A few weeks ago, Point’n’Think brought you a review of the cozy survival game Winter Burrow. An indie game featuring a little mouse who must face the winter by building a burrow, exploring the surroundings to gather resources and food, and either confronting or befriending the local animals. Blending management and relaxation, the game also draws on the rich imagery of animal fables and coming-of-age stories. Benjamin Salqvist, CEO & Creative Director at Pine Creek Games, answered our questions about the game in a mini-interview that we invite you to check out!
Point’n’Think : Pink Creek Games is a videogame studio founded in 2021 in Denmark. Can you tell us about it ? What is your background, and who is the team behind Winter Burrow ?
Benjamin Salqvist : The team is from all over the world, we have people from Germany, France, Russia, Canada and Denmark. We all have a background in games. Pine Creek Games is a studio that makes games inspired by nature and one of our missions is to help create awareness about natural preservation and restoration.
PnT : Can you tell us about the creation of the game ? The difficulties you encountered, the iterations ?
Benjamin Salqvist : Winter Burrow was, to many’s surprise, inspired by the zombie survival game 7 Days to Die. I was playing the game and suddenly wondered how this game would be if you were a woodland creature. That took me, and later the team, down a path that eventually led to the cozy woodland survival game that Winter Burrow is. The most difficult thing was to balance the game between the survival part, that brought some inherent things with it and the cozy part, that to some extent was challenged by the survival part. But for us we saw the tension field between the two things as a strength, since the harsh survival elements enhanced the feeling of being safe at home – in the same way as it feels more cozy to tuck under a blanket on the sofa on a cold rainy day than when it is warm and sunny outside.
PnT : You’ve mentioned in other interviews the influence of Don’t Starve, 7 Days to Die, and Mouse Guard. Are there any others graphic, literary, video game or even Danish inspirations in Winter Burrow ?
Benjamin Salqvist : One of the first books that I re-read was The Wind in the Willow, I think the atmosphere of that story was something that we wanted to bring to the game. We also looked at the animation series “Over the Garden Wall” sinces it has a great setting and story and the art style had something we wanted to borrow from.
PnT : After its release, you offered a Winter Solstice DLC. Was this a part of the game that was left out during development ? What gave you the idea ?
Benjamin Salqvist : The Winter Update was a surprise that we had planned for long before release. We thought it would be a great thing to have in the game, but it didn’t fit for the release, since we were still far from the Holiday. So to time update with Winter Solstice we added it as an update. The idea came very natural, since the game has a winter setting it was just natural to allow the players to celebrate the holiday in the game.
PnT : Do you any future projects in the studio ? Or a message for future Winter Burrow players ?
Benjamin Salqvist : We will definitely continue making game here at Pine Creek Games and we are also working on some stuff for Winter Burrow, but currently I can’t say more than that 🙂
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions !
