Humble Reeds, the two-person French studio behind Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge, has announced its next project: Heidi's Legacy: Mountains Calling, a cozy life sim based on Johanna Spyri's classic 19th-century Swiss novel. The game launches on PC (Windows, macOS, and Linux) this December, with PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch versions following in January 2027.
Players step into the role of a grown-up Heidi who leaves city life behind to return to her grandfather's Alpine homestead. He puts her in charge of his goat herd, and from there the game branches into a mix of pastoral caretaking, crafting, and village relationships.
Goat herding, crafting, and alpine exploration
Day-to-day gameplay revolves around guiding goats through meadows, finding grazing spots, and keeping them happy with toys and interaction. Goats produce milk and wool, which feed into a crafting system where players turn natural materials into artisanal goods like cheese, wool garments, herbal remedies, and wooden items. Those products can be traded with or gifted to villagers.
Beyond the farm, the world opens up into valleys, forests, and high-altitude lakes. Foraging for herbs and mushrooms, fishing, and herding all play a role, and new traversal abilities become available as players help the local community rebuild.
Branching story with romance and multiple endings
Heidi's Legacy leans into its narrative side. Branching dialogue and personal choices shape how relationships develop and where the village ends up. Romance is on the table, and the game frames it as open-ended: who Heidi chooses to love is the player's call. Multiple endings round out the story depending on decisions made throughout.
The whole thing is wrapped in a watercolor art style meant to evoke the look of a classic children's book. Language support at launch covers English, French, German, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese.
A small studio with a consistent niche
Humble Reeds is co-founded by Mélanie Christin and Aurélien Condomines, who split duties between art, code, narrative, and game design. Their previous release, Kamaeru, explored a similar cozy-and-conservation formula centered on breeding frogs and restoring wetlands. Heidi's Legacy continues that pattern of nature-oriented, community-focused sims.
"The Heidi novels left a profound impact on us growing up," said Christin and Condomines. "Heidi's Legacy: Mountains Calling takes our passion for the novels and provides a wonderful backdrop for us to create titles with heartfelt stories that resonate with audiences of all ages."
The game was previously showcased at Wholesome Direct 2025 and selected for both the Cozy Quest and Choose Wisely showcases. A free demo is already available on Steam, with another demo appearance planned during Steam Next Fest later this month.
For anyone keeping an eye on the growing cozy life-sim space, this one stands out for its specific literary source material and its tight scope from a studio that has stuck to a clear creative lane.
Source: Pixelkin via Google News - Life Simulation Games