Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth review

• Reviews by Brian Hobbs
• Published:

The world of Tove Jansson’s Moomins comes out of hibernation for an even better second outing

I’ve got a bone to pick with Hyper Games. Their previous game, Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley, launched an entire season of Moomin mania in my family, with books, TV shows, and a podcast all capturing our attention alongside the game itself. Not even my desktop background escaped. Finally, after much concerted effort, we convinced my youngest son that there was life outside of the 1990s cartoon series based on Tove Jansson’s classic books. But just as soon as the last vestiges of Little My the Mymble’s loud, snarky voice stopped echoing in my mind, Hyper Games went and released another game, Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth. I sit down and play the first thirty minutes with my family, and the very next day I walk in from work to that obnoxious earworm of a TV theme song radiating through the hall. I’m in Moomin-purgatory. I guess it’s a good thing that the new game is so delightful, even improving on the first in overall writing and design, or I might consider pressing charges.

In seriousness, my family enjoyed Snufkin, and we looked forward to this follow-up ever since it was announced. While certainly not a reinvention, it’s a step up in storytelling and characterization especially, and adds fun new mechanics to the formula as this time you play as the main Moomin himself, Moomintroll. It’s not a direct sequel, and only really “follows” the events of the previous game in the same way that winter follows summer. If you haven’t played its predecessor, and aren’t otherwise familiar with the Moomin stories, you might wonder a bit who this Snufkin fellow is that Moomintroll likes to reference, but there aren’t any particular details from the first game that are relevant here. Even Moominvalley’s layout is completely different, so you’ll be just as lost in the snow as the rest of us.

The story is based on one of Tove Jansson’s books, Moominland Midwinter, and carries with it that mix of wit and wonder with a gentle edge of melancholy that characterized some of her later writing. The hippo-like Moominfolk are a hibernating sort, so none of them have ever seen winter. But Moomintroll finds himself suffering a bout of insomnia in the middle of the snowy season and wakes to a dark, musty bedroom, with shadows playing tricks on his eyes and a strange thumping coming from somewhere in the house. Unable to wake his slumbering parents downstairs, he ventures out into the cold to see if he is wholly and truly alone and if the world has in fact ended. Slight spoiler: he is not, and it has not.

He soon meets a girl named Too-Ticky, who lets him in on many of the secrets of winter, such as the dreaded Lady of the Cold, the winter spirits, and the great bonfire that will banish winter and bring back the spring. You know, the usual stuff. Greatly feeling the absence of his parents and his friend Snufkin who wanders off every winter, Moomintroll is determined to gather the spirits, start the bonfire, and send this frozen hellscape packing once and for all. Or for a few months, anyway.

Moomintroll’s dislike of winter, while understandable, is antithetical to the crystalline beauty of the snow-blanketed landscape. Once you leave the house and the slightly horror-tinged opening scene, you’re greeted by painterly storybook scenes of natural splendor, where pine forests, mountain overlooks, and icy ponds are cast in a desaturated but welcoming bluish-white hue. Sure, having everything covered in snow can be a little monochromatic, but the artists have given each area subtle, distinguishing touches that make discovering new locations feel rewarding. And as the story progresses, so does the time of day, giving even familiar locations a new look as they’re bathed in the orange glow of a setting sun.

As poetic as that may sound, my kids—the plebeians—don’t seem to care about aesthetics like I do, so it helps a lot that moving around and interacting with the wintry wonderland, using either a controller or keyboard, feels satisfying and almost tactile. I was most impressed that as you wander, the tracks you and others make through the snow stick around through most of the game, except a few times where fresh snowfall and the passage of time cover them over. When you walk through the paths you previously made, you’ll move a little bit faster than you do when you’re carving through untouched snow. That means that as you revisit locations (which you’ll do a lot), you have the choice to keep it speedy or veer off and make new paths and draw new designs in the wintry powder. That sense of agency and permanence was a nice touch in a game that’s very linear.

But of course, there’s more to Moomintroll than walking around. Throughout the game you’ll collect abilities, mostly in the form of tools like a shovel, matches, mittens, or an axe. These allow you to interact with your world in new ways, often opening up paths or unearthing treasures. With the shovel, you can carve out trails through the snowdrifts that were too high for you to walk through. The matches will—you’ll never guess—start fires and can help you see in dark places. I’ll leave it to your wildest imagination what the axe can do. Each of these tools can even be upgraded with certain items, either making them work more efficiently or perhaps unlocking new abilities altogether. The mittens were the crowd favorite in my household, allowing you to make snowballs and hurl them at whatever, and whoever, you so choose. “Throw a snowball at him, Dad,” was the most common request.

Sometimes, pelting someone’s face with a snowball is exactly what you’ll want to do too, but with all the friendly warmth that such an act of violence will allow. The characters you meet will be familiar if you’ve read the books or watched the TV shows, and they all really come alive in Moomintroll in a way that the previous Snufkin game never quite managed. There’s Fillyjonk, as neurotic, sanctimonious, and hyper-protective of her children as ever. Hemulen is a loud, jovial, but overbearing fellow who loves to ski and is a bit too proud of his tuba-playing abilities. And of course Little My, the snide, mischievous little one always ready to stir up trouble and snicker at the misfortune of others. Voice acting might have been a nice addition, but I enjoyed coming up with my own voices for each character and reading the lines aloud for my family.

