Squirreled Away Review (PC)

Squirreled Away has taught me two things, the first being that games don’t necessarily need a convoluted crafting system to be impactful, and the other being that, even with a structureless plot and a lack of purpose in its deck of cards, a liminal journey is still a journey worth taking, even in the brittle paws of a nut-wielding squirrel. And while this vibrant cubby in particular doesn’t teach us how to make picture-perfect things, it does embellish the notion that not everything has to be perfect in order to attract a loyal fan base. It’s a game about a squirrel, though, so you don’t have to be an expert to know what to expect from the woodland grottos that flesh out this seasonal tale.

For the record, Squirreled Away isn’t a love letter to the likes of Conker’s Bad Fur Day, nor is it the natural successor to Squirrel With a Gun, for that matter. No, what Squirreled Away is, if you’ll excuse the fact that it’s central to the perspective of a woodland critter, is a cozy, charming, and beginner-friendly crafting sim with an extensive collection of crisp, albeit simple art installations, treehouse decorations, and a quaint world of beloved animals and wholesome encounters. With all of this in its acorn, the game offers a relaxing alternative to a traditional, vigorously competitive RPG, with no combat to engage in, time constraints to fret about, nor any major curveballs for you to climb — minus, perhaps, the odd spiraling branch or treehouse. And that’s all this is: a simple yet enjoyable game that just lets you be a squirrel and enjoy the little things.

An Ode to Nature

Squirreled Away is a third-person crafting-building sandbox game that takes place in an idyllic world—a place of outstanding natural beauty and agricultural diversity. In this world—a relatively large wooded region built around plumes of wild cherry blossoms, sparkling waters, and protected areas of conservation—you have a rather simple objective to complete: be a squirrel. And by that, I mean that you must spend your lazy afternoons collecting nuts and other natural materials to craft items for your treetop home, and meet the eccentric denizens of the local community to aid their efforts to build, develop, and maintain their own respective crafts. Aside from that, there is only one other thing that you need to do — and that’s unwind.

It doesn’t come as too much of a surprise, but for the sake of stating the obvious, I will say this: Squirreled Away isn’t a difficult game. Besides the fact that you must actively explore your surroundings and forage for certain materials, there isn’t a great deal more to concern yourself with. It’s one of those sorts of jobs—the sort that doesn’t require you to examine each and every aspect of the process or delve into rules and regulations to make sense of what is happening. To put it simply, it’s a game that couldn’t care less if you would soon rather spend your time gnawing at a nut than trying to erect the foundations for a successful woodland restoration project.

The Critters of Paradise

There are quests to embark on in Squirreled Away, though none of them are particularly heavy-handed, I’ll admit. Like a lot of crafting-farming IPs, each character more or less has a spool of fetch quests to offer you on a silver platter of bark and berries. With each of these quests that you successfully complete, various rewards eventually become available in your back pocket—tools, or items, if you will, that allow you to build walls, doors, and other structural elements in your treehouse. And that’s really what a huge chunk of the game involves: shoveling through a set amount of fetch quests in exchange for materials, and then using said materials to slowly expand your home. So, a bit like Animal Crossing, you could say — but without the loan shark.

Of course, given that you are a squirrel with certain squirrel-y abilities, you can choose to traverse the world in a few ways, whether it’s by running through the meadows, vaulting through treetops, or rolling through the forest in pursuit of a fallen nut or what have you. And it’s a lot of fun, to be honest — romping through the woods with no idea of where you might end up or what you might find. But, in a similar vein as its peers, the game rewards you for exploring these outer boroughs and doing whatever feels natural. I can’t say that the rewards are always great, but I for one found that even the smallest trinkets were enough to keep me tiptoeing towards that next all-important building milestone. And even when I had nothing to forage or build, I always managed to find a side quest or character to assist.

Four Squirrels Are Better Than One

There’s another thing that deserves to be brought to the table here, and that’s the game’s co-op mode. Granted, it doesn’t add a huge amount to the treetop cauldron, but the fact that Squirreled Away does offer you the chance to bathe in an endless summer with up to four friends is commendable, to say the least, as a lot of activities are, in a true sense of co-op gaming, designed to feel collaborative, whether it’s building new quarters for your treehouse, scouting for fresh supplies, or simply fishing atop a rock in a nearby pond for a couple of hours. It also adds a communal touch to the experience, too, which is always a welcome addition to any crafting-farming hybrid that offers a wide array of chores and other agricultural tasks to engage with.

Suffice it to say, Squirreled Away is a gorgeous-looking jewel of an animal-centric game, with more than enough blueprints to keep you busy and thrice as many reasons to stick around for an entire weekend. It’s cute, it’s lazy (in a good way), and it’s brimming with the heart and soul of those who opted to bring it to life. If that’s the sort of experience that you’re on the market for, then you’d be wise to put your furry paws up by this particular window.

Verdict

Squirreled Away is a simple yet well-packaged critter-centric crafting game that combines the vibrancy of natural life with a cute and engaging gameplay style. It isn’t the most extravagant thing in this particular neck of the woods, but it is, however, in receipt of a solid selection of building schematics, side quests, and foraging options to unpack and explore. Think of it as a squirrel-bred underling of another animal-centric sandbox IP. It isn’t Goat Simulator, mind you, so you ought to scratch that one from the list.

With thanks to its elegant art style and irresistibly cozy atmosphere that’s teeming with harmonic melodies and the rhythmic notes of nature in its purest form, Squirreled Away has quickly become one of the most adorable crafting sims in the current pile. It’s an incredibly simple concept, and one that is likely to repel just as many people as it will attract. And yet, it’s still a bit of a no brainer; if you adore beginner-friendly foraging sims that prioritize fetch quests over anything with substance or meaning, then you will most certainly enjoy adopting the ways of the squirrel and the fuel that drives them.