All Our Winters

All Our Winters is a god game in which the player presides over a procedurally generated wilderness. There is no direct control over the inhabitants. Instead, the player alters the world around them and the villagers decide for themselves what those changes mean: destroying a rival’s forest may be read as a blessing, while destroying their own may be read as a threat. Actions have lasting effects on the map. Areas shown mercy become holy sites visited by pilgrims over generations, areas struck by wrath remain cursed and are avoided by settlers, and a god who stays inactive for too long is eventually forgotten.

The player’s powers include a wildfire that spreads and jumps between trees, earthquakes, meteors, tornadoes, lightning, plague, blessing and bloom. Terrain can be reshaped between water, grass, sand and forest floor, and animals, plants, herbs and ore veins can be placed where settlements need them. Villagers each have a name and a trade, and they farm, fish, hunt, mine, build, study and fight while dealing with hunger, cold, fatigue and illness. They marry, raise children, develop skills over years and pass them on before dying. Settlements construct granaries, wells, mills, bakeries, forges, workshops, markets, libraries, shrines, taverns and Monuments, elect chiefs whose courage affects combat, send caravans, accept refugees and pay tribute after defeat. Seasons affect survival directly: drought and spring frost damage crops, summer heat spoils stored food unless grain is milled and baked, herds need fodder, bonfires consume firewood, lakes freeze, wolves approach in the cold and clothing wears out over time. Neighbouring settlements form and break alliances, go to war over land, muster and march in column, retreat when losses grow and sue for peace with tribute. The dead are buried where they fall, villages mourn at graves and an annual candlelit ancestor ceremony takes place at the onset of winter.

Beyond the open sandbox there are six unlockable scenarios covering a severe winter, a race to build a Monument, barren soil, a flooded archipelago, endless night and a land overtaken by fire. The game contains no image or sound files: all visuals are drawn from vector shapes at runtime and all audio is synthesised during play, so each world differs in appearance and sound. Additional features include a running chronicle of world events, end-of-game statistics covering wars, alliances, disasters, chiefs and Monuments, 18 achievements that persist across worlds and unlock scenarios, nine interface languages, and the ability to save at any point alongside autosave.