I'm about an hour from Whiskerwood, a new town. builder from Minakata Dynamics and publisher Hooded Horse, and I've already made a complete mess of my coastline. Smart and charismatic hybrid Against the stormnovels by Robin Jarvis and the settlement of North America, Whiskerwood puts you in charge of mice building colonies on cube-shaped islands. The islands are still beautiful, their Minecraft-like nooks just begging to be decorated with gardens, windmills and cobblestone paths. But you have to pay taxes, so the first thing you do is sink a bunch of mines at random, scooping up coal and copper for the real fat cats at court.
My island town currently looks like it's been attacked by termites, although I'm trying to create a little coziness by populating the muddy shoreline with nice, plump cottages. I've had to abandon my grandiose plans for the dock cafe for now, but maybe we can get back to gentrification once I clear the caves of gold and cut down all the trees.
You don't have to pay taxes – getting rid of the cat's yoke seems to be one of the options for completing the game in Whiskerwood. But keeping these striped tyrants happy has its benefits in the form of new building blueprints and other resources, as well as reducing the likelihood of royal warships showing up to subjugate your population. You can also turn in partial tax supplies, but you won't receive any drawings from them and will lose one or two approval points each time.
I think Whiskerwood could be very good. Much of it is familiar, but the slightly satirical idea of ​​a cat-and-mouse game puts a different spin on the business of extracting resources, keeping workers happy, and expanding or upgrading your holdings. It's also quite difficult. All of your mice have traits such as “Slow”, “Patient” or “Good Teacher”, which affect how willing they are to, for example, work emergency shifts or sleep outside at night. They have a guild specialization, as well as corresponding strengths and weaknesses – there is a guild of heavy workers who can carry more stuff, but also need more food.
When setting up farms and foraging stations, considerations must be given to terrain: some crops prefer high altitude, others prefer to grow in underground tunnels. You'll need to think about keeping your squeakers warm in the winter and providing them with nice clothes and other luxuries once you've taken care of their basic needs. Indeed, there is plenty to choose from – and later there is the prospect that Whiskerwood will be filled. Factorio once you unlock the relevant technologies. If you think my island looks dystopian right now, just wait until I flood it with conveyor belt spaghetti and start digging up mountains for storage. We will also make Dunwall out of this place.
If I have a broad criticism, it's that I'm not sure the game's anthropomorphic approach to colonization includes any equivalents for indigenous peoples. From the little I've played, it's all about the pioneers arguing with their masters abroad, operating along a species schism that's probably more of a metaphor for social class than race or ethnicity. Before you arrive, the islands appear devoid of life except for plants. If this is an allegory, then I would like the game to think more about the fantasy of untouched, “virgin soil”.
Again, Whiskerwood is out in Early Access today. According to Minakata Dynamics, it will remain there “for a year, but this may change depending on how the design evolves based on player feedback.” Everything mentioned on Steam page is apparently in play now, but version 1.0 “will include additional quests, more goods and production chains, additional tech tree options, additional buildings, and additional mechanics covering rebellion, combat, and the sea.” I want to end with another fun pun, but I don't want it to sound stupid.
