Mudborne is a wonderfully chilled sim about catching and breeding frogs out now

Mudborne from ellraiser / TNgineers is a wonderfully charming laid-back casual nature management sim about discovering & breeding frogs. Officially out now with Native Linux support and it's Steam Deck Verified. Note: key provided for me.

Just like their previous game APICO, it's all about nature. Instead of breeding bees this time though, you're breeding frogs and trying to restore the pond back to its former glory. It's all bit more spiritual too. You're also a frog this time, not a person, and there's even a dedicated "ribbit" key which is really sweet and makes the other litter frogs speak back to you.

Imagine if you took Stardew Valley, turned you into a frog and swapped farming for breeding other frogs and that's sort-of what to expect from it. No rushing around, you do pretty much whatever you want to get through it at your own pace. Simply lovely. A little more on the puzzle side with the frog genetics but the mechanics around it are great to keep you wanting to explore more.

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More about the developer: ellraiser is half of TNgineers, a small UK-based indie studio made of Ell (ellraiser) and their older brother Jamie (metakitkat). TNgineers’ first game, APICO, was released in 2022 and did well enough to allow Ell to start making games full-time. Ell works on development as well as the art for the games, with Jamie focusing more on writing and design.


While Jamie has been busy designing their second game, Snacktorio, Ell has been focusing on what started as a pet project - Mudborne. They wanted to take all the lessons learned from APICO into a spiritual sequel of sorts, combining elements from games they loved growing up, like Link To The Past and Dr Brain, all mashed together into one slimy baby.

When you buy this one a portion of the money made gets donated to national and international amphibian, wetlands, and environmental charities. So you've got the added feel-good factor here too.

Really nice clean design for the world, the art, the sound and the UI. Not a bad thing to say about this one. Just so thoroughly charming all the way through. Another seriously easy recommendation to go and buy.