Be a part of the community supporting Hawthorn and bringing it to life!
Please support the development team bringing Hawthorn to life by pre-ordering the game on Ko-Fi. This helps our bootstrapped team stay focused on building this co-op sandbox RPG sim passion project alongside our amazing community. It allows us maintain the creative vision by staying independent for as long as possible and gets you a spot in our Village Council where you’ll get unprecedented exclusive behind-the-scenes access where you’ll help shape the direction of the game!
Wait hold on! Before you decide whether to support Hawthorn, we’d actually like you to play a slice of the game right now, if you haven’t already. What you’ll be playing is Hawthorn’s Proof-of-Concept Demo. Starting now through the end of Steam Next Fest, which starts June 15th and ends the 22nd, you can jump in and immerse yourself in the wonderful world of Hawthorn, but first we need to provide some context.
This is not a beta, alpha, or not even a pre-alpha. This is the earliest prototype version of Hawthorn from more than a year ago, a pre-production build, a similar version that we sent to publishers to explore potential partnerships and funding terms. This old ‘Proof-of-Concept’ demo was intended to portray the vibe of Hawthorn as a starting point and to spark imaginations of what Hawthorn can become. The build we used to test our ideas, start assembling the foundation, and figure out whether this quirky little experiment could actually become a unique and meaningful experience for everyone.
It’s rough in places. It’s missing features and content and it doesn’t fully represent the Hawthorn we’re building today or the ambitious vision for the future. But we think that’s what makes it special. Most people only get to see the mostly finished product, but we’re inviting you to see where things started and as a member of the Village Council, you’ll get a glimpse of where Hawthorn is headed.
While this demo represents an earlier chapter in development, we’ve been working on a separate branch of the game for the last year. Our current game build is much further along than this version, and in the months ahead we’ll invite members to play, share feedback, ask questions, and help shape the road ahead. More than anything, this is about building Hawthorn together. Join us in proving that ambitious worlds don’t need massive studios to exist. With a strong community, a small independent team, and a big collective dream, we can build something truly special.
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We’re NEARstudios, a small independent team of former Bethesda and BioWare developers self-funding and crowdfunding the game we’ve always wanted to exist. When we left AAA development, we weren’t chasing a trend or trying to fit into a category, we were chasing a dream. We wanted to build an immersive game that we could play with our family and friends that encouraged people with different playstyles and different skill levels to work together towards shared goals and progression while doing the things in the moment-to-moment that they enjoy individually.
A game that combined freedom, adventure, exploration and player-driven stories within an ambitious RPG but with the warmth and sense of community found in village-building and life sim games that you can play with your friends and family
A world where woodland animals build homes, form friendships, pick up jobs and hobbies, go on adventures, have fun, get into trouble, and form stories that are unique to them. One where rich lore and storybook fantasy has been established for more than 10 years through unpublished short stories that were orginally inspired by folklore and classic fairytales.
This long-term dream is Hawthorn. If this sounds like something you would enjoy, please come along on this journey to build this dream game, one that we hope to expand for a very long time with your help!
Learn more and meet a few of our developers in this video:
Many players, creators, and journalists have described it as “Skyrim meets Stardew Valley,” and while that’s a useful shorthand, our goal has always been to create something that feels uniquely its own. A cooperative sandbox RPG where your story emerges from the choices you make, the creatures you meet, and the life you build in the world.
Here’s Twitch streamers sharing their impressions of the Hawthorn Proof-of-Concept Demo, which you can play right now on Steam!
Today, Hawthorn has grown far beyond what we imagined before we first announced it. Hundreds of thousands of players have wishlisted the game. Tens of millions of people have organically watched and engaged with videos and streams.
Press Coverage:
Madmorph’s Viral Hawthorn Post:
The trailer that got people excited:
We’ve received publishing offers and opportunities that once felt impossible for a small team like ours, but at its heart, Hawthorn is still what it has always been: an independent passion project built by a small team that believes there is still room for games that take risks, surprise people, and feel a little different all while being built alongside a community. That’s where you come in. We need your help to keep building Hawthorn and bring this charming world to life!
We’re asking for support because we are hoping to keep expanding Hawthorn while remaining independent for as long as possible. Every dollar helps us spend more time building the game and less time talking to publishers and investors. It helps us grow the world, add new features, build relationship with our community the way we want, and continue preserving the creative vision that brought so many people here in the first place.
In a lot of ways, this campaign is about protecting something small and helping it grow. That’s a theme you’ll see throughout Hawthorn. And it’s a theme you’ll see in some of the real-world animals we’re supporting through this campaign as well.
You can directly support our team by pre-ordering your copy of Hawthorn and other goodies ahead of Steam Early Access. There are a few bundles for you to consider on our Ko-Fi.com page.
