Interview: Lonesome Village mixes together puzzle solving and social simulation

Lonesome Village will bring us a puzzle-solving life sim about the adventures of Wes the coyote as he works to rebuild and restore the village while also setting out to explore a magical, puzzle-filled tower. Lonesome Village sounds as though it ticks a lot of boxes, so we reached out to developer Ogre Pixel to learn more.

Update: We now have a release date for Lonesome Village, and there's not long to wait! The game comes out next week, so we thought we'd bring up this Spotlight interview so you can take a read through and catch up on what to expect when Lonesome Village arrives.

Original story: Lonesome Village combines together puzzle-solving, adventure, and social simulation elements. It looks like a real treat, so we reached out to developer Ogre Pixel to find out more, with Ogre Pixel's Steve Duran and Sarah Farga having been kind enough to answer our questions.

What is Lonesome Village?

Lonesome Village is a gorgeous puzzling adventure combined with social simulation elements. It’s in development from, and published by, Ogre Pixel.

When does Lonesome Village launch?

We now have a release date for Lonesome Village — it's out next week on November 1st!

Lonesome Village had a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign, with MX$2,149,219 raised of its MX$420,000 goal. “The experience was amazing,” Duran and Farga say. “We were fortunate that many people liked our project and we managed to exceed the goal by 500% thanks to the support of more than 3,500 people.”

What’s it about?

In Lonesome Village, we play as Wes the coyote, and strive to help rebuild a town that has been mysteriously obliterated. “Lonesome Village is a fantastic story in which the main objective is to help the village and discover the origin of Wes, which is why the gameplay focuses on these two aspects: puzzle solving inside the tower to free the villagers and social simulation where you will interact and befriend them after you rescue them,” explains Duran and Farga explain. Over on the game’s Kickstarter page, we learn a little more: hundreds of years before Lonesome Village, there was the town of Ubhora, which mysteriously disappeared. This disappearance was thought to be a result of The Cult: wizards who “wanted to control the world by summoning dark and unknown powers, which ended up destroying them and causing the town's disappearance.” Lonesome Village was built where Ubhora had been, and people flocked to live there. “Everything was well in Lonesome,” we’re told, “until a mysterious giant tower arose from the ground once again, and the people of Lonesome soon discovered that the village wanted to remain alone… “

How does Lonesome Village play?

Lonesome Village drew inspiration from Zelda games and Animal Crossing, so as Duran and Farga pointed out, there are two main aspects: the puzzle solving, and the social simulation. “The original idea was to do something that could complement and justify each other well,” they explain, “so we believe that the formula of freeing villagers by solving puzzles and then interacting with them is something that mixes both concepts very well.” You’ll travel up that mysterious tower, going from dungeon to dungeon, saving villagers from the tower and, in your time off, customising your home in Lonesome Village — along with other laid-back activities. Players will “find social simulation and missions to befriend the villagers you just saved. You can also do other relaxing activities like fishing, crafting, home decorating, mine, dress up and explore. All with some sweet music that soon will be upgraded to orchestra music we recorded a few weeks ago,” they add. “Wes will be able to decorate his own house with a wide variety of items that he can collect and obtain from the villagers. We want the player to run their imagination wild and be inspired to create a home for Wes so he can leave his tent behind and live in the village,” Duran and Farga conclude.

So, you’ll be exploring, gardening, fishing, mining, and more, all while you build friendships with the villagers you’ve saved from the tower. Interacting with them will open up more opportunities for things like secondary assignments and trading. Lonesome Village will also feature a day and night cycle, with some characters only to be found at night. Out of all this, we wondered what the Ogre Pixel team was most excited for players to experience. “That they get attached to the characters and the story, and find the puzzles fun and challenging,” Duran and Farga reply. “We are giving a fantasy story full of great moments in which you can see that friendship and helping others is something very great, so we want the player to experience that.”

What’s the world like?

“There is a very big world to explore full of secrets and details,” explain Duran and Farga. “There is always something hidden, something to discover and side quests everywhere.” Lonesome Village features a lovely cartoonish art style that adds a real sense of character. “It was the first thing that we worked on, a cartoonish style was established but at the same time we wanted to add a mixture of mysterious vibes with lights and shadows in a colorful setting,” they add. “Characters full of personality are also key to the atmosphere.”

Any news on Lonesome Village achievements?

We now have the Lonesome Village achievements. During our interview, Duran and Farga told us more about their design process. “We want the player to feel satisfaction when solving a puzzle,” they say, “so with that the achievement is not a virtual trophy but an immediate reaction of the game for your action: a new sidequest, mission or level in the tower.”

What do you think? Will you be picking up Lonesome Village on day one? Let us know in the comments!

More Lonesome Village stories:

Interview Xbox One

Written by Heidi Nicholas

Heidi tends to lean towards indie games, RPGs, and open-world games on Xbox, and when not playing Disney Dreamlight Valley, happily installs every new wholesome game that appears on Xbox Game Pass, before diving back into favorites like The Witcher 3. She's looking forward to Age of Mythology Retold, Everwild, Fable, and Avowed on the Xbox horizon. Heidi graduated with an MA in English Literature before joining the TrueAchievements team.