The Moomin universe is coming to Nintendo Switch in the form of Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley. a game heavily inspired by Tove Jansson’s (1914-2001) original work that has been captivating many parts of the world since her first book in 1945. While this beloved world has crossed over to many other forms of media through the years, this will be its first foray into the video game world. 

On February 28, 2024, I had an opportunity to sit down with many of the Hyper Games development team to learn more about the game and its background.

They shared how they spent a lot of time with the licensing team behind the Moomin universe not only to make sure it had the look and feel fans expect, but they also wanted to honor the material and original artist as well. This led them to only exclusively use characters from the original universe. And while they needed to create a new story for this game, there are certainly nods to the original works for eagle-eyed fans. Some of the roles, like the Park Ranger, were even expanded for this particular story.

Through these conversations, they wanted to create an adventure game, but they also knew they could not include combat. Instead, they decided to use instruments to solve problems and puzzles within the game, which they think fits Snufkin’s personality. This also allowed the game to be playable by gamers of all ages. They made it clear this is not a children’s game, but it is a game children can enjoy right alongside adults. 

The soundtrack was also incredibly important to the team. They connected with the band Sigur Rós right away to record the music, and they got their composer involved at the very beginning of the project, which is rare. This allowed them to create a very organic and ambient soundtrack that speaks to the Nordic and Norwegian background but also the natural music style that Snufkin, himself, would appreciate. On top of that, much of the development team were featured as voices for in-game characters. 

Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley launches on Nintendo Switch on March 7, 2024, and contains roughly 6-8 hours of play. We’ll also be covering the game more on our YouTube channel, so be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it.

Odd as it sounds, part of me misses those old licensed games. Everyone who came up in games journalism in the early 2000s will have been given some of these things to review, and it was always a fascinating challenge. I remember a former editor of Eurogamer telling me that the first game they ever put a score on was The Golden Compass, the spin-off game for the wonky big-budget adaptation of His Dark Materials. Now I think about it, my first review was Miami Vice for the PSP. Better than The Golden Compass, at least. Actually, it was quite good?

That was the thing. Sometimes these games were quite good. Sometimes they were more than quite good. But there was always a sense around my friends who took video games really seriously that licensed games were not worth messing with. Over the years I kept a fond eye on them, though. I have pleasant memories of a Hey Arnold! GBA game, and then there was the developer who once told me that licensed games occupied a role that sounds a bit like the role occupied by the church in medieval painting: providing a nice commission where you could work out some of your own interests while crowbarring in what the patron wanted. So maybe you used a film license to nail rain animation for your own non-licensed game. Raphael would be proud.

Things are different now, though, and that rambly introduction brings me to our game of the week: Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley. Somehow, I played this simultaneously aware that it was a game about Moomins, but unaware, really, that it was a licensed game. I knew that the Moomins were a thing, I just didn't think of that thing as being a license.

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You can't throw a rock in Brighton without hitting a moomin. There are boutiques and galleries devoted to them. They're on our teacups and our beach towels. They're on plant pots by our windows and on the rough-papered covers of fancy Tove Jansson reprints stocking our libraries. It's not surprising that they've made it to video games, but it is surprising - to a moomin outsider, at least - to discover that the sort of thing that middle-class Southern idiots like me lap up so readily has a little bite to it. Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley, a musical stealthy exploration game, is the best kind of surprise.

What kind of bite does the world of the moomins bring? Yesterday, I was wandering along in Moonminvalley taking Snufkin, the series' pipe-smoking philosopher, for a bit of a stroll. Beyond the rocks and trees we spied a carefully laid-out park, the shrubs suddenly cut into polite shapes, the desire paths we'd followed through scrub and long grass replaced with neat little paving slabs riddled between polite lawns. Trees suddenly had low fences around their bases. There were fences around everything, in fact, and patrolling police officers, too, or people who looked very much like it. Park officers!

This called for stealth - for muddling out patrol routes, avoiding visibility cones and sneaking from A to B. But it also called for a series of set-piece moments in which Snufkin reached a sign of some kind - a sign telling people not to loiter, or step off the path, or whatever else it is that signs tell people not to do. Whenever Snufkin reached one of these signs, he pulled them out of the ground. And once he got them all, there was a fabulous cut-scene that showed Snufkin trashing the park in general, wiping it off the surface of Mooninvalley, and returning the whole thing to a place of messy, freeform nature. What a brilliant goal for a game such as this.

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Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley, the lovely looking musical adventure based on Tove Jansson's classic series of children's stories, finally has a released date and will be launching for Switch and PC via Steam on Tuesday, 7th March.

Melody of Moominvalley sees players slipping into the oversized green hat of the wanderer Snufkin, as he harnesses the power of music - and his trusty harmonica - to restore nature after the Park Keeper and his minions build hideous parks all over Moominvalley.

"As Snufkin you will distract police officers, pull out signs, and knock over misplaced statues," explains Norweigian developer Hyper Games, "as you vigorously try to restore nature and the inhabitants' home while putting an end to the industrious Park Keeper's plans."

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Yesterday's Nintendo Direct got rather overshadowed by a certain trailer for Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree, but there were still plenty of good news nuggets to be had in there for us PC folks - which I've summarised for you below. The long and short of it is: more release dates! Loads of 'em! And they're all coming in the first half of 2024 as well. I love it when a schedule comes together.

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