When it comes to city builders, there have been many iterations on the genre, but Whiskerwood, whose announcement trailer dropped today, is easily distinct. For one thing, the player’s citizens are mice, and the player is a cat, the ruler of this new town established on the coast of the titular Whiskerwood. The trailer has a distinctly working class message as it places the watching audience in the same vein as the mice workers: “[taking the Whiskerwood for [their] feline overlords,” and “toil away under their oppressive paw.” However, the player is a cat and, based on the trailer, is most likely one of those feline overlords.
As Claw (the faction name of said overlords) manager of this colony of Whiskers (the player’s mice based workforce), the player is tasked with strategically planning out the development of the colony to fulfill the requests of the Claws back home, and the needs of the workforce that the player is running. In an interview with PC Gamer, developers have commented that the game is “a sandbox where players can define their own goals,” as they attempt to navigate the desires of their boss back home, and the workers right in front of them.
Besides that there are different tech trees that can be progressed to gain access to newer technologies like steam engines. As tech improves colonies may begin to look more modern or elaborate as mines dig deeper and buildings scale higher. And players will not be alone in the new world with pirates, and other rodent factions serving as obstacles. Whether any of these groups are indigenous to the land is not mentioned in the interview, and if they are, I’m unsure if it is a conversation the game is prepared to manage.
Civilization simulators like the Civilization franchise or the Europa Universalis Series both give players the freedom to explore the multiple different modes of progression that history has taken, good and bad. That freedom is a defining core of the genre, as players explore the different decisions and their consequences in a controlled environment, and the ways in which often selfish decisions can benefit one’s position at the cost of another. I’m not making a case that these games teach moral themes, but that they instead let players have the freedom to explore most historical options. How players choose to play is up to them. Will you side with the feline bourgeoisie or the proletariat of mice in front of you? A decision any player will have to make in Whiskerwood, available for wishlist now on Steam.