We Love It's Guide to…
Breed genetically distinct frogs, grow mushrooms, and solve puzzles across waking and dreaming worlds to restore an abandoned pond.
Released 20 Mar 2025
Engineer Frog Genes
Grow Trait Mushrooms
Unlock Dream Paths
Mudborne is a casual nature management sim about discovering & breeding frogs! Awoken from hibernation you find your pond abandoned. Through the genetic keys of new species you must unlock the paths between the waking & dreaming worlds, and embark on a journey to restore lost populations.
Developed by ellraiser, TNgineers · Published by Future Friends Games
Awakening from hibernation to find the pond abandoned, you take on the task of helping restore its frog populations and uncovering what happened. The game combines frog breeding with exploration and puzzles across waking and dreaming worlds.
Catch frogs and bugs, gather mushrooms, and experiment with mushroom effects to produce frogs with specific traits. Use their traits to operate machines, meet puzzle requirements, and open paths to new areas; an in-game guide and clues help chart your progress.
As you explore, discover more frogs, mushrooms, and other collectables, and use resources to craft and build. Quests and new areas extend the progression, while optional decorating and collecting let you work at your own pace.
In the supplied reviews, players often enjoy working out the frog genetics puzzles, discovering new species, and using frog traits to progress through the world. Many also praise the charming frogs, relaxing atmosphere, and story and lore they uncover through exploration. Some reviewers find the puzzles and early progression confusing, while slow travel, repeated backtracking, and inventory management can make longer play sessions feel tedious.
MUD BORN, IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP
Mudborne is a casual nature management sim about discovering & breeding frogs!
You awaken from your hibernation to find your pond abandoned and empty. Through a combination of crafting minigames, menu management and puzzle solving, experiment with genetics to breed new frogs and recover what was lost.
Using the genetic keys of the new species you create you can unlock the paths between the waking and dreaming worlds, explore the land of those still hibernating, and embark on a journey to help restore the lost populations and find out what happened.
BE THE FROG
- Finally reach your life goals of becoming an actual frog!
- Catch (and eat) delicious bugs. Have another, treat yourself.
- TINY LITTLE FROGS YOU CAN CATCH AND CHASE
GENETIC ENGINEERING
- Genetically modify frogs to create weird and wonderful new species
- Grow and cultivate mushrooms with all sorts of strange effects
- Some of the frogs have tiny hats!!! GOTY contender????
SMALL FROG, BIG POND
- Utilise your frogs to uncover secrets and power your machines
- Hop between the waking + dreaming worlds to solve puzzles
- Restore the pond and its inhabitants, and find out what happened
Playtime: Mudborne will take most players 20-30 hours to finish (more if you're a completionist!
Mudborne is being created by ellraiser, one half of the indie-dev studio, TNgineers. A spiritual successor of sorts to APICO, Mudborne instead focuses on genetic manipulation and generational puzzles to create and discover all sorts of frog species, with experimentation being encouraged.
It originally started as a gamejam entry for FletchFest 2023, with the theme of ‘pond’. Ell had always joked about ‘what if APICO but frog?’ before, and this seemed a perfect opportunity to play with the concept and how to take things in a new direction.
A portion of the money made will be donated towards national and international amphibian, wetlands, and environmental charities to help keep our little green friends and their homes happy and healthy <3
You can learn more about TNgineer's charitable efforts on the website.
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux |
|---|---|
| Achievements | 77 |
| Age ratings |
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| Controller support | PlayStation, Xbox |
| Controller required | No |
| Demo | View demo on Steam |
| DLC / extras | 1 listed on Steam |
| Website | Official website |
