Hawthorn, the adorable sandbox RPG headed by talent who worked on Skyrim and other big RPG titles, has been up on Kickstarter for just one day – but it's already raised over $100,000.
The upcoming RPG life sim mash-up made rounds online when it was first unveiled nearly a year ago, but its crowdfunding page on Kickstarter didn't go live until yesterday. It's been in progress for a little while, however, standing as the title that is set to be NEARstudios' debut game. The studio itself is made up of "passionate creatives with extensive AAA experience" on series like Dragon Age, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Mass Effect, and more.
Hawthorn also boasts voice talent like The Witcher 3's own Doug Cockle, the actor behind Geralt in CD Projekt Red's iconic RPG. As for its gameplay, it feels like something straight out of a fairy tale storybook, with woodland creatures, village building mechanics, crafting, decorating, farming, fishing, and foraging – I'm not sure what's more whimsical between the anthropomorphic forest animals and little fairy beings myself.
Much like in Stardew Valley, there are plenty of challenges, events, season changes, and even combat to overcome, too. The character customization looks downright adorable as well, letting users transform themselves into animals with unique abilities to unlock along the way. Players can also choose to enjoy Hawthorn either alone or alongside friends, as it supports both co-op and single-player modes.
If you're just as thrilled by the idea of stepping into Hawthorn's enchanting world and seeing what the brilliant minds behind RPG bangers like Skyrim have to offer the wholesome gaming world, you can wishlist the upcoming game on Steam now. There's no release date set in stone just yet, but so far, it's set to release on PC with a future goal "to make this game multi-platform" should the Kickstarter prove successful enough.
Here are some of the other most exciting new games this year and beyond to keep an eye on.
