Of Mice and Vermin

One of my favorite series of books as a kid was the Redwall series by Brian Jacques. I haven't read them all, but I still have a healthy collection at home. I loved reading about the adventures animals who fought against tyranny so that they and their various friends could live in peace. Looking back on it, Redwall Abbey may be one of earliest things that taught me to be inclusive and tolerant of everyone.

While there have been one or two attempts to bring Redwall to life on TV, there really haven't been any attempts to create that world in a video game. However, there are a number of games that very much have the Redwall flavor. Here are just a few.

Ghost of a Tale

While still in development, this game seems to perfectly capture so many parts of various Redwall stories. A timid mouse uses his wits to avoid the savage rats and achieve success in some goal. While some characters from Redwall like Martin the Warrior may actually engage the rat hordes in battle, many other characters would take this route. Redwall doesn't generally have any non-mammal characters, so the scorpion takes me out of that immersion a bit. However, this game looks drop-dead gorgeous, and I can't wait to play it. No official timeframe as of now, but a beta may be coming this summer. I highly recommend visiting the official site for more details.

Armello

This one is essentially Redwall meets Civilization, Settlers of Catan or Disciples. Complete with beautifully animated cutscenes, this one got my attention very quickly. As you can see on the official site, Kotaku called this "Game of Thrones, only with animals." Though not normally described in great detail in the Redwall books (such details were relegated to the awesome feasts), there was certainly some bloodshed from time to time. Armello seems to crank that up higher, and includes a wider range of animals, including more carnivores like bears and lions. Sadly, I have not yet played it, but it is on my wishlist and I hope it will be on yours now, too.

Overgrowth

While this is a bit more on the action side of thing, Overgrowth still features badass animals. This is actually a spiritual successor to the developer's previous title Lugaru, which seems to have played very similarly. This game has a major focus on fast and visceral combat. The graphics may not exactly blow anyone away at this point, but it is still in early access and can always improve before full release. According to the Steam page, there is no campaign in place just yet, but this still gives me a Long Patrol sense regardless. Below is the most recent update video that shows off some gameplay with commentary from the developer.

Mice and Mystics

Okay, I'm cheating a bit here since this isn't a video game, and the player characters are people who have been transformed into mice. However, the moment I saw this game on my local game store's shelf, I immediately thought about Redwall and knew I would need to play it. In this game, players take on the role of soldiers who have been turned into mice by a curse. They need to navigate the dangers of the castle to remove the curse and protect their princess. A single game takes place across various scenarios across a number of different small game boards. This is very much a simplified Dungeons and Dragons using rodents and insects rather than the normal stable of monsters. If nothing else, this game scores points as a possibly entry point into more complex RPGs for younger players. Take a look at the official site for more details. Check out the Tabletop episode on this game below (it's a two parter, so make sure to watch both!) to get a taste.