Norland has received a few great updates and a brand-new look at game development plans. Here's a news roundup of all the recent Norland development news that you might have missed.
Norland is also part of the Hooded Horse Publisher Sale, at 50% off on Steam. Check it out, and the other games that are included in the Publisher Sale.
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Norland News Recap
Since the new year, Dmitry announced game development plans for 2026 and a couple of great updates to Norland.
In his Game Development update, Dmitry talks about developing three strategic directions heavily in 2026: progression, variety, and story generation.
Here's a recap of his planned developments in each of these areas.
Progression:
- Addressing issues where global map progression stalls when city progression stalls
- Developing city progression "upward" like a spiral
- Introducing a new threshold type based on number of craftsmen
- Adding a village management system for outsourcing basic productions like agriculture
- Adding feudalization to the global map, with appointed dukes to collect tribute and taxes, which should open up a wealth of political and economic intrigue
- Reworking the late game and shifting it to a "survival mode" in later stages
Variety:
- Developing local map generation to support 4 additional biomes and unique seasonal changes and climates
- New mechanics to support the new biomes and seasonal changes, hunting, foraging, and clay mining are already in progress
- Address global map variety by creating about a dozen hand-drawn maps with the eventual ability to import player-made maps
- Trade routes will also be added to add more interaction on the world map
- Changes to war and combat are planned to be tackled in spring-summer, watch out for a big discussion around then
- Character traits will undergo a radical overhaul, expanding the system to be more thematic and important in politics
Story Generation
- The team realized they were not making a game about society, but rather hierarchy
- A focus on generating stories about power in all its forms
- Developing new zones of influence through power, politics, and in some cases, violence
- Plans to experiment with multistage conflicts that incorporate everything discussed in this section
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1857090/announcements/detail/506224446916264643
Here is a quick round-up of the updates that have happened this year.
- Patch #46 updated map generation, added a new resource, updated public politics, and added parishes
- Patch #47 focused on the mood management of characters and added energy surges. Further, it increased transparency on item data
- Patch #48 The Big Winter Update brought what was tested in the previous two updates out of beta onto the main branch! It also addressed gameplay experience and balance
- Patch #49 is largely based on player feedback, working on balance changes, bug fixes, and other improvements
Thanks for reading the roundup!
~The Hooded Horse Team
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1857090/Norland/