Press Kit
▧ Factsheet
Title
NUTS
Developer
Joon, Pol, Muuutsch, Char & Torfi
Location
Reykjavik, Montreal, Berlin & Copenhagen
Incorporated in Reykjavik, Iceland
Website
Contact
Release date
Feb 4, 2021
Jan 22, 2021 (Apple Arcade)
Jan 22, 2021 (Apple Arcade)
Price
$19.99
Platforms
Languages
Arabic, Brazilian-Portuguese, Chinese (Simplified, Traditional), Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean,Russian, Spanish, Turkish
Publisher
Switch porting
PR & Marketing
▧ Team Info
Core team:Design & Development
Art
Sound
Writing
Level Design
Additional support
Marín Björt Valtýsdóttir
Freya Holmer
Kalonica Quigley
Ronja Böhringer
Freya Holmer
Kalonica Quigley
Ronja Böhringer
Twitter
Developer bio:
NUTS is made by a small, remote team of experienced indies. The code is made in Reykjavik, the trees are planted in Montreal, the books are written in Copenhagen and the foley is recorded in Berlin.
NUTS, an adventure in squirrel surveillance
Description:
Gear up your caravan, spread out your map and head for the depths of Melmoth Forest, where you’ll track the movements of native squirrels.
Where do they go? What do they do? And why is it that they behave so strangely? Explore the forest. Record the squirrels. Report your findings… and uncover the secret at the very heart of the forest.
Genre:
NUTS is a first person narrative surveillance adventure with a unique puzzle mechanic and a bold visual style.
History:
Joon came up with the core mechanic for NUTS at a game jam in Reykjavik. He then invited the digital forester and artist Pol to make the world, the narrative designer and writer Char who is in love with squirrels, and the coolest foley artist on the planet Muuutsch to assemble a unique constellation of experience and talent. They are committed to developing the game without crunch, and making the development journey as enjoyable as the outcome.
NUTS is made by a small, remote team of experienced indies. The code is made in Reykjavik, the trees are planted in Montreal, the books are written in Copenhagen and the foley is recorded in Berlin.
Joon is an award winning game designer and has shipped multiple titles. His most recent solo-project Don’t Trip was Indie Game of the Month on Google Play and is regularly featured on the App Store. His games with Glitchnap were awarded multiple grants from the Danish Film Institute and Nordic Game program and were selected for multiple award shows and collections. He is also a summit advisor for GDC.
Pol has received 3 IGF nominations, won the Developer’s Choice award at IndieCade, has been artist in residency at TAG in Montreal and has had his work shown in galleries.
Char was awarded Best Game Writing from the Writer’s Guild of Ireland for her work on Divinity Original Sin 2 (PC Gamer’s #1 PC Game) and was working on Baldur’s Gate 3 for 2 years before joining the NUTS team.
Almut has worked on big titles Anno 1800 (audio designer) and Dead island 2 (sound editor), as well as popular indie titles like Curious Expedition (sound design) and Through The Darkest of Times (composer).
Torfi founded Tasty Rook, which released Out of the Loop and Triple Agent.Subtitle:
NUTS, an adventure in squirrel surveillance
Description:
Gear up your caravan, spread out your map and head for the depths of Melmoth Forest, where you’ll track the movements of native squirrels.
Where do they go? What do they do? And why is it that they behave so strangely? Explore the forest. Record the squirrels. Report your findings… and uncover the secret at the very heart of the forest.
Genre:
NUTS is a first person narrative surveillance adventure with a unique puzzle mechanic and a bold visual style.
History:
Joon came up with the core mechanic for NUTS at a game jam in Reykjavik. He then invited the digital forester and artist Pol to make the world, the narrative designer and writer Char who is in love with squirrels, and the coolest foley artist on the planet Muuutsch to assemble a unique constellation of experience and talent. They are committed to developing the game without crunch, and making the development journey as enjoyable as the outcome.
▧ Accolades
| Game of the Year List | Family Video Game Database |
| Winner | Indiecade 2020 - Best Audio Design Award |
| Winner | BITBANG 2021 - Best Visual Arts Award - Buenos Aires AR |
| Winner | Nordic Game Awards 2022 - Nordic Game Of the Year (Small Screen) |
| Finalist | Nordic Game Awards 2022 - Best Debut |
| Finalist | Nordic Game Awards 2022 - Best Fun for Everyone Game |
| Finalist | Canadian Indie Game Awards 2022 - Best Mobile Game |
| Finalist | Mobile Game Awards 2022 - Best Storytelling |
| Finalist | Mobile Game Awards 2022 - Best Indie Developer |
| Finalist | A MAZE. Berlin 2021 awards - Berlin DE |
| Finalist | DevGamm 2021 Best Narrative award - Moscow RU |
| Finalist | Tencent GWB Awards 2021 |
| Finalist | GameConnection Chinajoy 2021 Best Foreign Game |
| Finalist | GameConnection Chinajoy 2021 Best Casual Game |
| Honorable Mention | IGF 2021 Grand Prize - San Francisco US |
| Honorable Mention | IGF 2021 Best in Narrative - San Francisco US |
| Official selection | Overcome Film Festival 2021 |
| Official selection | Bit Bang Film Festival 2021 - Buenos Aires AR |
| Official selection | Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival 2021 - Strasbourg FR |
| Official selection | Tokyo Game Show Indie Game Selected Exhibit 2021 - Tokyo JP |
| Official selection | LudoNarraCon 2021 |
| Official selection | Steam Festival 2021 Developer Spotlight |
| Official selection | The Mix 2020 - San Francisco US |
| Official selection | Indie Megabooth 2020 - San Francisco US |
| Official selection | Day Of The Devs 2019 - San Francisco US |
| Official selection | Leftfield Collection at EGX 2019 - London UK |
| Official selection | A MAZE. Berlin 2018 - Berlin DE |
▧ Reviews & Coverage
Reviews
There’s so much to love and crack open with NUTS
Waypoint / Vice
Embrace the bucolic life as a grad student tracking some squirrels across a forest in this unique narrative puzzler. Nuts, at times, is a real trip.
