I can’t say I’ve ever thought about being a mouse. While I have an odd obsession for small, rat-like animals, I’ve never really wanted to be one. There’s the constant need to scavenge for food, lack of real bathing, and overarching threat that, if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, life will end in a flurry of claws or talons. Bluntly, life as a mouse kind of sucks. That’s where Whiskerwood comes in. Published by Manor Lords’ Hooded Horse and created by Railgrade’s Minakata Dynamics, I plowed hours into its demo, building up my rodent resistance in an attempt to overthrow my feline overlords, the Claws. Post-Steam Next Fest I’ve found myself missing my island getaways, and have been waiting for early access to finally arrive. Well, good news folks, Whiskerwood is here, and I’ve shifted all of my evening plans.
As I mentioned in my musings, Whiskerwood tasks you with establishing a colony of mice on a series of remote islands – think Rimworld. Your goal? Create a thriving rodent utopia, and perhaps shake off your tyrannical cat overlords while you’re at it. Meeting their ever-expanding quotas quickly becomes tiring, after all, especially because they simply offer higher tariffs in return. The ‘fat cat’ image isn’t lost here.
But beneath the cutesy veneer is a solid city building game. You’ll have to navigate your way across difficult terrain, ensure all of your workers are fed and watered, all while meeting the demands of The Claws and placating the various pirate bands that sail the seas. As the weather changes and winter rolls in, life on a remote island gets pretty difficult, so it’s your job to ensure your furry denizens survive and thrive.
Every few days a ship will pull up with various new recruits, offering you fresh labor at a cost. Each mouse has unique qualities, however – some good, some bad. You may have a worker that can carry double the normal amount, which sounds great on paper, but their nasty attitude can quickly begin to affect morale. Similarly, as you expand out your workshops, you’ll need to match your mice’s specializations to the jobs at hand: there’s no point in putting a forager on sawmill duty, for example.
As your city grows and industry flourishes, you’ll be able to set up complex production lines, with Factorio-esque conveyor belt systems and pipelines keeping everything running. You can spend research points to enhance your efficiency, and hash out laws and rules to ensure that your new home doesn’t devolve into chaos. There’s an impressive level of complexity, but as a city builder newbie, I didn’t find it particularly overwhelming.
Given that Whiskerwood’s demo was relatively bare bones, I’m excited to see what’s in store with early access. With several map sizes, over 100 buildings, and plenty of quests to complete, it’s already a pretty huge game. Post-1.0 there’s also the promise of naval combat, and while that’s likely a little further down the line, I can’t wait to see what it looks like.
Hooded Horse and Minakata Dynamics’ Whiskerwood is out now in early access. It’s available on Steam for $29.99 / £24.99, as well as PC Game Pass as a preview. You can pick it up here.
If you’re looking for something even bigger, we have a list of all the best 4X games, as well as a guide to all the best grand strategy games. After all, it pays to be ambitious – how Claw of me.