Tove Jansson’s Moomin characters long ago stepped outside the pure world of just their books; even when Jansson was alive she was experimenting with different forms such as comic strips and limited merchandise.
That has extended into video games in the past with very mixed results, though I did rather adore 2024’s Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley. Hyper Games, the developers behind Melody of Moominvalley return one more time to the world of the Moomins, but where Melody told an essentially original story, Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth draws a lot more direct inspiration from Tove Jansson’s works, and most specifically Moominvalley Midwinter, the story that saw protagonist Moomin experiencing his very first winter.
If you’re not au fait with the Moomins, the quick-and-simple explanation is that they’re Finnish troll-type characters (mostly), and specifically that they hibernate through the Winter. Moomin wakes up to discover his parents are still asleep, but several mysterious things are happening – including several that threaten to never allow the peaceful world of Moominvalley to experience Spring again – push him into action.
“Action” is perhaps not the best word here, however; like Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley before it, this is a gentle, story-driven game with no real failure states that trades strongly on its visual charm and lightly comic storytelling. While Moomin starts the game alone – his whole family is still hibernating – he soon comes into contact with an array of Moominvalley’s regular cast, as well as a few surprise characters and twists that weren’t actually in Moominvalley Midwinter.
The gameplay loop here is mainly one of fetch quests, gathering items to make one character or another happy so that Moomin can upgrade his abilities and get closer to the point where the long, cold winter can end and Moominpappa and Moominmamma will wake up. There are some lighter action moments, such as a recurring set of silly snowball fights with the iconic and irrepressible Little My, but this isn’t a game that really needs much in the way of fast reflexes, and puzzles are largely on the more obvious side.
While like Snufkin, Moomin isn’t a violent character so the game is resolved more through generally peaceful actions, Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth does from time to time take a slightly darker tone. That’s properly resonant with the book that inspires it, because Winter isn’t just about cosy mugs of hot chocolate and snowball fights. If you were viewing this as straight family fun, be aware that there are a few more scary scenes, within the context of the way that the Moomin world can convey a scary scene anyway.
This isn’t a bad thing if what you’re after is a cosy game, albeit one that might make you feel more than a little frosty. While Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth largely uses the same art style and no doubt much of the same graphics engine as Snufkin did, it’s all with an icy tinge with snow covering just about everything in the game. One nice touch here is that snow shifts aside as Moomin walks and slides through it, leaving a permanent track of where you’ve been across the whole game.
I do love the fact that the developers include a set of accessibility options within the game to make it more accessible, though my one accessibility observation is that the default transition between locations is a flash of pure white; while this does give a nice “snow” kind of effect when you move from one area to another, it’s also not particularly friendly to those who may be affected by flashing patterns.
Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth otherwise does very well on this score, but a family member who enjoyed most of Snufkin (save for the flashing effects) found it problematic. I reached out to the developers and was told they’ll look into possibly reducing that effect in a post-patch update – here’s to hoping they do just that.
Like Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley, Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth isn’t a particularly lengthy game; outside of one optional collectathon quest I made my way through all the rest of the game’s content in around 5 hours of gentle play time, and the strong narrative thread that runs across the entire game doesn’t entirely lend itself to a whole lot of replayability.
Still, it’s beautifully produced and absolutely in line with the way that Jansson’s Moomin works ran. They’ve always left me wanting more, and I can’t wait until the next Moomin game comes my way.
