Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth Review – Return to Moominvalley

Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth Review

Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth is a cozy, story-driven puzzle/adventure game set in the colorful world of the Moomins. Fans of the classic Swedish multimedia franchise welcomed the previous Moomintroll title, which follows the mischievous Snufkin through Springtime troubles. This follow-up brings a new mood to the table, but features the same charm.

The Moomins franchise was created by Swedish-Finnish author Tove Jansson in 1945. It contains a treasure trove of comics, novels, and cartoons about the Moomins, their friends, and their enemies. The franchise strikes a neat balance between sweet sentiment and wry humor, and this game is no exception.

Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth is a cute yet somber title that follows the titular Moomintroll. The central focus of the Moomin franchise, Moomins are soft, white, furry creatures that cause all sorts of trouble in summer. During winter, they curl up in their cozy home to hibernate.

However, one year, Moomintroll wakes up early. Unable to fall back asleep, he must find a way to pass the time until his family emerges from their slumber.

Winter Wonderland

Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth looks like a playable storybook. Its simple and gorgeous hand-drawn graphics do an excellent job of building an atmosphere of wonder. It’s a joy to watch Moomintroll wander around and leave trails in the snow.

A slight change of lighting can bring its beautiful vistas into eerie territory. However, the emergence of the sun–or a lit match–can bring them right back.

It also features some charming and subtle sound design. The crunch of snow is very satisfying. I’ve yet to find a song that wasn’t welcome to hum along in the background. Sadly, there’s no voice acting, but the dialog noises are quite cute.

Like any good adventure game, the main gameplay mechanics are exploration and puzzle-solving. You throw snowballs, shovel snow, and chop wood as you navigate the winter landscape.

Its puzzles range from fetch quests to uncovering hidden items to beating Little My in a snowball fight. There’s a nice variety on offer, but nothing too difficult.

Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth Builds a Welcoming Atmosphere

Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth asks players to take on the role of Moomintroll and guide him through the winter forest. Progressing unlocks new tools you can use to enter new areas.

As you find more characters surviving in the cold, you pick up new quests to complete. Often, I found a puzzle long before the solution became available. Fortunately, there’s a useful quest log and a map to make keeping track of them all easier.

The writing maintains a nice balance between sentimental coming of age story and a certain sardonic sense of humor. It can go from soulful musing to snappy banter to rather somber discussion of winter dangers. The result is a story that can make you laugh and think about its themes.

The characters are well-written and engaging, from troublesome Little My to morose Misabel and ever-finicky Fillyjonk. Moomintroll himself is quite a sweet protagonist, but his isolation leads him to show more sides of himself. It’s interesting to watch him slowly grow as he encounters brand-new problems.

Short, But Sweet

Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth is a very short game that thrives more on atmosphere and narrative than game mechanics. And when it comes to atmosphere and narrative, this title is difficult to argue with.

There’s a fair amount of backtracking if you want to finish every quest. And the amount of items to be fetched can get annoying. However, it’s difficult to argue with the game’s enchanting winter mood.

At about seven hours of gameplay, it’s short and sweet. The amount of loading screens between areas can pad that time out. And if you’re like me and enjoy wandering around to watch the nice backgrounds, it might take even longer.

All in all, Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth is a lovely exploration of a side of Moominvalley that fans rarely get to see. I had fun leading Moomintroll through the snow. Existing fans and new ones will have a great time with this game, too.

***Steam code provided by the publisher***