A very odd Winnie the Pooh horror game titled Winnie's Hole is currently being developed by an Australian indie studio named Twice Different. The card-based roguelike dungeon crawler Ring of Pain is the only game on the studio's resume as it's now preparing to take on a much more recognizable and beloved IP, which once belonged only to Disney, for its second game.Ever since Winnie the Pooh hit the public domain in 2022, indie creators have been coming out of the woodwork with strange and terrifying projects featuring the beloved honey-guzzling yellow bear. Just last year the live action horror slasher Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey was revealed and released. While the draw of seeing a terrifying Pooh and Piglet duo hunt down victims in a murderous frenzy made headlines, the film received equally scary reviews scoring a horrifying 3% on Rotten Tomatoes. Winnie mania isn't just hitting the silver screen, though. A first-person survival horror game by the name of Hundred Acre Wood has also been announced which will see players attempt to survive Winnie the Pooh in the woods.Now, another horror title is joining this twisted Winnie the Pooh renaissance. Twice Different took to Twitter to announce it's making a new Steam game called Winnie's Hole. In it, players will control a virus within Pooh that transforms him into a hideous Resident Evil-like monster, growing limbs, eyes, and mouths from his wicked body.
Accompanying the announcement was a short trailer which showed off the title's gorgeous 2D art style as well as some of the gameplay Winnie's Hole will have to offer. In line with Twice Different's previous game Ring of Pain, Winnie's Hole is a turn-based roguelike adventure where players use Tetris-style blocks to expand the virus growing within Pooh's body, developing and managing mutations during turn-based battles.
Winnie the Pooh won't be the last beloved Disney character to be welcomed to the public domain. Next year, the original Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse is set to be going public as well and there's sure to be many filmmakers and indie game studios ready to have a field day. While later versions of Mickey Mouse such as Fantasia's Mickey will still be under copyright protection for several more decades, the release of the face of Disney into public domain could spawn more creepy slasher flicks or horror games in the same vein as Winnie the Pooh. However, Disney still withholds the power to continue trademarking Steamboat Willie Mickey Mouse which would continue to disallow this from happening. While the legal workings around Steamboat Willie's copyright expiration shakes out, players can have fun growing a gross mutating virus inside of Winnie the Pooh.
Winnie's Hole is coming to PC in 2023.