Ahead of Whiskerwood’s planned launch later this year, we’ve had the chance to go hands-on with a preview build of the city builder that’s all about mice trying to thrive under the rule of cat overlords.
On top of being a traditional city builder, Hooded Horse and Minakata Dynamics’ game also doubles down on the colony simulation elements that have created a distinct genre with legions of diehard players over the years. However, how can it stand out beyond its worldbuilding and the promise of toying with the ages-old mice vs. cats conflict? Scroll down to learn what we think after our hands-on time and find everything we know so far about Whiskerwood.
Whiskerwood Release Date
Publisher Hooded Horse and developer Minakata Dynamics haven’t confirmed a definitive release date for Whiskerwood yet. We know, however, it’ll be arriving in November 2025, so we just need a day to mark on the calendar now.
- Whiskerwood release window: November 2025
Whiskerwood Hands-On Preview
We’re facing no shortage (quite the opposite) of city builders and colony sims at the moment. From well-established early access sensations like Timberborn — another game about furry industrious townsfolk — to more conveyor belt-oriented new arrivals with a sci-fi twist such as Dawn Apart, strategy game enjoyers who love to optimize production queues and expand large-scale operations across massive maps are well fed.
Therefore, what does Whiskerwood aim to do in order to make a name for itself as it targets a lengthy early access period? If our first contact with Minakata Dynamics’ charming and sim-heavy town builder is any indication, the secret to its success might be the clarity of its user interface and a well-structured loop of objectives… plus the undeniable cuteness of those little denizens of the colonized isles.
The premise is simple: Cats are the rulers of this world, with an empire that extends across the seas. Not even the most distant bits of land which mice (Whiskers) can find are fully free from their influence. Thus, you, as the leader of a new colony of mice, are burdened with paying the increasingly high taxes and, by and large, playing nice with the feline oppressors, all while trying to give the Whiskers a brighter future.
In the early stages (the selection of buildings and scenarios is limited in the preview build we’ve played), Whiskerwood plays things safe and familiar. You set up a trading dock, a bunch of houses, a woodcutter hut… The usual. Every few days, feline representatives (and sometimes pirates) come aboard a ship asking for resources and tribute. It’s a brisk and engaging loop which, so far, lacks any dull moments (a recurring annoyance in far too many colony sims). Building, planning, and fulfilling the quotas aren’t grueling/unfun processes.
On the Default difficulty (we could choose to go with Peaceful or Hard at this point too), the harshness of the cats’ demands feel bearable. Mind you, with no access to more advanced buildings and systems like pollution entirely out of the picture, we can only guess things will get more hectic as players try to balance things out like in most town/city sims while also saving resources for the greedy felines. Regardless, with a breezy day/night cycle, easy-to-follow quests and side quests, and a citizen AI that seems to work quite well, Whiskerwood has put its best foot forward.
The overall polish also feels remarkable given the fact we’re still roughly two months away from the (early access) launch; yet another sign that Hooded Horse is paying special attention to the state in which its games hit the storefronts. In fact, the preview build we’ve had access to (and probably the public demo too) performs well even on Steam Deck as long as you’re fine with Medium settings and capping at 30 FPS.
Whiskerwood Gameplay
Whiskerwood presents itself as an old-school city builder, yet it leans very heavily on colony sim elements despite, so far, not reaching the complexity of the genre’s greats. As of right now, it’s hard to say for sure whether it’ll focus on expanding its traditional city/town sim DNA or give ‘productivity lovers’ even more toys to tinker with and resources to extract.
As the leader of a new town of mice, you can plop down building blueprints that will be constructed as soon as the needed resources and workers are available. You can set high and low priorities for activities, but as usual in colony sims, the colonists have minds of their own. Treat them as well as they deserve and they’ll perform better. Fail to give them enough food or shelter (for example), and they’ll be slower at most of their tasks.
Every day, ships arrive at the dock, offering bundles of useful resources and new Whiskers who want to join the community. Be warned: The bigger those gifts are, the more taxes you’ll have to pay when the cats arrive. Likewise, more mice means more housing and food requirements. While simple to control and not overly complicated when its mechanics and systems begin to stack up, Whiskerwood isn’t a frictionless game, and good decisions and even better planning are required to thrive and keep the line going up.
We’re also hoping for the chance to rebel at some point of the late game, but neither the publisher nor the developer have shared details on that phase of the scenarios yet.
Whiskerwood Price and Platforms
Whiskerwood is, for now, a PC exclusive and will launch into early access via Steam, GOG, and Epic Games Store. There are no comments regarding the price tag of the game during the early access period, but rest assured, we’ll be keeping this page fresh with the latest news.
Meanwhile, players can play a public demo that’s similar to the preview build we’ve checked out.
Whiskerwood Trailers
Two Whiskerwood trailers have been released so far, each giving strategy veterans and newcomers alike a taste of what to expect from this ambitious city builder and colonization sim beyond the basic premise of a feline ruling class making life hard for the mice we control.
Back in July 2024, the game was revealed with a generous ‘announce trailer’ full of gameplay:
Almost a year later, in June 2025, Hooded Horse revealed how the game had changed over 11 months and told those who are interested to wishlist it. This trailer was short but charming all the same. Watch it here:
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