Nif Nif preview: This little piggy needs your Kickstarter backing

Words you don’t often hear in combination: roguelike deckbuilder and family-friendly. Yet the concept absolutely works in the case of Nif Nif, the cosy and cute strategy game in the last few days of its Kickstarter campaign.

With release plans for Nintendo Switch and PC (you can currently download and play the PC demo), single-player Nif Nif comes from Springfox Games, a global collective of indie developers that focuses on creating smart strategy games that are still accessible, inclusive, and fun for everyone. Nif Nif is certainly that. The game was born out of Game Director Masha Mallet’s realisation that there were very few options in the deckbuilding genre for her own children.

Nif Nif is officially described as “Slay the Spire meets Loddlenaut, wrapped up in a positive and actionable environmental message.” In the game you play as Nif Nif, the piglet, who sets out to free the various animals of the forest from a mysterious corrupting goo. That means collecting and using cleaning cards to remove the mess as well as protect yourself.

As you advance across the procedurally generated map you find yourself in various situations. These include the default turn-based “combat” interludes (including tougher boss encounters); engaging with quirky creatures who have rewards for you based on your choices; stopping by the store to purchase new cards and ingredients for ability-buffing soups; and campfire breaks where you can choose between healing rest, burning card clutter and cooking.

If you at any point were going to dismiss Nif Nif as a basic game for the littlies, and no one else, don’t. There is a lot of strategy packed into Nif Nif, and it’s not easy. Obviously there’s an educational element present for younger players, particularly in terms of the constant arithmetic required. However, following a relatively hands-off tutorial, it becomes apparent that the game is easy to pick up but harder to master. It may have a colourful storybook aesthetic and feature loads of cute surprises but there’s plenty of cerebral reward to be found here too. Glimpses at higher levels suggest a big step up in terms of challenge.

You can clearly get very tactical with Nif Nif, starting with whether you play as the title character or one of the other available creatures. For example, Nif Nif has a more balanced approach to encounters, wielding cleaning, protective and healing cards. The currently unnamed cat, meanwhile, does high swipe “damage” but is overall more fragile, with fewer opportunities to heal. You can equip one of the unlockable hats to help offset this disadvantage though.