The social dynamics is at the core of the game – small groups of people (around 25 players) will have to communicate, time and coordinate their actions towards one common goal – to survive, day in and day out. Their enemy is the cursed forest around them with all of its horrors. Each day the players build up, repair and develop their village. Each night they fight to push back the next attack of the vile creatures, common and magical, that live “next door”.

In this game you will become one of the hardworking, god-fearing town folk that have fled the horrors of a nameless 16th century European war. There is nothing but blood, fire and pain left behind you. The one place in the world, which the war has not reached, seems to be the Great Forest, where you’re headed, seeking refuge.

On your way you meet other people – strangers with strange tales to tell. You stick together, because it’s your best chance to survive. Deep into the woods you build your own village. Just a few measly huts at first, it must grow and strengthen if you are to last.

The forest around you is a different world, magical and mystical, beautiful and scary. Step by step you discover ancient secrets you wish were left forgotten.

Tomorrow Big Moustache Games will launch a kickstatrter campaign, looking for €55,000, to finish development on Grimm Forest.

"The Kickstarter campaign launches tomorrow – November 15 – and we believe there’s a lot in it to be excited about", Ivelin says. "Our main goal is to create a truly, unique, immersive and deeply fulfilling experience, rather than “just another game”, so hopefully that will be clearly readable in our KS presentation."

First off, know that “Grimm Forest” is a survival game, different from what you are used to in this genre. It’s not a question of whether you will survive; it’s a question of how long you can fend off your enemies before you die. When your village falls, you will have very slim chances of finding another safe haven.

You start off each game with a randomly generated character – with his strengths, weaknesses, perks and goals. During the first in-game days you will be on the road with what little you could salvage from your previous possessions, travelling deeper and deeper into the forest.

Eventually, your group (or what’s left of it) will reach a suitable place and settle. In the following days, more refugees are likely to arrive and join you – until you decide to close your gates, that is.

Resources are scarce, so you simply can’t accept everybody. What’s most important is that the bigger the village gets, the more attention it will draw and, trust us, you don’t want to draw much attention in this forest.

You build your settlement together with the other survivors, vote for every decision the villagers have to make, explore the woods, scavenge for useful resources, and ultimately – fend off bandits, beasts and monsters lured to the village walls each night. Be on the lookout, for your role may come with hidden goals!

It is up to you how you will contribute to the village. You can even take the role of mayor, captain of the guards, master of the scavengers, main architect, etc. Leading requires responsibility, so following a leader seems simpler, yet being a follower is not always an easy task.

Your village will fall sooner or later, that is inevitable. Attacks upon it will become more and more vicious with each passing night, so you’ll need a strategy; learn to cooperate with the rest of the survivors. Share your shelter with the best men and women you can find and try to balance between work and rest – your stamina, health and sanity are key in protecting your settlement.

Upon death you will start over, with a new character, in a new village and new players. You will have to find the balance between cooperating with the other villagers (since you can’t achieve very much entirely on your own) and taking care of yourself – your survival is your primary goal, after all.

There are two main phases within the game – day and night, respectively. This element is similar to how turn-based games work. During the day, the players carry out their various tasks – scavenging the woods for valuable items, gathering resources, building, crafting and preparing their defences. The nights last only several minutes, but this is when the ghoulish forest dwellers exact their attacks upon the village. During this phase, players are observers to what happens, as they have already preset all of their night-time actions.

Everyone who lived to see the daylight continues the struggle the next day. The goal of the game is to survive as long as possible; though, as mentioned earlier, you might be given some special additional goals to achieve.

Key Features:

• Live one of the darkest, scariest and most cruel fantasies ever known - the world of the Brothers Grimm tales, re-imagined, expanded and pumped up!
• Work together to stay alive – plan, discuss, vote, elect village roles – or your tale will be a short-lived one.
• Do not fully trust anyone – some players might have hidden roles or value their interest above all else.
• Engage with an ever changing world – Day/Night cycle, weather conditions, individual character perks and goals, hidden roles, frequent random events etc.
• Tend to your body and soul needs – stay healthy, well fed and well rested, but keep your sanity and trust levels in check as well.
• Explore – Face an endless, living and breathing forest full of deadly threats and unseen horrors, but also ripe with treasures of all kinds, value and use.
• Get creative – Loot, craft and fuse seemingly un-combinable elements to get amazing, damn useless or even outright dangerous results.

Ivelin, who has worked on both Tropico 3 and 4, and is credited for titles such as Sacred 2, X3: Reunion and X Rebirth, co-founded the studio Big Mustache Games together with his ex-Imperia Online colleague Alexander Torofiev. Alexander, a bestselling gamebook author, is also the producer and lead game designer of the award-winning mobile strategy game Seasons of War (Android, iOS).