Moomintroll: Winter's Warmth

Genre:	Fantasy
Presentation:	Realtime 3D
Theme:	Adaptation, Animal
Perspective:	Third-Person
Gameplay:	Quest, Cozy
Control:	Direct Control
Game Length:	Medium (5-10 hours)
Difficulty:	Low
Graphic Style:	Cartoon

The writing is much improved from Snufkin, and the dialogue matches the quirks and foibles of the characters’ personalities in more than just a perfunctory way; it reveals a depth of humorous, almost philosophical insight that sidles up well to Jansson’s own writing. Indeed, a few lines are pulled directly from the book, or are at least paraphrased, but much of it seems to be original, and it isn’t easy to tell which is which—the writers have done a good job matching the tone of Jansson’s contemplative, gently satirical wit. “Inner peace starts with total control of your external environment, children,” Fillyjonk opines. Or this exchange that my children have grown fond of reciting:

“Repeat after me,” Hemulen instructs Misabel. “‘I can do anything.’”
“Can I leave?”
“Except that.”

There’s an edge of slightly darker material as well, touching on themes like loneliness, fear, and even death. “Death is…part of life,” Too-Ticky remarks. “The Lady of the Cold gives and takes.” While dipping into a bit of melancholy, it’s not done in a way too heavy for children, and ultimately remains light and hopeful, reminding us of the importance of friendship and a willingness to show kindness and grace to others. Unless you’re in a snowball fight with Little My, of course. Then you can straight up annihilate.

There’s not much difficulty involved in the gameplay, and I’m not sure that I would call any of the obstacles puzzles, per se. In order to get the bonfire going, you’ll have to help a few of the winter beings, who may want you to bring light to the forest, find a lost friend, or help them get free of the ice they’re stuck in. And you’ll need no less than 125 pieces of wood, which are fairly plentiful, being in a forest landscape and all, but sometimes require poking around in out-of-the-way places to find. Rather than requiring your thinking cap, most of the challenge comes from being observant and looking for opportunities to use the tools and abilities you acquire. If there’s an area of suspiciously deep snow nearby, it’s probably worth taking out your shovel and getting to work. A sparkle coming out of a cleft in the rock? Grab your matches to see what’s in there before reaching your hand in to grab it. A bird took off with something you needed? Nothing a well-aimed snowball won’t solve.

Early on, you simply won’t have the means to do anything with much that you encounter, and the game will explicitly tell you that, so you’ll take a mental note and come back later when you have more resources at your disposal. Because of this style of progression, Moomintroll seems more open than it actually is. While technically you’re free to roam as you wish, you’ll soon find your way impeded by a log, a snow bank, or some other obstacle that will require a tool you haven’t got yet, so it’s usually best to stick to the main path, at least until you have more to work with. At times I wished for more to explore and less telegraphing of where to go and when. That’s not to say there aren’t side quests, though, and some optional collectibles scattered about. There are more winter beings that need your help than are actually required to complete the game, and we were eager to make sure they were all accounted for before beginning the end sequence.

As fun as it feels to dash on frozen ponds, roll a giant snowball, and dig through tall snowdrifts, there’s a little mechanical repetitiveness towards the end of the game’s seven-hour runtime. Once you have all the abilities and know how they work, it’s mostly a matter of selecting the right tool for the job and mashing that button to make it happen. The satisfaction of using each one slightly diminishes over time, and although there are a few twists on the formula in the latter half, keeping the experience accessible to all ages has the downside of making it feel a little too effortless at times—the average adventurer will slide right through each obstacle like a Moomin on ice.

Even so, it’s unlikely you’ll be playing Moomintroll because you’re seeking an intellectual challenge. It’s a game to inhabit, filled with beautiful illustrations, whimsical characters, and a sense of nostalgia, whether or not you’re even familiar with the source material. The spacious piano-driven soundtrack invites you to linger and enjoy the journey, perhaps even allowing some space for reflection, but there’s enough playfulness and humor to draw in the younger crowd and keep them engaged. The overall narrative may lack a bit of urgency (unless you, like Moomintroll, really hate winter), but there are enough moments of perceived peril and mystery to keep the motivation moving forward. There’s even a sort of twist towards the end that gives the story more surprise and a little bit of a wintry chill right before bringing you back into the warmth of a happy ending. 

Final Verdict

I wanted to get through this whole review without using the word “cozy” (rats, so close!), but in many ways you couldn’t find a warmer blanket of a game for which the word would be better suited. The soft, picture-book winter aesthetic, colorful cast of friendly characters, atmospheric music, and gentle progression of satisfying but mostly challenge-free game mechanics will make you and your family want to savor the game alongside cups of hot chocolate, regardless of the time of year. It’s a notable improvement from Snufkin, and what really adds logs to the fire is the writing, which is thoughtful and humorous and isn’t afraid to let just a little bit of the cold air of heavier themes seep in through the cracks at the windowsills. I do wish there was a similar bite in terms of difficulty and exploration, as the developers seem a touch too eager to smooth rough edges and lead you along like a mountain guide in the Alps, but a few trickier collectibles and some optional side quests help to fill out the experience for those who wish to wander a bit further afield. As it stands, though, Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth is the exact kind of cheerful adventure my family loves to enjoy together, bringing smiles to our faces, warmth to our hearts, and endless reruns of a 90s animated Moomin show to our TV screen. I guess we’ll call that a win.

Brian and his family played Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth on PC using a review code provided by the game's publisher.

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