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# Every bench in Helsinki Online sits where it really is
- URL: https://www.killscreen.com/every-bench-in-helsinki-online-sits-where-it-really-is/
- Published: 2026-08-29T00:00:16.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-29T00:01:27.000Z
- Description: Pietari Niinimäki is rebuilding the city as an open-world hangout, one tree at a time.
- Author: Kill Screen Staff
- Tags: Helsinki Online, Pietari Niinimäki, Helsinki, finland, open world, steam, artificial intelligence

"I actually saw this in a dream," the caption says, over [a reel](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcMAmDClMxW/?ref=killscreen.com) of a bathtub flying above Helsinki, heat distortion shimmering off its rim. That's the development philosophy of *Helsinki Online* in one image: Pietari Niinimäki, the game's solo developer, describes the project as a vehicle for building whatever idea arrives and sharing it immediately.

Underneath the absurdism is a work of obsessive civic fidelity. [*Helsinki Online*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/4958560/Helsinki%5FOnline/?ref=killscreen.com) recreates the real city as an open-world hangout—every tree, bench, bin, and path exactly where it really is, by the developer's own accounting. You roam on foot, behind the wheel, or in the air, as a human or as a goose, and the multiplayer ambitions run to building a sauna ferry with friends and sailing the archipelago. It's wishlistable now, with a Steam release date currently set for February 2027\. The pleasure on offer is recognition: this is a game whose whole appeal, for its home audience, is that the streets are their streets.

It's a big ask for a solo developer at the smallest possible scale—one person, one city, one lost sale at a time. The civic-specificity genre is having a moment—we just covered [Mexico City's street legends rendered as game characters](https://www.killscreen.com/mexico-city-street-legends-turn-up-as-low-poly-game-skins/)—and Helsinki's version now doubles as a test case for how much process talk an audience wants with its play.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/2026/08/helsinki-s1.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/2026/08/helsinki-s2.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/2026/08/helsinki-s3.jpg)

**Helsinki Online*. Screenshots: Pietari Niinimäki

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