominvalley has been blanketed in snow, I never felt cold while playing Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth.”
As for the overall plot of Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth, the demo only provides a brief couple of mentions of what the story will revolve around. Essentially, some creatures that live through the winter gather at the end of the season for a large bonfire to mark the end of winter and usher in summer.
This winter, though, they haven’t been able to do that. Too-Tickey says they saw one of them encased in ice, with more of them out there somewhere. We find out that this is probably the work of the Lady of the Cold, who is the primordial force of winter in the world, and who is seemingly responsible for the long winter in Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth.
Although the Moominvalley has been blanketed in snow, I never felt cold while playing Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth. I think the title puts it into perspective that, while it’s still winter, you also feel the warmth that comes along with it. Either through a subtle piano riff, Moomintroll’s commentary when walking around the map, or just trying to throw a snowball at anything that looks like it can be hit with one. I didn’t think I would want to play more of this game when I first started it, but it built neural bridges that make me want more from this cold yet warm world.
Hyper Games impressed me with its Beautiful demo, and if this preview impressed you too, then make sure to enjoy Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth this spring when it comes to Steam, Switch, and Switch 2 on April 27th.
