I’ll be frank – the Moomin series is one that, while I’m familiar with, never took much hold in the United States. Or at least amongst anyone I knew. But that being said, there are many of you out there with a staunch love for Tove Jansson’s Moomin series. From the 1940’s until the modern age, Moomin and his friends and family have been a part of many upbringings. It only stands to reason that this beloved series has also made its way into the realm of video games. And the newest entry in that pantheon of games is Moomin: Midsummer Madness.

Moomin: Midsummer Madness is slated for a November 12th launch from Crossbridge Games Studios, in conjunction with publishing by Shochiku. It is also the seventh video game adaptation of this Finnish franchise. The first title – The Moomins and the Hobgoblin’s Hat (Muumit ja Taikurin hattu), which was a PC game released in 1997.

While I may not be as well-versed in the Moomin universe, I am well-versed in point-and-click puzzle games. That is what we are presented with in Moomin: Midsummer Madness. And as Gamer Social Club was able to get our little paws on an early access copy, you know that I had to toss my hat in the ring to try it out.

With that being said, let’s journey to Moominvalley to celebrate Midsummer with Moomintroll and friends!

The World & The Story

The World

The entirety of Moomin: Midsummer Madness takes place, as you can well imagine, in Moominvalley. A land of green slopes, rivers, various flora and fauna, and a relaxed pace of life. A land that is, unfortunately, still a land that is no stranger to natural disasters like floods and volcanoes (much like other areas of Scandinavia).

I’ll be honest – in writing up my review, I did not realize just how expansive the Moomin rabbit hole of world-building went. And it stands to reason – the franchise has been around for nearly…80 years at this point! Maps, various races, and locations – they all exist in Moominvalley.

It’s honestly very endearing and makes me want to look more into the world of Moomin.

The Story

The game’s story is actually heavily inspired by one of Jansson’s novels, Moominsummer Madness. Keeping in mind that, at the end of the day, Moomin is a children’s book series, the plot is pretty straightforward.

While preparing in earnest to celebrate Midsummer, a great flood sweeps through Moominvalley and sets Moomintroll’s family home adrift. Moomintroll, along with Little My (a Mymble), must explore various areas of both the Moomin family home and an old theatre that has also been set adrift in the flood.

As it goes without saying, the story might be a little roundabout, but it ends happily for Moomintroll and his friends and family.

The Gameplay

Moomin: Midsummer Madness is, as I mentioned earlier, a point-and-click puzzle game with a smattering of small minigames throughout. If you have played one point-and-click puzzle game, you have played many. Use the various items that you have to interact with the environment around you, as well as combining some of the items into new and useful forms to meet your current needs.

Find yourself getting stuck? There’s a helpful little magnifying glass in the upper-right on your screen during the game that can at least point you in the right direction of what you need to do. But the nice thing – it won’t outright give you the answer. You’ll still need to earn it!

Mini-Games

Moomin: Midsummer Madness, outside of the point-and-click puzzles, will also offer a pretty expansive variety of mini-games to progress the story. Each of them (which I love) offer their own unique mechanics and are not just copy-paste jobs from prior in-game puzzles.

And if you find yourself getting stuck on one of the mini-games (I know the last portion of the maze one above stumped me), then you can skip past the mini-game. No penalties, no nothing – just progress the story!

And that’s all there is to it when it comes to gameplay. Moomin: Midsummer Madness is on the shorter side – I ran credits at about 4.5 hours. But I’ll say – I enjoyed it, and it didn’t overstay its welcome!

The Good

Charming Art Style

Moomin: Midsummer Madness stays true to the original aesthetic and design of the novels and I absolutely adore them. It’s cozy, simple, and chooses the right moments to “wow” you with an abundance of design.

Accessible, Yet Challenging Puzzles

The one piece that I did love about this game was that the puzzles presented were completely accessible…but also made you think. I have played other point-and-click puzzle games, and it’s very much been “Item A goes into Slot A” style of “puzzle”. Moomin: Midsummer Madness will only allow that when some other conditions have been met. Maybe Item A needed to be fused with Item B? Maybe Slot A needed to be provided with Item C to allow for Item A to actually work?

Yes, I did get stumped a few times. But after walking away and relooking at the “puzzle”, I was able to find my way to a solution. And that, I think, is the mark of a good puzzle game.

Hint System & Skip Options

As I said, I like a good challenge in a puzzle. However, I don’t want my brain being dumb to be the one reason that I cannot finish what might be an amazing game. Moomin: Midsummer Madness strikes a perfect balance of allowing for hints and skipping mini-games where it will give you the option…but it’s ultimately on you to pull that proverbial “trigger”.

An Endearing & Heart-Warming Story

Moomintroll makes me want to be a better troll. I mean, person. He’s so stupidly optimistic that you can’t help rooting for him, and in this day and age, sometimes that positivity is a nice thing to have when you’re unwinding after a hard day.

The Bad

Price Point to Gameplay Length

I honestly…don’t have a lot of bad things to say about Moomin: Midsummer Madness. But I wouldn’t be exercising my due diligence as a reviewer if I didn’t speak about the price point.

Moomin: Midsummer Madness will launch at the same price point on both PC (Steam) and Nintendo Switch 1/Switch 2 for $19.99 / €19.50. If you boil that down, it’s roughly $/€4-5 per hour of gameplay (depending on your speed). Is that a steep price to ask? I don’t know. For me, it isn’t. But also, I know that everyone has varying levels of income that you can put towards non-essential expenses. For some, roughly $20 is not a big ask. For others, that may be a harder decision.

Again, this isn’t to poopoo the price – it’s more to pose the question “What is the value you see in this?”

The Overall

I mentioned this previously, and I will say it again – Moomin: Midsummer Madness has opened my eyes to a new world of the Moomins that…I didn’t realize I needed. The stories are endearing and heartwarming. The characters are very human at the end of the day (despite none of them actually being human). And the puzzles in this title are not going to break your brain, but they will test your skill to some extent. If you’re new to the Moomin universe, I’d recommend it, if not for getting a glimpse into the world, but just for a good puzzle game. If you’re a Moomin OG, then I don’t need to sell you on this game.

Moomin: Midsummer Madness is slated for release on November 12th on PC and Nintendo Switch 1/Switch 2.

Gamer Social Club was provided an early-access code for the purposes of this review. This review was played on PC (Steam).