It can be rather overwhelming sometimes to take care of ourselves. Small things like paying bills and personal health can require a lot of upkeep and attention. Add the responsibility for others to the list of things you have to get done on a daily basis, and it can get down right hectic. Those of us who have yet to start a family would possibly have a panic attack if we were suddenly inundated with loved ones to care for. Developer CoolHandGames elaborates on this overwhelming thought with their recently released indie game, Foxfolk .

Foxfolk puts you in the paws of a simple fox family-man that’s trying to hold his small family together. While the children play, and your significant other tends to the homestead, it’s up to you to provide the necessary resources needed to survive. To make matters worse, winter has set in early and given you no time to secure a massive stockpile of goods. This won’t be a winter you can simply ride out, and you’ll be forced to venture out into the cold in order to keep your family warm and fed. There are no enemies to battle, no massive worlds to explore, and no in-depth storylines to follow. Just one fox, a lot of snow, and some key items that must be collected.

The gameplay for Foxfolk is rather straight-forward. The arrow keys will move your character around, while the A key is used for attacking, interacting, and collecting items. The S key will allow you to enter a sneak mode and will also allow you to drop items within a designated area. The only way to ensure the survival of yourself and your fox family is to venture out into the immense colds of winter in order to hunt prey and collect wood. Scattered throughout the landscape you will find small sticks which can be picked up and used as firewood. You can carry a total of three sticks before you will need to take them back to your den to store or toss in the fireplace. Sometimes you will come across larger logs. These logs count as three sticks. The amount of wood you are carrying is displayed by three circles near the top of the screen. If all three circles are filled, you will not be able to pick up any more wood. This can cause quite the headache if you’ve already picked up a stick and then come across log far away from your den.

Food acts in the same manner. When you come across a creature to hunt, and you capture it, you’ll have to take it immediately to storage or the cooking pot if you plan on hunting another. Only one food source can be carried at a time. Food won’t simply lie around like sticks and logs either. You’ll need to sneak up on your prey with the S key and then leap at them at the last moment. There are three different animals to hunt in Foxfolk : birds, squirrels, and rabbits. Each one has their own unique nutritional value, so you’ll want to focus on hunting bigger targets first. There may be instances in which you cannot find food or wood on a given day, so hunting and storing these things when they are abundant is vital to the survival of your fox family.

As night falls, you’ll be forced back into your den. From there, you can save your progress and sleep to start a new day. On some days, massive blizzards will block all of your progress and force you to simply sleep until conditions get better. This can be a nightmare if you haven’t had the opportunity to stock up on wood and food, as it will still deplete your resources a little. As time progresses, and it gets deeper into the winter months, resources will begin to deplete faster and make it much harder on you to sustain your family. Because of this, it’s important to create a sound strategy and hoard as many resources as possible, early on. There isn’t necessarily an “ending” to the game, and the main purpose is to simply survive as long as you possibly can.

Foxfolk is a very simple game, but features some adorable visuals and a nice gameplay aesthetic. It’s definitely worth the tiny $3 price tag, and hopefully the developer will continue to bring us bigger and better titles in the future. If you think you’re up to the task and can survive the winter then head on over to itch.io and pick up a copy of this endearing indie release. For more information about Foxfolk , be sure to follow developer Luke Frank, at the CoolHandGames Twitter account .