Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 22 Images The project itself was full of incredible highs and lows, he says. Froma gamer point of view, Ziegler’s work has paid off, offering something which no one has in fact seen before. “Mundaun” is not only an impressivework of art, but also an entertaining horror game in its own right. One can only hope it attracts as wide an international audience as possible despite its almost radical local character. RAINER SIGL IS A FREEL ANCE JOURNALIST BASED IN VIENNA . ONE OF HIS SPECIALIST AREAS IS VIDEO GAMES. and sound effects are what lend “Mundaun” its singular quality. Seven hours of puzzles “Mundaun” is by no means a walking simulator, that is, a game focused on aesthetics, with little in the way of action. The game offers a remarkable array of things to do. The gameplay, almost seven hours long, involves solving a myriad of puzzles and exploring a world of notable richness and scale. You can fight or bypass monsters. You can collect wood, water and coffee powder to make a brew that acts as an emotional pick-me-up. You can slide downhill through the snow on a toboggan. “Mundaun” is also a mesmerising horror story that builds tension right to the end. Funding was key Ziegler began working exclusively on the game, more or less on his own, in autumn 2014. It was only at the end of the development stage that he received assistance from the US-based independent video game publisher MWM Interactive. The game’s backstory certainly has little in common with meteoric solo hits such as the legendary indie game “Minecraft” by Markus “Notch” Persson. After studying IT, Ziegler only got round to completing an additional degree in illustration in his late twenties. Access to development grants allowed himto finish his idiosyncratic project. He received a total of 120,000 Swiss francs from various sources over a number of years. Without this funding andwithout the Swiss arts council Pro Helvetia helping him to attend the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco for example, a solo developer like Ziegler would have found it all but impossible to get a foothold in the gaming market.
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