Eurogamer — Recommended
Together with its killer art style and a story with plenty of surprising twists, Nuts is a must-play for any photography fan.
PC Gamer
Every moment of NUTS is surprising and delightful; its first-time developers have created a world you’ll want to spend even longer in to explore more deeply, full of fantastic design choices and an intriguing story that gets better and better as it goes along.
Adventure Gamers — 9
Short without feeling short, simple without feeling simple, this game is as odd as it is beautiful. You won’t find anything else like it.
Hey Poor Player — 9
It's relaxing, it's smart, it's never pretentious [...] Skilfully conducted artistic direction
Nintendo Vision — 9
Games like Nuts don't come along very often. A compelling storyline and intriguing puzzles combine to create my favorite gaming experience of 2021, so far.
PC Invasion — 9
NUTS is a gorgeous, succinct adventure game that's equal parts creepy and wistful with a much-needed ecological streak. If you liked Firewatch, you'll like this.
PC Mag (Middle East) — 9
NUTS feels like a great exemplar of the fact that developers don’t need to give players lots of things to do, when they can instead give you one thing that is incredible.
Pocket Tactics — 9
NUTS manages to captivate audiences with astonishing, analog and meticulous research in beautiful landscapes of oversaturated colors.
Vandal — 9
NUTS offers a unique and memorable experience that kept me completely hooked in from the get-go – who would have thought that tracking squirrels would be so fun?
Use A Potion — 8.5
Developed by a team working remotely, NUTS is a unique and surprisingly effective experience for what seems to be, at first, a mere squirrel-photographing simulator.
The Game is a Lie — 8.5
NUTS is smart, intuitive and very fun. And while it's short, the experience of the game is worth it, especially if you're in a gaming rut – or just a nut!
Nintendo Force Magazine (issue #52) — 8.5
A beautiful world, begging to be explored, with captivating tasks. Don’t let me cashew ignoring this one!
Switch Player — 8
NUTS hosts an enthralling narrative, an excellent artistic vision while also featuring engaging gameplay.
Rapid Reviews UK — 8
Busting a nut-based mystery such as this one involves two parts: clever thinking and intuition. NUTS is a beautiful game, in aesthetic, design and atmosphere
WellPlayed — 8
With its interesting story and unique art style, Nuts is a narrative puzzle game worth exploring a forest of squirrels for.
Dualshockers — 8
A pleasant journey into an inspired forest through a fun and mysterious videogame.
Eurogamer Italy — 7
A relaxing puzzle adventure with an intriguing mystery inside its shell... bold, striking art design and a great sense of creepy but not horrific atmosphere.
IGN — 7
Running around with cameras on tripods and waiting with baited breath at 3AM for a flash of a bushy tail was satisfying work, and honing that fluffy path felt worth it. See if you can beat my time. Until then, I’m declaring myself Squirrel Hunter Supreme.
Overlode — 7
NUTS is fun, addictive and slickly crafted.
Switchaboo — 7
Fascinating
Edge (issue #356) — 7
Interviews
Amaze Wild Hearts
PocketGamer.biz
Shacknews
Steam Developer Spotlight
The Hollywood Reporter
TwitchGaming Indie Showcase
Community
YOUTUBE
TWITCH
Speedruns
▧ Logo
black 2048 × 1024
white 2048 × 1024
▧ Acknowledgments
Fonts
Architect's Daughter, Lato, Noto, PT_Mono, Quantico, Special Elite, Syne Mono
Plugins
Unity,
FMOD,
Amplify,
Dotween,
Dreamteck Splines,
I2 Localization,
Prime31,
Rewired,
EasyWallCollider,
First Person Drifter,
UnityVerletIntegration,
Unity3d-Finite-State-Machine
▧ Monetization permission
The NUTS Team and Noodlecake allow for the contents of NUTS to be published through video broadcasting services for any commercial or non-commercial purposes. Monetization of videos created containing assets from NUTS is legally & explicitly allowed by us.