Dorfromantik – First look

Adorable and full of charm, Dorfromantik is a lovely hex tile placement town-builder game. Dorfromantik is designed for casual play and would probably work well as a mobile game. To begin the game, you start with a set of tiles to place. Gain points for good placement and get more tiles by completing quests. The game is over when you run out of tiles.

I didn’t understand the quest system properly to begin with and had to go back to the tutorial, but it’s quite simple once you get into it. The tutorial does a good job at explaining how to play, and in the recent early access release, you’ll unlock a tile! Some of the tiles will have a quest on them; it might be to have a certain amount of trees or houses in a clump or have a certain amount of rail tiles together. Once you complete the quest you’ll gain additional tiles, when you’re getting low they’re a welcome reward.

If you’re looking for more information on how to get started in the game or a bit confused on how to play, check out my video where I play through a run, explaining the quest system and tile placement along the way:

Dorfromantik lets you play at your own pace and, mostly, place tiles wherever you like. The exception is water and rail tiles which can only be placed next to other water and rail tiles. This gives you a level of freedom to make your charming little village look how you’d like, dependent on the draw of the tiles. You will start with 40 tiles and play until they run out, fortunately, you’ll gain tiles as you complete quests. This allows you to make a sprawling, beautiful village!

The art style is lovely, filled with cozy houses and lush forests. Trains traverse across rail tiles and boats journey through the rivers, and it’s just all so charming! I can’t wait to see what other environments the full release has in store for us.

When I first opened up Dorfromantik, I thought I’d just play one game and see how it goes. I ended up playing multiple games over an hour or so, learning more about the best placement of the tiles each time. Its charming, combat-free style is a huge draw for me. I can imagine playing it to relax after a long day.

While I knew it was played on a hex tile system, I didn’t know you placed the tiles like cards. This makes it feel more like my creation and I love seeing the big villages emerge or the windmills rotating over the crops. I’m excited to see how development progresses and play the full release. The early access version has a good chunk of content though, and worth buying now.

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Platform: PC (Steam & Gog)
Genres: Strategy, puzzle, relaxing, casual, simulation