A group of developers formerly at Bethesda, BioWare, and Naughty Dog are joining forces for a new RPG — but if you’re picturing something that resembles the games from their old studios, you’re in for a surprise. Rather than an action-packed epic spanning a fantasy continent or an entire solar system, the upcoming Hawthorn is about a group of adorable mice galavanting around a cozy little village and throwing feasts. And I, for one, am glad for the change of pace.
Along with developers with games like Mass Effect, Fallout, and League of Legends, Hawthorn developer NEARStudios’ staff includes Bruce Nesmith, the lead designer of Skyrim. Rather than repeat anything its members have made in the past, NEARStudios is aiming for a very different experience, and potentially a different audience, for its first release. Rather than a sword-swinging barbarian, you’ll play as one of a variety of woodland creatures in Hawthorn. NEARStudios says the game is inspired by “Victorian-era European fairytales and the spirit of 80’s and 90’s adventure stories featuring anthropomorphic animals.” So while it doesn’t actually name Redwall, we can guess at the references used.
NEARStudios describes Hawthorn as a sandbox RPG that can be played solo or in both local and online multiplayer. Borrowing from farming sims like Stardew Valley, its gameplay will include gathering, crafting, and socializing with a variety of NPCs. Combat will be an option in the finished game, but it’s not on display at all in the reveal trailer that gives us our first look at Hawthorn.
What is on display is a lot of flying, fishing, and feasting. We see a weasel diving into a river to nab a fish, and later on, an enterprising mouse hop on the back of a crow to scoop one up from above. NEARStudios says we’ll be open to play as a variety of woodland critters, so the few shown in the trailer may be joined by other furry friends later.
It’s not clear entirely what the arc of the game will look like, or what exactly you’re trying to accomplish in your adorable looking glade aside from surviving. Hawthorn will feature the changing seasons, so while things look quite cozy in its debut, you could be facing a considerably more dire situation come winter. According to the developer, players can even get out of work they don’t want to do by asking NPCs to complete tasks for them. So if you want to spend your days flying around the world on the back of an owl or fishing with your weasel bestie, your NPC companions can take care of the xTfarming back home.
From what’s been shown off, though, Hawthorn appears to be a largely social affair, or at least provide opportunities for plenty of parties if that’s how you choose to play. It’s clear that the multiplayer component of Hawthorn is getting a lot of attention. So far, we can see multiple players working together to gather and cook food, build a picnic table and chairs several times their own size, and lay out their feast to enjoy together. There’s also a lively bit of drinking and dancing, and an activity I can only describe as owl basketball, with a handful of birds trying to dunk an acorn through a vertical hoop. Oh, and a lot of the game’s critters are wearing jaunty little hats, just in case the whole thing wasn’t cute enough already.
Hawthorn doesn’t have a release date yet, or even a potential window. There’s a good deal of jank in the trailer, with clear placeholder text and some wonky animations, so it’s no surprise that the full release may not be coming for a while. When it does, though, Hawthorn looks like it could be the cozy delight fans of life sims have been waiting for.
