Mudborne Lets Players Build Their Own Beautiful Frog Oasis

You had me at frog. 

World Frog Day just passed on March 20th and that means so did the launch day for developer ellraiser and TNgineers’ casual frog management sim, Mudborne. In Mudborne, you play as an intelligent little frog whose goal it is to restore his abandoned pond to its former glory. 

I’ve only been able to play a couple hours of Mudborne so far, but I’ve already managed to do so much in that time. When you first begin, you’ll complete simple quests like gathering bugs and creating mushroom farms all for the purpose of breeding frogs and bringing your pond back to the thriving environment that it once was. Things can feel a little overwhelming at first, but the handy quest system kept me from getting lost. 

You’re provided with a handful of tools at the start, an axe, a bug net etc. and you’ll need to use all of these to help with gathering materials. All of the materials that you need to complete each quest are easily accessible and nearby, but you’re welcome to wander off at any time and explore the pond. There are many mysterious buildings and pathways for you to discover as you explore, many of which will come into play later as the story pieces itself together. 

The more you progress in the game, the more complicated things get. At first, your goal is to catch two frogs, gather their frogspawn to create tadpoles and then watch those tadpoles grow up into new frogs. But that only scratches the surface of what you can do with your growing population. Later on, you can genetically modify frogs to create even more new species. It’s not long before your pond is brimming with a whole host of beautiful amphibians. 

But Mudborne isn’t just about making new frogs, it’s also about making new friends. The more you play, the more characters you’ll meet that offer unique insights into the game’s overall story and sometimes offer items to purchase or general game tips. It’s incredibly worth it to explore as much as you can and see how many secrets there are to find hidden beneath the lily pads.

Mudborne is such a fun game that I hope to spend more time with soon. I love playing not only as a frog that can run around eating bugs, but as a frog that can chase other frogs around and help create more for my sweet little pond. When I get the chance to really get stuck in, I can’t wait to see just how much more there is to offer in a game boasting about 20-30 hours of gameplay.

You can pick up Mudborne now on PC.

Note: A portion of the money made for Mudborne will be donated towards national and international amphibian, wetlands and environmental charities. You can learn more about it here.