When you look at Longvinter, it’s hard not to associate the game with Nintendo’s hit Animal Crossing franchise. The human characters' look and town-building elements are based on that franchise, which looks to be an intentional move. Luckily, you can shoot other people with guns, so it’s a completely different game now.
Just looking at this game’s trailer, the comparisons to Nintendo’s popular game series are too obvious. Granted, there are no anthropomorphic animals to make houses for, but they seem to be replaced by normal humans. Admittedly, the similar style makes for a lovely-looking game on Steam, even if it’s based on an existing franchise.
It would be easy to assume that the devs of Longvinter looked at Palworld and said, “Let’s make Animal Crossing with guns,” but that’s not entirely fair. This game has been developing for three years, so the developers may not have known about Pocket Pair while making their crazy survival game.
At the least, there are now more options for those who want to play this long-running franchise on something that isn’t a Switch.
Hopefully, the devs at Uuvana Studios have some evidence to prove that this isn’t an Animal Crossing clone. We think weird little clone games like this deserve to exist, especially if they’re good, but Nintendo might overreact. After all, the Pokémon Company ended up suing Pocket Pair over Palworld, so the developers had better keep their story straight.
Regardless of the intentions, Longvinter has the potential to be fun for PC players. Seeing these Villager-esque characters build houses and shoot each other will attract a specific audience. The ability to fight for resources adds more tension to the game, making resource farming a much more interesting mechanic.
Fans can check out Longvinter on Steam, with a PS5 release coming in 2026.