Winter Burrow Preview: Relaxing survival in a fairly traditional way

It was not an April Fool's joke, when the Xbox EMEA Developer Sessions event was held for the press on April 1. Game developers presented their upcoming projects in a lovely and comprehensive way with some real gameplay as well. One of these was Winter Burrow from developer Pine Creek Games and publisher Noodlecake Games. It's an atmospheric survival game in which a small mouse returns to its homeland to renovate a childhood home. Launch is planned for 2025 for Xbox Series X (and S), Xbox One, and PC. Winter Burrow will also be included with Xbox Game Pass immediately at release, and the game is also included in the Xbox Play Anywhere programme, so once you have purchased the game, you can play it on almost any device you want.

The Danish indie game from Pine Creek Games immediately attracts attention with its colourful cartoon-like graphics. The perspective is isometric, and based on what I saw, the story is told with beautiful still images and text. A lot of time is spent in the game's menus, and there seems to be more than enough reading here. Winter Burrow's pace is slow, so reading a lot is a good fit for this kind of game. On the other hand, it might not attract players who typically crave a lot of action and explosions.

Winter Burrow is a survival game, so you have to work hard for everything. First, you have to light a fire in the fireplace, or else you risk freezing. Of course, this requires collecting various branches and sticks from the surrounding area. Next, it's time to craft a stone axe in order to obtain even more solid raw materials. You can't get very far from your home, as you're still at risk of freezing. Fortunately, you can navigate your way back using your own footprints in the snow. After the axe, it's time to make warm clothes for your mouse so that it can get a little further from the cosy fireplace before having to return. But weaving requires yarn, which isn't automatically available either. And so, the game progresses in a manner of a traditional survival game. When you have progressed enough, you can break the barrier that previously prevented access to the next area, and this is how the adventure progresses further.

Since this is a survival game, crafting is of course a key part of the experience. In the game, you make various household items and later even furniture, but you cannot design and build your own home.

During the presentation, we encountered beetles the size of a mouse itself, where beetles did not attack the player. According to the developers, the player can attack first, however, and that is what leads to a brutal fight. The battles are very simple, short, and in real-time, but they work well enough.

Winter Burrow features a change of day and night. At night, it gets cold very quickly, and frostbite threatens you regardless of your clothing. Later, the player gets a torch, which allows you to navigate in the dark better than before. Whatever is going on in the game, is attempted to be conveyed to the player visually. As frostbite threatens, more ice flakes appear at the edges of the screen, and the storm literally hinders visibility as the snow begins to cover the screen. And if there is no torch, the screen is truly dark.

Perhaps the most interesting item introduced was a shovel, with which it is possible to dig holes in the ground. This way you can find random items, and possibly something truly important. In any case, this kind of game mechanic encourages you to dig in the ground often and in many different places.

Winter Burrow seems like a fairly safe survival game in terms of its game mechanics, and clearly requires a certain type of player. The pace is slow, the atmosphere is calm, and as I already mentioned, you should be prepared to read a lot and otherwise spend time in menus. During the year 2025, we will see what Winter Burrow finally has to offer.