Winter Burrow on Nintendo Switch Lite - My Review
Stumbling Across Winter Burrow
I was scrolling through YouTube the other day, looking for a cozy game playthrough to put on and I found the perfect video. Gab Smolders was playing Winter Burrow the day before release. I enjoy her videos and I was in the mood for something a little less serious, so I hit play.
The game caught my attention so much that I decided to buy it and give it a try for myself. I found it to be a bit less cozy and more survival than I was prepared for, but I was not disappointed at the price point of $18 on the Switch Lite.
In Winter Burrow, you play as a mouse returning from the big city to reclaim your family's old home, The Burrow. Guided by your Aunt Betulina, you learn to forage, craft, and survive. Along the way, you'll assist other forest folk that you meet along the way.
The main characters that provide you with quests are:
- Bufo (Frog)
- Pollywog (Bufo's "Taddler" Tadpole)
- Gnawtusk (Squirrel)
- Willow (Mole)
- Moss (Fox)
What I Liked About Winter Burrow
Aesthetic
I am a huge fan of Over The Garden Wall. While looking this game up, I saw a couple headlines that mentioned it was inspired by the show. So of course I loved the graphics and the artwork made for the cutscenes. The aesthetic of Winter Burrow is overall very relaxing and I liked the soundtrack as well.
Crafting & Controls
The crafting and cooking systems are also pretty polished, as are the controls. I didn't find the game to be clunky in any fashion. Aside from the occasional "things are too close together so I've selected the wrong item" instance, I didn't have any trouble at all playing the game on my Switch. I imagine it runs even smoother on console and PC. Winter Burrow also provides a "change selection" option when interacting for this specific reason. I'm just a dummy that prefers to reposition my character until I hit the sweet spot.
More Gameplay, Less Cutscenes
I have no solid opinion on the storyline, since I was just looking for a quick cozy game to play. That is exactly what Winter Burrow delivered. It was a pretty straightforward plot and I liked how brief the cutscenes were. It allowed me to jump right back into what I was doing after hitting major points in the game.
Cozy Survival Balance
Winter Burrow is an obvious choice for cozy players based on the name and cover art alone. It is also understood that it is a survival game in the description. I was surprised to find that these two elements are extremely well balanced. I enjoyed myself and didn't take it too seriously, but there were also times where this game presented a real challenge.
The cold is what kills your little mouse self in Winter Burrow, so you have to be most aware of how far away you are from the burrow and the time it will take you to return. Without baking pies for buffs, there is almost no point in going out at night. At night the cold bites triple hard, so your constitution dwindles so rapidly that you'll be losing health in less than two minutes.
Starvation is another factor in this game, but it was never an issue for me. There were plenty of mushrooms to eat even when I didn't have all the ingredients for fancier recipes.
How Long Is Winter Burrow?
I beat this game in about 8 hours and I was happy with what it offered for the price. 8 - 10 hours seems to be the common playthrough time for most people from what I see online.
Once you finish Winter Burrow, it offers the option to continue playing so you can do all the extras when it comes to more cozy fun and crafting. However, once you finish the main story, that is all there is to do. I found that to be a bit disappointing even though I did get my money's worth. So starting there, let's move on to what I didn't care for.
What I Disliked About Winter Burrow
Lack of Continuation Value
As I stated before, once you finish the main storyline of Winter Burrow, there is no point in continuing the game beyond gathering, crafting, and cooking. Some players may want to play forth in order to build all the furniture blueprints they have unlocked through quests, but I just didn't see the point. Mainly because of my second issue with the game.
Burrow Size
Throughout the game you do unlock new sections of the burrow, including an upstairs and a basement. However, even with these two areas unlocked, there is not enough room to place even half of the furniture that you can build. Since there are different sets that correspond to the materials you can gather, I assume the developers imagined players would pick their favorite set and store the others in their twig chest.
Lots of Back and Forth
While Winter Burrow does offer the perfect cozy survival experience, it is very repetitive. The questlines, no matter who they are from, are very "go gather this and come back" over and over again. When you are fighting for your life in the cold and having to constantly return to your burrow or burn through kindling to stay warm, this can become frustrating.
Players will also be fighting for their life when it comes to inventory space in this game. I enjoyed the challenge of managing inventory, but I can see how this could be a nightmare for a lot of players until they are able to craft the larger backpacks.
You may not be freezing or hungry, but you'll still have to go all the way back to the damn burrow to store items before returning all the way back to the quest area to gather what's necessary. It is either that or drop items. Another thing I loved about Winter Burrow is that the dropped items never disappear, so keep that in mind when deciding whether to return or keep exploring.
No Map
Okay, this was a love-hate thing for me, but I decided that it is more of an inconvenience than the challenge was worth. From the very beginning of Winter Burrow it becomes obvious that you will need to pay very close attention to your surroundings so that you know where you are at. Otherwise, you won't be able to find your way back home in time and you could die.
The game does not supply a map of any kind. I would have preferred one that filled in as I explored various areas, as most games do. I spent a lot of my time trying to guess where I had already been, as well as wasting time trying to find the next area because I didn't know where my borders were at. There were also some very stressful moments where I wasn't sure if I could find the path back to the burrow before I would freeze to death.
It's all part of the challenge I suppose, but I find it very hard to imagine a mouse that can build furniture and wear fucking clothes can't fashion up some sort of navigation system.
My Best Winter Burrow Tips
Cook For Cold Resistance
From almost the very beginning of the game, Winter Burrow players have access to recipes that don't just refill your warmth meter, but actually give you cold resistance for a set period of time. If I had taken more advantage of this in the beginning, I would have made a lot less trips back to the burrow while exploring.
Craft Campfire Kits
This is yet another thing I should have taken the time to do early in Winter Burrow, but I was racing to see how far I could progress. If I could go back, I would have taken my cozy little time and gathered up a massive amount of material to craft campfire kits once I was able to make them.
This will allow you to make a fire pit in each area of the forest if you want to. Then, as long as you are also carrying kindling, you can light a fire and warm up without returning to the burrow. This, too, would have saved me a ton of trips going back and forth.
It also would have kept me from being in constant fear of my life once I was more than a couple of areas away from the burrow.
Take Your Time
As I said, if I could go back I would have done things a bit differently and the experience of Winter Burrow would have been a bit more cozy and a lot less survival. I was trying to unlock crafting recipes for the best gear, when I should have been taking my time setting myself up to be able to venture far and wide comfortably, especially with the campfire kits.
This game is all about the journey. The destination is abrupt and will leave you feeling unsatisfied if you don't use your time playing to take it all in and set yourself up with campfire sites and blueberry pies.
Hit The Spiderwebs to Gather Silk
My Winter Burrow Recommendation
I liked Winter Burrow a lot.
8/10 solid cozy experience.
I wish I would have taken it slower. I may still return to the game to finish setting my campfires and crafting furniture. While I don’t see much point in it, it is a cozy, stress-relieving game. It is cute and fun.
For the $20-ish dollar price point, it is totally worth it. If it had been $30, I may have been a little pissed due to the lack end-game replay/continuation value.
Image Source: Pinterest
