News from Windermere. 📜🖋️ After a short delay, we’re finally adding our next wave of players to our Hawthorn playtest today August 31st! Kickstarter backers and Ko-Fi supporters of the Homesteader tier, Steward tier, and Legend tier please keep an eye on your email for your invite and instructions. We took a little bit longer working on some performance issues with this latest build, so thank…
Exciting news from Windermere! Today we’re rolling out a playtest of the latest build of the game for our backers on Kickstarter. While we’re starting with backers of the Scrivener and Forerunner tiers, we’ll slowly be adding access to new waves of players, so keep an eye out for updates from us either via email, or in our official Hawthorn Discord . We’re incredibly excited to have players jum…
Quick Update ahead of the Make-A-Wish news: We have a little more than 24 hours to play the Hawthorn Proof-of-Concept demo as part of Next Fest. If you haven't had a chance to jump in and experience the earliest build of Hawthorn, now is the chance! Next Fest ends June 22nd at 1pm ET. Now on to the good stuff! At NEARstudios, we believe games can bring people together and make a positive impact…
SNEAK PEEK: NEW ANIMATIONS We just posted a blog update on the PlayHawthorn website showing some of the new animations and locomotion improvements for all 3 characters that exist in our current game build and our Village Council will get hands on with soon! We can't embed the video in this post because Steam doesn't allow us to embed Youtube Shorts. So you'll have to head over to our website if…
Next Fest is live and this week only the public will get the chance to see where the development for Hawthorn started several years back. Download and play Hawthorn's Proof-of-Concept Demo to see the prototype version that the developers sent to publishers to receive funding offers and to greenlight the project. This is not a build that is a nearly finished product nearing launch, this is the o…
Big News: Hawthorn will be in Steam's June Next Fest! This means that the Hawthorn Proof-of-Concept Demo is available to the public on Hawthorn's Steam page for you and all your friends and family to play together for free . It will remain live throughout Steam Next Fest which starts June 15th-22nd ! You are invited to download the demo as of right now from the Hawthorn Steam page and to jump i…
Endangered Species Day Announcement To recognize Endangered Species Day, we have an exciting teaser announcement! In the near future, players will have the opportunity to reserve 3 exclusive playable characters inspired by endangered species from the real world. Each character is being designed to feel at home within the world of Hawthorn, with their own unique aesthetic and backgrounds. These…
UPDATE ON THIS PAST WEEKEND'S PROOF-OF-CONCEPT PLAYTEST We know that hundreds of individuals (mostly 2x Kickstarter tiers, add-on keys and some late Ko-Fi supporters) didn't receive Hawthorn's Proof-of-Concept playtest keys. We apologize that so many supporters couldn’t get into this weekend's playtest. We even heard of people taking time off work to play and not being able to receive the keys…
Exciting News! Village Council Playtest for the Hawthorn Proof-of-Concept Demo starts on May Day. So that means all of our backers on Kickstarter and Ko-Fi will get access to the earliest version of Hawthorn this Friday, May 1st at 11am EST and ends Sunday, May 3rd at 10pm ET. For more info, please see our latest update on the Hawthorn website: We will have more playtests in the coming weeks, s…
Huge Milestone Reached! Hawthorn flew past 400,000 wishlists and is about to cross 415,000 ! We’re currently sitting at #103 on Steam’s Most Wishlisted Games and this is the closest we’ve ever been to breaking into the Top 100 . This is a huge milestone for an independently bootstrapped team and we’re almost there. Let’s see if we can carry Hawthorn into the Top 100 together! Share with your fr…
Today, we revealed the new world map for Hawthorn! Adam Flores, our Lead Environment Artist and the rest of the team have been hard at work getting the official map and all the systems up to parity with the old temporary map from Hawthorn's Proof-of-Concept demo that you may have seen a few creators playing a few months ago. Check out the new map at the link below: Note: Steam doesn't allow us…
AN IMPORTANT NOTE FROM THE TEAM First off, thank you for your patience, support, and continued enthusiasm for Hawthorn. We’ve been deep in the work over the last few months, and we wanted to share a bit more about what we’ve been building toward and where things stand. You may have noticed we’ve been quieter than usual. That wasn’t by accident and it definitely wasn’t from a lack of momentum. W…
We’re excited to announce that Hawthorn has been invited to the Midwinter Spirits Steam Event ! Whether you’re drawn by curious creatures, ancient fairytales, or the promise of warm fires on cold nights, we’d be honored to have you join our little lakeside hamlet! Wishlist Hawthorn on Steam: It guides more travelers to our village and helps us grow this enchanted world!