One bundle is for pre-order that includes a Steam Key, Soundtrack, Art Book, The Endangered Species Collection, and Village Council access.
This pre-order bundle brings together everything we’re building around Hawthorn in one place. Click the button below to learn more:
If you want to pre-order just the Steam Key with Village Council access, this one is for you:
One of our favorite bundles is inspired by three remarkable real world endangered animals: The Hairy-Nosed Otter, The Forest Owlet, And Gould’s Mouse
The Hairy-Nosed Otter
The Forest Owlet
Gould’s Mouse
At different points in history, all three were believed to be extinct or lost from the wild. Some disappeared for decades, others for more than a century. People thought they were gone and then they were found again. Living quietly in forests, river systems, and wild places that still need protection. When we learned about these critters, their story stayed with us.
These remarkable animals stand as symbols of resilience, hope, and the importance of protecting small things that matter. They remind us that sometimes meaningful things in the world are small, vulnerable, and often overlooked. There’s something hopeful about the idea that a thing can be thought lost, only to be re-discovered after it’s been enduring quietly.
When you reserve The Endangered Species Collection, you’re helping us continue independently building Hawthorn while also helping to protect the habitats that inspired so much of the world we’re creating. A portion of proceeds from the bundle will be donated to The Nature Conservancy and their forest conservation efforts that support wildlife and preserving the habitats that these animals call home.
It’s a small way for us to give back to the natural world that inspired Hawthorn, while celebrating three animals whose stories remind us that rare things are worth protecting.
Every backer becomes part of Hawthorn’s Village Council. For us, that means opening the doors and building this game alongside the community that believes in it. Village Council members will receive behind-the-scenes development updates, early looks at new features, access to development builds, and opportunities to share feedback as Hawthorn continues to evolve.
One of the things we’re excited about is giving people the chance to compare the older proof-of-concept demo with the current development build that we are working on now and will give backers access to throughout development. Over the coming months, you’ll get to see the progress continue in real time. As we expand systems, add content, improve gameplay, and grow the world, you’ll be there with us helping to shape the future of Hawthorn through feedback, providing ideas, and voting on questions we pose to the Village Council.
Hawthorn was able to successfully fund its Kickstarter last summer because of an incredible community that believed in this world from the very beginning. To our nearly 5,500 backers: thank you. Your support allowed us to keep moving forward, and your trust is something we never take for granted. Quite simply, Hawthorn would not exist without you.
Since then, we’ve continued building the game while carefully navigating one of the most challenging periods the game industry has faced in years. Along the way, we’ve turned down publishing offers that didn’t feel fair or aligned with our vision. Protecting the creative heart of Hawthorn, our team, and our community remains incredibly important to us. If we ever choose to partner with a publisher, it will be one that genuinely understands what we’re building and shares our commitment to a collaborative and player-focused future.
In the spirit of transparency, we’re now asking for the community’s help once again as we move into the next phase of development. We’ve chosen to take a risk and continue building Hawthorn independently, trusting that the people who believe in this world will help us bring its next chapter to life.
From the start, we’ve approached development one milestone at a time, growing sustainably and building a strong foundation before expanding further. That philosophy has shaped not only our development strategy but the world of Hawthorn itself. Because of this approach, we’ll be releasing what we’re calling Hawthorn’s “Prologue” into Early Access sooner than many might expect.
Sign up to be the first to learn about release dates:
Your adventure begins in Windermere Village, a charming yet mysterious corner of the Wealderlands where woodland creatures have carved out a peaceful home. As Hawthorn grows, so will the world around them. New regions, stories, and adventures will gradually open beyond the village as its residents become more established, more confident, and brave enough to venture beyond the familiar paths of their woodland home.
Today, we’re inviting you to help us bring that future to life while allowing us to remain creatively independent. By joining the Village Council, you’ll gain an inside look at development, early access to builds, direct communication with the team, and opportunities to help shape the game through feedback and testing.
It hasn’t always been easy, and our current Village Council members know there have been challenges along the way. Through it all, we’ve done our best to remain honest and transparent about where we are, where we’re headed, and what it will take to get there. We haven’t stopped working to create a rich fantasy world that players can truly call home.
When you support Hawthorn, you’ll get to see the game’s journey firsthand: where it began, where it’s headed, and how it evolves along the way. More importantly, you’ll become part of the community helping shape that future.
We’re incredibly proud of how far Hawthorn has come, but this is only the opening pages of the story. We hope you’ll join the Village Council and help us build the world of Hawthorn together!
Here’s Hawthorn’s Kickstarter Trailer if you want to learn more about gameplay and our roadmap:
To join the Village Council today, please support Hawthorn on Ko-Fi!
