What mysteries lie in the midst of the enchanted forest? Koira is the debut game by Belgium-based Studio Tolima, and it has you uncovering the answer to that question – with the help of a little puppy.
With no text getting in the way, Koira is poised to offer a tale of friendship and bravery that should resound for players from across cultures. Who needs words when you’ve got a puppy? It’s worth a mention that the word ‘koira’, according to Wiktionary, means ‘dog’ in Finnish. Coincidence? We’ll leave that to when the game releases.
Studio Tolima isn’t resting on its puppy character, though. As you explore forests, hills, and caves, you will also encounter woodland creatures who need your help, such as boars and rabbits.
Helping these animals of the woods may not prove to be straightforward. You’ll have to solve ancient puzzles by activating monuments, which might need you to rely on your puppy friend and of course, to be a bit clever about it.
What’s more, there’s scary hunters in long coats and armed with rifles. Our protagonists are in their sights, so once again, you and your puppy will have to rely on each other to sneak past the bad guys and their nasty traps.
Dodging the hunters’ designs, helping forest animals, and activating ancient monuments will all drive you through the quest of restoring harmony to the forest environment.
Studio Tolima was founded in 2022 by Koira’s producer and game director Ben Lega, who quit his day job in 2019 to work on games full-time. He came up with a prototype for Koira with the game’s composer and sound designer Reginald Nowe, and the project eventually found a publisher in French company Don’t Nod.
You might know Don’t Nod best for being the developer behind such games as Life is Strange, Vampyr, Jusant, and the very recently-released Lost Records: Bloom & Rage. As a publisher, Don’t Nod has previously published the 2022 title Gerda: A Flame in Winter, which makes Koira their sophomore publishing effort.
With Don’t Nod’s backing, Studio Tolima soon expanded to add lead developer and technical artist Sander Vanhove, artist Lieve van der Zaan, and animator Umi Guillou. Based in Brussels, the studio is committed to “telling poetic, personal and emotional stories”.
Koira is scheduled to release on April 1st, 2025, across PC, Mac, Linux, and PlayStation 5. For more information on the game, check out the game’s Steam page here, the PlayStation Store listing here, and the game’s official website here.
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