Back in 2022, Winnie The Pooh entered the public domain in the USA, meaning that any denizen of that nation can publish work featuring the OG incarnation of A.A. Milne’s honey-supping woodland bear (the UK copyright expires in 2027). At some point in the future, once the newly founded Poohlike genre has matured, we can surely expect a renaissance of Winnie derivatives, ranging from erasure Pooh-ems through josei anime interpretations to Kaufman-ass Hundred Acre existentialism. Right now, though, it’s mostly about horror, because the logical thing to do when the lawyers finally abandon a beloved children’s character is break out the chainsaws.
The movie folk have already given us Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey and its sequel, both apparently dreadful in a bad way. Now here comes Steven H. Videogames with Winnie’s Hole, out in early access today. In this roguelite from Twice Different, the nectar-chugging teddy has become a rambling cosmic abomination, and your job is to mutate his insides using tetrominoes. Oh botherlyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.
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“Capture cells to mutate and build a deck of actions to unleash in combo-driven combat,” explains the Steam page. “A genre-blending roguelite with a dark yet charming story.”
It’s a game of two halves, together forming a scissoring rictus of strategy-puzzling. On the one paw, you’ll place blocks within Winnie to create a pathway for the spreading infection, absorbing resources and unlocking mutations. On the other tentacle, you’ll wage turn-based battles against other animals who may take exception to the Cronenbergification of the Hundred Acre Wood. The battles also involve tetrominoes, each block inciting Winnie to perform an ability, providing it fits the contours of his brain.
The other animals don’t look very nice – partly, I imagine, because developers Twice Different are concerned to draw a firm line between the game and the still-copyrighted Disney animations. Look at them waving their torches and pitchforks in poor Winnie’s face. Based on the trailer, I have few qualms about melting Rabbit’s eyes with gastric fluids. Screw that guy. Remember when he tried to “unbounce” Tigger? Who’s the real monster here?
If you are the kind of Tigger who doesn’t like cosmic monsters, maybe look forward to Winnie-The-Pooh: Beyond The Hundred Acre, notable for its concussed Ico mimicry and zealous adherence to Milne’s original title punctuation. If you like cosmic monsters but find Winnie’s Hole unsubtle (well, la di da!) try out Disney adaptation Piglet’s Big Game, which was sneakily inspired by Resident Evil.
