Hooded Horse and Minakata Dynamics (developers ofRailgrade)have announcedWhiskerwood, a new settlement game with a focus on automation. Visually, it’s very evocative about thesurvival settlementsensation,Timberborn, but is more focused on automation and production rather than survival.
It’s also about a different creature. WhileTimberbornwas centered around beavers (nature’s engineers),Whiskerwoodhas you watching over the well-being of mice. These mice, however, live under the thumb of aristocratic felines. Fat cats, if you will. Aristocats. The cats have demands that must be met, so your task is to gather resources from the environments and process them for export.
The block-based building system and, indeed, many of the buildings themselves look very similar toTimberborn, but that game was about helping your beavers survive droughts. There wasn’t very much in the way of trade and economy, which is whereWhiskerwooddiverges significantly.
It’s looking very feature-dense. There are forty commodities to produce, conveyor belts and elevators to move them, and various mousey needs like healthcare and heating. The main challenge, as stated by the store page, is to strike a perfect balance between the needs of the mouse and the demands of the cat. There is also a naval aspect, as you can explore other islands and battle at sea. I thought this might be menu-based, but the press release says, “turn-based combat using ships of war.” Radical.
I think it looks terrific, but then, I do loveTimberborn. The promised depth inWhiskerwoodjust looks so focused and well-planned. I’ll be keeping an eye on this one.
Whiskerwoodwill first be released into PC Early Access on Steam. No release window has been stated.
