
Step into a quiet, abandoned Ukrainian village, left empty after the Calamity. In this short, meditative, and melancholic journey, you’ll rekindle the hearths of deserted homes, restoring warmth and hope to the families who once lived here.
Modeled estimate, not a reported figure. How we estimate →
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About
The Calamity devastated this small village, stripping it of laughter, voices, and life. You play as a character determined to repair the damage, clean up the homes, and rekindle their hearths — creating comfort so the villagers are no longer afraid to return.

The village has 5 houses. Each one needs to be restored — sometimes with a hammer, sometimes with a broom or a screwdriver. Some repairs also require drawing special "gestures".
Once the house is cleaned and the fire is burning in the stove, you have to wait a little. The residents are about to return. You will have the opportunity to listen to their stories.

Back to Hearth is a game about more than just cleaning houses — it’s about uncovering the lives once lived within them. Each home holds memories, belongings, amulets, and other details that gradually reveal the villagers’ stories. Some of these items are added to your Collections after interaction, which you can view anytime in the main menu.

short game - 1 hour of playtime
melancholic fall atmosphere
setting of an Eastern European village, specifically a Ukrainian village
casual meditative gameplay
opportunity to eat apples, grapes, and raspberries
opportunity to chase after chickens
personal and household items that allow you to learn more about the residents
collections (search in the main menu)
graphic stylization, like in games of the 2000s
Genres
Stats
All-time low is the lowest price we've recorded for this game since we started tracking it.
Languages: English, Ukrainian, German, Polish, Portuguese - Brazil, French, Spanish - Spain, Japanese, Portuguese - Portugal, Spanish - Latin America
Engagement
Hours played at review time, across 41 reviews with recorded playtime.
Reviews
Themes across 41 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
Reviews
Дуже сподобалося. Tayemnakimnata.com рекомендує.
ОЦЕНКА: 2 / 5 Крутая стилистика, занимательная идея, но игра скучная. Играл с украинским языком, что не помешало пройти даже без гуглежа некоторых непонятных слов.
Loved this lil game! So cozy and the story was cute This indie studio has really talented people <3
Дуже душевна гра , у якої є тільки один недолік - тривалість. З такою атмосферою та медитативним ігровим процесом я б з великим задоволенням провів би годин 5-7 щонайменше.
Чудова коротка гра
It’s been a very long time since I’ve taken a long trip somewhere foreign, very strange, maybe cold. Though no matter how wonderful the experience was, I never forgot the feeling of coming home. To walk through my front door and just be warm. Back to Hearth is that warmth. A sub-two-hour experience that I first thought was going to be akin to their subsequent game, Dread Fields, which I had played first, and is itself a cozy, slow-burning horror. Coming back and now playing Back to Hearth heightened the looming dread I had already set for it, and seeing it slowly melt away into the warmth of cleanliness and community was truly something. I’m an American with little perspective or understanding of Ukrainian, steppe, and small-town culture, yet every second of Back to Hearth oozed what I can only see now, as the Ukrainian Experience: Community, folklore, getting by with scarcity after being forced to relocate, and the heart that life that steels, the quaintness of a small, cramped, warm home where privacy is practically impossible. Every collectible sucked me in with its history, as they’re all trinkets and small parts of Ukrainian life: toys, wards, instruments, and the arts. I found myself stopping mid-playthrough to simply look up the item online, something I would seemingly never care to do in another game, because it was more than just a stupid collectible to tick a box; it was life. I found myself getting lost in the stories I was first creating for these homes, before lighting a flame and learning its true form. Despite being repetitive, with cleaning actions requiring the same three wrist strokes, I barely cared for anything negative that wasn’t the fascinating unraveling of this setting. A deep appreciation to the team over at Podoba Interactive for allowing me to experience a side of life I never really considered.
коротенька але душевна. до сліз
Душевно
I loved this game! Pastel colors and peaceful, relaxing atmosphere! In its simplicity, it conveys so much and helps you understand the meaning of life through its small yet important details! This development team is truly EXCEPTIONAL!! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Ich war nicht auf die emotionale Ebene dieses Spiels vorbereitet. Gerade jetzt in 2026 hittet es umso mehr. Ich finde gerade irgendwie keine Worte, aber ich würde es allen Menschen empfehlen. Die wichtigsten Thematiken: Trauer und der Umgang damit. Weiterzumachen und die Kraft zu finden neu anzufangen. Aus den Erinnerungen etwas neues und schönes zu schaffen und das Leben zu feiern. Es gibt einem Hoffnung und spendet Trost.
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Trends
Concurrent players on Steam, sampled daily since tracking started.
Audience
Estimated from the language of this game's reviews — a proxy for where players are, not official Steam demographics.
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