EXCLUSIVE - Pine Creek Games on Winter Burrow’s literary influences, cozy vibes and the road to launch
Set phasers to wholesome.
By Jonathan Garrett
21/10/25
Interview with Benjamin Salqvist (CEO & Creative Director, Pine Creek Games)
Winter Burrow is precisely the antidote needed in a season typically defined by bombastic action. It’s pitched as a survival game attempting to walk a challenging tightrope of being both accessible and challenging. The cozy vibes and deliberate pacing offer a welcome alternative to the spectacle inherent with this time of year, and is perfectly positioned to carve itself a welcome corner of the indie space.
We had the opportunity to pick the brains of Benjamin Salqvist, Pine Creek Games CEO and Creative Director, about the stories that served to influence this new IP, and what lies ahead as we rapidly approach its launch on 12th November 2025 across PC, Switch, and Xbox (including a Day 1 drop into Game Pass).
The visual aesthetic of Winter Burrow evokes classic children's literature like "Wind in the Willows", or "The Snowman" by Raymond Briggs. What was the inspiration behind your choice of graphical style?
One of the first sources of inspiration was actually The Wind in the Willows and that took us through a lot of illustrations made for that book by different artists, all of them adding something special. But I think my favorite is Robert Ingpen with all the nice details when they are at home with the main characters.
That led us into looking at other book illustrations and after a few tests we went with the strong black ink outline and simple color surfaces. We felt that it supported the harsh setting of the game and that it gave this atmosphere with a legacy from fairytale and adventure books.
It has previously been described as a "cozy" survival game. How do you strike a balance between maintaining the jolly vibes whilst also challenging players?
We think that it will be a constant balance to juggle. For us the main purpose is that the two elements enhance each other. So the cozy burrow feels much more comforting when you arrive home from a harsh and cold wilderness, and the harsh wilderness feels more intimidating and real seen in the contrast of the cozy burrow.
To maintain a balance, we try to make it optional to face danger and we have also made the game more forgiving, so that you don't lose all your progress when you die.
But if you want, you can still push your expeditions to the edge and stay outside longer (though you are freezing) and by fighting all the hostile creatures.
That chair looks ready for me to nap.
Does Winter Burrow have any potential to be adapted to other media i.e. a tie in novel, comic book, animated series etc...
We definitely think that. We try to create a game world that seems full and deep and that means that it is always fairly straight forward to imagine spinoff media creations. I would definitely love to see that if it ever becomes possible.
The world seems perfectly suited to additional regions and expansions over time. With the November launch just around the corner, have there been any early conceptual discussions around DLC? Or is it full steam ahead on the 1.0 release?
During the process of working on the game, the flow of ideas for locations, features and characters was so easy and natural that we pretty early on knew that we would want to make updates and expansions to the game. Now that we are busy finishing the game, those talks have been on pause, but we hope to pick them up soon. What, where, when and how is still something I can't tell.
Are there any secret Tribbles from Star Trek: The Original Series hidden in the burrow?
Haha, yeah, we didn't want any "Trouble with Tribbles", so we didn't dare to hide any. But now that you ask I feel compelled to take the chance.
A huge thank you to Benjamin Salqvist and the team at Pine Creek Games.
Winter Burrow launches on PC, Switch, Xbox, and Xbox Game Pass on 12th November 2025. You can wishlist on Steam right here.
This game has a mouse with an axe. I’m all in.
TARPS?
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