Back in 2022, Winnie the Pooh entered the public domain in the United States. This means any US resident can publish a work featuring AA Milne’s OG incarnation of the honey-sucking woodland bear (UK copyright expires in 2027). At some point in the future, as the newly founded Poo-like genre matures, we can certainly expect a resurgence of Weenie spinoffs, from Erased Poo-Em to female anime interpretations to Kaufman-like 100 Acre Existentialism. But for now, it’s mostly about horror. Because when the lawyer finally abandons his beloved children’s characters, the logical thing to do is destroy the chainsaw.
Movie insiders have already teased Winnie the Pooh and its sequel, both of which are clearly scary in the worst way. Steven H. The video game Winnie’s Hole is coming to early access today. In this roguelite from Twice Different, honey-munching Teddy has become a rambling cosmic abomination, and your job is to mutate his insides using tetrominoes. Oh, that’s annoying, wgah’nagl fhtagn.
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“Capture and mutate cells to build action decks for combo-driven combat,” the Steam page explains. “A genre-blending roguelite with a dark yet captivating story.”
This is a game in two parts, which together form a scissor-like movement of a strategy puzzle. On one leg, place blocks within Weenie to create pathways to spread infection, absorb resources, and unmutate. In the other tentacle, you’ll wage turn-based battles against other animals that take exception to the Cronenberg-ization of the Hundred Acre Wood. The battle also includes tetrominoes, prompting each block to perform an ability that fits the outline of Winnie’s brain.
Other animals don’t look so good. I think part of the reason for that is that developers are concerned about drawing a clear line between their games and Disney animation, which is still in copyright. Look at them waving torches and pitchforks in poor Winnie’s face. Based on the trailer, I have little doubt that the rabbit’s eyes will be dissolved with gastric juices. That guy is shit. Remember when he tried to “bounce” Tigger? Who’s the real monster here?
If you’re the type of Tigger who doesn’t like space monsters, perhaps you might be looking forward to “Winnie the Pooh: 100 Acres Beyond,” famous for its shocking imitation of Aiko and avid adherence to the punctuation of Milne’s original title. If you love space monsters but think Winnie’s Hole is a little weird (well, la-di-da!), try Disney’s version of Piglet’s Big Game, which is secretly inspired by Resident Evil.
