Wooden Nickel banking on 2020 release

Written by Jack Allin — August 29, 2019 at 10:22

For their last adventure, the indie husband and wife developers at Brain&Brain created an interactive Scandinavian folklore called Burly Men at Sea. Their next game, however, will take place much farther west on much drier land when Wooden Nickel is released next year. 

This "frontier adventure" set in 1895 stars a stranger from "the far reaches of the east coast," who arrives by train in the "great, remorseless Old West" and is forced to wait for a week in a "tiny, hard-luck town" before he can continue his journey. Making the best of this delay, he is "resolved to try his fortune in those inhospitable lands" and soon finds himself "increasingly drawn into the curiosities of the local newspaper and, through it, the people of this land of dust and ambition."

As with Burly Men at Sea and Doggins before that, the keyboard- or gamepad-controlled Wooden Nickel features a charming minimalist pastel art design. Rather than solving traditional puzzles, players are encouraged to "embrace curiosity" as you "step inside the articles and advertisements of a colorful Old West newspaper that responds to your part in its story." As you live out these playable vignettes, you will "uncover an increasingly interconnected set of mysteries, absurdities, and unexpected friendships—or hostilities." Along the way, the choices you make will help shape the outcome, and when the week passes and "your train pulls away, you can't help but wonder what other paths you might've taken."

The developers aren't yet ready to reveal their launch target, but Wooden Nickel is expected to be released on Windows, Mac and mobile devices, with a console version possible as well. To follow its progress in the meantime, be sure to drop by the official website to learn more.