Amazing rodent serfdom management game, Whiskerwood, has a new trailer

You know those games that look so good, you figure something is going to be botched? I get that feeling quite often, and Whiskerwood is one of those instances. It has a new trailer as part of the PC Gaming Show pre-show (I’m told, I’m not watching these things this year. I earned a break), and it’s showing off further promise and further ambition. But no release date, dammit.

Whiskerwood is a settlement survival/economy game where you play as a colony of enslaved mice. “Enslaved” might be the wrong word. Serfs, maybe? In any case, they live beneath the thumbs of some oppressive fat cats. Literal fat cats, it seems. Felines.

Anyway, the game appears to be a lot like Timberborn, but with more automation. And sea battles. Honestly, when the last trailer dropped, and I learned it was going to have naval battles, I though, “surely not real-time,” but apparently, it is. It looks like Sid Meier’s Pirates! (2007). And then it zooms in and reveals that there are other islands. Seriously?

See? Too good to be true. But it’s developed by Railgrade folks, Minakata Dynamics. It’s also being published by Hooded Horse, who, while not in a creative role, never seem to miss in picking the games they rep.

If it’s not obvious, Whiskerwood is a game that I am eagerly awaiting. I love Timberborn. You should also love Timberborn. But this seems to change the focus just enough to present a different experience, and one that could potentially be more engrossing. I hope maybe not that engrossing. Every time I pick up Timberborn, a whole weekend dissolves into nothing.

Unfortunately, I don’t know how long I’ll be waiting. A release date did not accompany the trailer. The Steam page suggests it will arrive this year. The only platform that has been announced is PC.