For now. An update coming this summer will add what I’ve been clamouring for: a creative mode. The news came as part of a revised early access roadmap shared in a Steam news post. Dorfromantik’s student developers have been focused on quality of life features since the game’s release in March, but are now turning their attention to two previously announced content updates. The first, due this summer, will contain the creative mode. It’ll let you start the game and build your countryside without a fail state, or even to play the game in the standard mode and continue it in creative mode when you reach the normal game over. This same update should hopefully bring saved games, too. A second, smaller update will then arrive in autumn or winter, with more special tiles, challenges and possibly new biomes. Finally, the game’s 1.0 release has been pushed back into early 2022, with new plans for another new game mode, community challenges and custom seeds. It’s exciting stuff to me. I played Dorfromantik and immediately loved it, but my motivation to continue playing dropped off rapidly. It does a great job of making you feel attached to your forests, puckles of homes, and the rivers winding around them, and each time the slate was wiped clean I felt less motivation to start again. Even Katharine, who loves it considerably more than me, is still desperate for a creative mode (subs only). If you want to try the IGF nominated game for yourself, Dorfromantic is currently reduced by 10% as part of the summer sale on Steam. You can also find it on GOG.