Hello Villagers, We’re delighted to share that Hawthorn will be featured in the Endix Expo this weekend! The expo brings together some of the most exciting upcoming indie games, and we’re honored to stand among them. If you stop by the Hawthorn booth , you might notice a few glowing terminals... we have a little surprise waiting for the first 200 visitors who interact with them! Whether you’re…
Only 30 minutes left to get the exclusive Hawthorn Kickstarter rewards. After 10pm EDT tonight the Pledge Manager will close and Hawthorn's Kickstarter campaign will conclude. Click the green "Join the Adventure" button on the Hawthorn Kickstarter page to select a tier that speaks to you! Thank you to all our amazing backers who are making this game a reality and allowing our small team to keep…
Hello Villagers, We are officially closing the Hawthorn Kickstarter Pledge Manager on Monday, September 22nd at 10pm EDT . What does this mean? For Potential New Kickstarter Backers : This is the FINAL chance to back Hawthorn's Kickstarter campaign and get the game's exclusive rewards! If you have been considering the idea of supporting the project, this is your moment. Come join the adventure!…
We're down to the final 30 minutes of Hawthorn’s Late Pledge campaign and this is the last chance to get the exclusive Kickstarter rewards. We just hit our Village Morale Stretch Goal! We can't wait to share more about how this feature will work. This community's support during this final phase has been amazing, and we’re on the verge of making even more of Hawthorn a reality. We truly are buil…
Late Pledges for Hawthorn will end on Friday, July 11th at 4pm ET. Less than 72 hours before Hawthorn’s Kickstarter Late Pledge campaign ends ! Last chance to secure the exclusive Kickstarter in-game items and be a part of our early Village Council community with the “ Kickstarter Supporter ” role and your chosen tiered Discord role, as well as other exciting rewards! We are so thankful to our…
Wow! We’ve shot past our $400,000 USD Kickstarter stretch goal well before the end of the campaign today! The Kickstarter is more than 200% funded! This means Hawthorn will have housing. Thank you so much, dear backers, for inviting your friends and contacts and making this possible! Now, you and your villagers will be able to claim those little animal cottages, nestled among the roots of the g…
Hawthorn’s Kickstarter has come a long way in three short weeks! We’ve not only reached our initial funding goal, but have also unlocked three more goals! With your support, we will now be adding: · Tameable Hummingbird pets · Foundational gameplay for Spring, Summer, Winter, and Fall · A main story chapter: “Hawthorn House” We’re overwhelmed by the momentum so far, but the journey is not over…
NEARstudios is excited to announce that we are participating in the first-ever Green Games Showcase on June 7th at 1pm PT, in partnership with the non-profit PlanetPlay and the Steam Summer Game Fest 2025 ! The showcase will happen the Game Awards YouTube channel . Our Green Games Showcase YouTube Short Announcement Please help reforestation and conservation efforts by sharing our YouTube short…
NEARstudios is proud (and yes, a little terrified) to announce the launch of the Hawthorn Kickstarter campaign! Hawthorn is our passion project set in a realm where humble woodland fairytale creatures chase adventure. Where ancient myths seemingly stir just beneath the moss and roots, and where stories and rumors grow like ivy. Hawthorn is part epic adventure, part cozy day-in-the-life told thr…
Hawthorn will premiere a brand new trailer with NEARstudios developers discussing never before seen gameplay footage at Future Games Show this coming Thursday, March 20th at 4pm EST. The trailer will help promote our upcoming Kickstarter . Please tune in and follow our Kickstarter page to be the first to see our early bird offers and exclusive content when the Kickstarter goes live! Here's the…
We are excited to reveal that we are bringing Hawthorn to Kickstarter! Our Kickstarter Coming Soon page is live and will be premiered later today during the Women-Led Games Showcase - The Game Awards Edition! Please follow us on this Kickstarter journey as we build this nostalgic world for all to enjoy! Please click the " Notify me on Launch " button on the Kickstarter page to receive a notific…
Hey everyone! We’re thrilled to share that we'll be hosting our first-ever developer Q&A session in our Discord server on Dec. 10th from 3:00 - 4:00 PM EST! Our Director of Community & Creator Relations and host for this event, Andy Belford, will be joined by the following panel guests for this initial session focused on who we are as a studio: • Heather Cerlan, Co-Founder & CEO • Jason Richard…
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Announcements are the developer’s own posts to the game’s Steam news feed: updates and their patch notes, in-game events, releases and sales. The important ones are marked on the players chart.