Approaching another area choked with corruption, I start hosing it down, strafing as I clean each pebble, starfish, and barnacle. Every brilliant flash and satisfying bubble pop signals another step towards completion, and with the final blemish removed, the camera pulls back as life returns, the area now awash with colour and particles. Muri: Wildwoods’ restorative gameplay loop is built around that steady, satisfying feedback, but restoration isn’t just a mechanic; it’s the point.
Developed by Swedish indie game studio Speldosa Interactive, Muri: Wildwoods is a relaxed 3D platformer about exploring and cleansing a mysterious island beset by an encroaching corruption. You step into the boots of Pelle, a member of the titular Muri species, who looks like a cross between a mouse and an axolotl. Out on their first solo mission as a cleaner, Pelle will have to traverse the enigmatic island, washing away the life-draining blight to restore the environment, while uncovering a secret or two along the way.
The Muri: Wildwoods demo starts at the beginning of the game, opening with a hand-drawn, minimally animated cutscene of Pelle following a large bird and arriving at an island in her little seafaring vessel. Once on the beach, I’m introduced to the rest of Pelle’s team, who communicate via chat messages on the side of the screen, occasionally reacting to discoveries and giving out tips. Not far from where Pelle came ashore, I find my first patch of the spreading corruption: a large mass of murky-coloured slime.
A quick spray from my water gun shrinks the brown sludge down until it disappears with a satisfying “pop”, as well as cleaning up several crustacean-like creatures that were caught in it. Cleaning patches of corruption also releases small droplets that fly toward Pelle, though the demo doesn’t fully explain their purpose. With no resources to manage, I adjust the nozzle of my water gun for a wider spread and tackle several other clumps of corruption further into the cove.
It’s here that I see how the corruption stains objects in the environment, and even drains the surrounding area of colour, leaving it muted, cold, and lifeless. Watching the colour return when the last bit of gunk is washed away, plants that were once calcified now lush and swaying, even the ground taking on a warmer clay tone, drives this home in a beautifully rewarding way. Lastly, a large, pale vine that previously blocked the way forward retreats, neatly tying in progression.
What follows is a winding trek over the island’s rocky coastline, climbing across cliff faces, bouncing on giant mushrooms, and cleaning up any corruption that I encounter. Along the way, Pelle draws cute sketches that are then uploaded to a digital gallery, recording the discoveries and critters I find. There are even a few spots to just sit and enjoy the peaceful ambience, as the camera sits on certain close-ups or vistas, and I took every opportunity to do just that. It felt so satisfying to stop and look out over the picturesque environment I had just helped revive; my reward for a job well done.
The final section is centred around a giant shipwreck, one of several clues that somebody, possibly other Muri, had been here before. I hear a trill as I look around to see, sitting in a nest, drenched in corruption, a Squawk Bird similar to the one that led Pelle to the island. Hosing down the ship’s hull causes two oars to rise that create a path to the animal, before I head inside the vessel to find more suffering Squawk Birds.
On the way to the last bird nest, I get caught in a pool of corruption on deck, which I learn is not fatal, but only slows Pelle’s movement while a vignette appears on screen. The demo for Muri: Wildwoods has no fail states, which works perfectly with its laid-back approach to gameplay.
With the beach and its inhabitants freed from the chokehold of the corruption, another bone-coloured vine slithers back up a high cliff, revealing a climbing wall to the top – my path deeper into the island. I leap off the ship’s bow into the clear blue water below and begin climbing the cliff face, the demo finishing before I reach the top.
Though the demo only offers a small slice of the island, the core of Muri: Wildwoods already feels remarkably assured. The simple act of spraying away corruption and watching colour return never lost its appeal, thanks to the steady stream of visual and mechanical feedback that reinforces every small success. If the rest of the game builds on this feel-good rhythm, its focus on cleaning and renewal may prove to be far more compelling than its relaxed premise first suggests.
The Muri: Wildwoods demo will be available from February 27th on PC via Steam.
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