Dorfromantik
Developer(s)Toukana Interactive
Publisher(s)Toukana Interactive
EngineUnity[1]
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Nintendo Switch
ReleaseMicrosoft Windows
April 28, 2022
Nintendo Switch
September 29, 2022
Genre(s)Puzzle, city-building
Mode(s)Single-player

Dorfromantik is a city-building puzzle video game developed and published by Toukana Interactive. In the game, players need to place hexagonal tiles of various biomes to create an idyllic landscape. The game was released in March 2021 for Windows via early access and had its full release on April 28, 2022. A version for Nintendo Switch was released on September 29, 2022.

Gameplay

The game involves placing hexagonal tiles that contain a combination of one or more of the following land uses, forest, barren, village, water, railroad, and field, with one land use along each side. The game begins with a barren tile and 40 new but random tiles to be placed.[2] New tiles can be rotated before placing and must touch at least one side to an existing tile, once placed the tile cannot be moved. Both water and railroad tiles have to connect to already placed water or railroad if the tile is placed next to an existing water or railroad tile, limiting the possible orientation and adding further complexity to the game.[3] Points are awarded for connecting the same land uses, special quests that involve creating an area of the same land use of a certain size, for example 10 field, and closing off an area to that land use, for example closing a forest so no new forest can be attached. Additional tiles are awarded for completing quests, closing areas, and for matching every side of a tile to the same land use on the surrounding tiles.[4] The game ends when the player runs out of tiles.[5]

A creative mode was added into the game in August 2021, allowing players to construct cities and villages with an infinite number of tiles.[6]

Development

Dorfromantik was developed by four German students studying at HTW Berlin (Luca Langenberg, Sandro Heuberger, and Zwi Zausch, and Timo Falcke). The four founded an independent studio named Toukana Interactive to work on the game. The four students began developing prototypes for their game during a game jam at Ludum Dare in April 2020, with the idea of Dorfromantik, which translates into "village romanticization", being one of them. The tiles featured in the game were inspired by board games, while the game's art style was influenced by both landscape paintings and photography.[7]

The game was released via early access on March 25, 2021.[8] While the 1.0 version of the game was initially set to be released in mid or late 2021, the release date was later pushed to early 2022 as the team needed more time to release new content prior to the game's official launch.[9] The game was released in full on April 28, 2022.[10] The Nintendo Switch version released September 29, 2022.[11]

Reception

Dorfromantik received generally positive reviews when it was released via early access.[21] For the full release, the game received "generally favorable" reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic.[12][13]

Eurogamer praised the title for being simple enough to play casually, but mastering tile placement made it compelling in the long run.[22] The Guardian liked the atmosphere of Dorfromantik, writing, "the ambience is soothing, your actions gently shooed along by a spare but cheery piano and synth soundtrack."[23] Polygon described how the game discouraged optimization, instead focusing on offering new challenges for the player to contend with saying, "This is a very clean and logical system that has been designed to produce unexpected, organic outcomes. That's an incredible achievement".[24] While enjoying the progression system, Destructoid criticized the lack of variety in the tile sets, "There are "biomes" that you can find by branching out far enough, but these merely change the colors of the trees, ground, and houses. I think it would be neat if enough village tiles would give way to more modern skyblockers".[25] Rock Paper Shotgun described the creative mode as, "particularly generous, as it lets you save those picturesque creations you've spent so long building up in both your mind and onscreen, and seeing them through to their imagined conclusion".[26]

Accolades

Year Award Category Result Refs
2021 23rd Independent Games Festival Awards Best Student Game Nominated [27]
German Computer Games Award Best Family Game Nominated [28]
Best Game Design Won
Young Talent Award Best Debut Won
2022 Steam Awards Sit Back and Relax Nominated [29]
Golden Joystick Awards Best Indie Game Nominated [30]

Board game adaptation

In 2023, a board game adaption of Dorfromantik was published by Pegasus Spiele.[31] The same year, it won the prestigious Spiel des Jahres award.[32]

References

  1. ↑ Saver, Michael (2022-12-27). "Made with Unity: 2022 in review". Unity Technologies. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  2. ↑ Loveridge, Sam (December 17, 2021). "Have you tried… a city builder without the chaos of, well, cities in Dorfromantik?". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on December 18, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  3. ↑ Livington, Christopher (March 19, 2021). "Relax, mostly, with this lovely and peaceful landscape strategy game". PC Gamer. Future plc. Archived from the original on January 7, 2022. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
  4. ↑ Purchese, Robert (May 18, 2021). "Dorfromantik review - gentle elegance from a deceptively challenging village builder". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on October 6, 2021. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
  5. ↑ Boulding, Jonathon (January 25, 2021). "Dorfromantik is a bucolic little cityscaping puzzler". PC Gamer. Future plc. Archived from the original on January 7, 2022. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
  6. ↑ Skrebels, Joe (August 27, 2021). "Relaxing Puzzler Dorfromantik Gets a Creative Mode, Out Now - Gamescom 2021". IGN. Archived from the original on August 26, 2021. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  7. ↑ Kerr, Chris (July 19, 2021). "Sparking joy through tile placement in idyllic village builder Dorfromantik". Game Developer. Archived from the original on January 21, 2022. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
  8. ↑ Boudreau, Ian (March 25, 2021). "Chill city-building game Dorfromantik is out now in Early Access". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on January 8, 2022. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  9. ↑ Harris, Iain (July 1, 2021). "Chill city-building game Dorfromantik's 1.0 gets delayed, but here's a packed roadmap". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on May 20, 2022. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
  10. ↑ Bailey, Dustin (March 24, 2022). "Chill city builder Dorfromantik properly launches next month". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on June 3, 2022. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
  11. ↑ "Dorfromantik". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 19 October 2022. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  12. 1 2 "Dorfromantik for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on April 30, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  13. 1 2 "Dorfromantik for Switch Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on October 19, 2022. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  14. ↑ Handley, Zoey (April 28, 2022). "Review: Dorfromantik". Destructoid. Archived from the original on September 6, 2022. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
  15. ↑ Stewart, Marcus (October 3, 2022). "Dorfromantik Review". Game Informer. GameStop Corp. Archived from the original on October 19, 2022. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  16. ↑ Rabenstein, Wolfgang (April 24, 2022). "Exklusivtest: In Dorfromantik baut ihr eure perfekte Welt und wollt nie wieder weg" [Exclusive review: In Dorfromantik you build your perfect world and never want to leave]. GameStar. Webedia. Archived from the original on May 19, 2022. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
  17. ↑ Vogel, Mitch (October 15, 2022). "Mini Review: Dorfromantik - A Perfectly Peaceful Puzzler That Soothes The Soul". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on November 4, 2022. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  18. ↑ Ronaghan, Neal (September 30, 2022). "Dorfromantik (Switch) Review". Nintendo World Report. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  19. ↑ Shaver, Morgan (May 3, 2022). "Dorfromantik review: Peaceful puzzler that makes you feel right at home". Shacknews. Archived from the original on May 11, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  20. ↑ Musgrave, Shaun (October 4, 2022). "SwitchArcade Round-Up: Reviews Featuring 'Dorfromantik' and 'Dropsy', Plus the Latest Reviews and Sales". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on October 19, 2022. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  21. ↑ Clark, Nicole (March 26, 2021). "'Dorfromantik' Turns City-Building into a Beautiful Series of Puzzles". Vice. Vice Media Group LLC. Archived from the original on May 22, 2022. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
  22. ↑ Purchese, Robert (2021-05-18). "Dorfromantik review - gentle elegance from a deceptively challenging village builder". Eurogamer.net. Archived from the original on 2022-10-21. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  23. ↑ "Dorfromantik review – the simple pleasures of world-building". the Guardian. 2021-05-01. Archived from the original on 2022-05-29. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  24. ↑ Welsh, Oli (2022-04-30). "Dorfromantik's masterful minimalism will soothe your soul". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2022-07-12. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  25. ↑ Handley, Zoey (28 April 2022). "Review: Dorfromantik". Destructoid. Archived from the original on 28 April 2022. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  26. ↑ Castle, Katharine (2022-04-28). "Dorfromantik review: the best strategy puzzler two years in a row". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on 2022-08-01. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  27. ↑ Knoop, Joseph (May 8, 2021). "Genesis Noir, Spiritfarer, and Paradise Killer Lead IGF Award Nominations". IGN. Archived from the original on September 7, 2022. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
  28. ↑ "Dorfromantik". Deutscher Computerspielpreis (in German). Archived from the original on December 3, 2021. Retrieved October 5, 2021.
  29. ↑ Murray, Sean (22 December 2021). "Valve Announces Steam Awards Nominees". The Gamer. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  30. ↑ Loveridge, Sam (2022-11-22). "Here are all the Golden Joystick Awards 2022 winners". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on 2022-11-23. Retrieved 2022-11-26.
  31. ↑ "Dorfromantik - The Boardgame". Pegasus Spiele North America. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  32. ↑ Welsh, Oli (18 July 2023). "Dorfromantik: The Board Game wins the 2023 Spiel des Jahres award". Polygon. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
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