Hearth and Hamlet

This is my first ever game review, but I really felt like I had to write this one and warn other players about the game. The game is very short - around 10 hours of slow, relaxed gameplay, without rushing, on “Challenging” mode. For the price, that’s definitely not enough. Once you finish the game, that’s basically it. There is an option to keep playing, but there’s no real reason to do so because there are no challenges or anything meaningful left to do. It honestly feels like the game is unfinished. There’s no proper endless mode or anything similar. Visually, there’s also a noticeable lack of consistency. Different parts of the game use completely different pixel styles: Characters on the main map - no pixel art Map and buildings - small pixels Some parts of the GUI - medium-sized pixels The research book - extremely large pixels There are also no shadows on the characters and some objects, which makes the visuals feel even more basic. Overall, pretty much everything is extremely simplified and basic. Unfortunately, I was really disappointed with this game. I’ll check back from time to time, and if the game gets into a better state, I’ll gladly change or remove this review. I really hope the developers continue working on it, because I think the game has potential.

This game seems relaxing, but its actually boring and even a little bit annoying. Roughly 30% of the gameplay is actual management, while the other 70% consists of holding down the mouse button to collect resources. Watching a number increase while holding your mouse button isn't exactly engaging. The gameplay loop goes something like this: - unlock something (+-1 minute) - holding the mousebutton (+- 5 minutes) - unlock something (+-1 minute) - holding the mousebutton (+- 5 minutes) - unlock something (+-1 minute) - holding the mousebutton (+- 5 minutes) - a little bit of management (less than 1 minute) - unlock something (+-1 minute) - holding the mousebutton (+- 5 minutes) - unlock something (+-1 minute) - holding the mousebutton (+- 5 minutes) -... I was expecting a relaxing management game, but instead I spent most of my time holding the mouse button and waiting for resources to accumulate.

I would 100% recommend the game(and willing to change if the game evolves) if: - I would be able to at least have some sort of involvement in how my town looks like - Able to play different styles.(e.g. more economical drriven, military play style, trading and political style or whatever) - Some kind of replayability...like... at all. The game has one single outcome, plays in a single possible way and every town looks identical. The player has no opportunity to decide on anything (apart from not upgrading thus losing fights) - It wasn't so short. I really proolongued the gameplay by doing all the possible upgrades between the missions. Pros: - The soundtracks are really good - I love the graphics style I don't regret the money I spent on the game, perhaps my expectations were too high.

I bought the game expecting to enjoy a relaxing city-building game. Graphic-wise it’s an eye catcher with all the lovely details, sadly that’s the only positive aspect. I’d hoped that, as a player, you’d have more freedom to build the city on your own. Instead, everything is predetermined for a specific location and you spend most of your time gathering the necessary resources. You can either let the game run its course by assigning workers do it for you or you can just mindlessly click a button to speed the whole thing up. I found that too boring in the long run and eventually decided to ask for a refund. There are certainly people who enjoy this game but unfortunately I’m not one of them.

很平庸的游戏，升级顺序几乎被规划好了，人口升级慢，找升级点很麻烦，贸易换地方还要看个移动动画，玩起来几乎没有啥策略性。还有两个成就也很傻逼，就这种游戏还指望我去重玩二周目吗？

🏡 **An Incremental Game Wearing a City Builder's Clothes — And a Very Good One** Let's get something out of the way first. **Hearth and Hamlet is an incremental game first and a city builder second.** I think that's quite important, because I've seen some players approaching this expecting the freedom and customisation of something like Foundation or Banished and then being disappointed that they can't place every individual building exactly where they want it. That's not really what Hearth and Hamlet is trying to be. The buildings have predetermined positions. Your settlement develops in a particular way. You're not designing the perfect medieval town from scratch. And personally? **I was absolutely fine with that.** Because I came here for the incremental progression, and that's where Hearth and Hamlet is at its best. I've now completed the game **twice**, with each playthrough taking me around 14 hours. The first time was on Easy. The second time I moved up a difficulty level and played the entire thing again. There was actually supposed to be a practical reason for that second playthrough — my first recording had developed an annoying flicker thanks to an OBS issue, so I needed to record the whole game again. Apparently my solution to losing a 14-hour recording was: **“Fine. I'll play the entire game again. And make it harder this time.”** 😂 Thankfully, I enjoyed Hearth and Hamlet enough that doing so wasn't exactly a punishment. You begin as a small group of refugees fleeing the tyranny of Ashenholt. Eventually you find somewhere suitable to stop running, establish a little camp and begin the long process of turning almost nothing into a thriving settlement. At first, everything feels wonderfully humble. Gather some resources. Assign workers. Build something new. Unlock another possibility. Increase production. Build again. Watch the settlement grow. It's that lovely incremental rhythm where almost every little improvement leads naturally towards the next one. Your tiny refugee camp gradually develops into something much more substantial, new resources become important, production increases and the world opens up around you. Of course, the local monsters aren't particularly impressed by your urban development programme and regularly come wandering over to attack you. And then there's Ashenholt. Apparently escaping from them wasn't sufficient. Once they realise you're doing rather well for yourself, they start demanding gold. Initially, it's a relatively small amount. So you pay it. You don't actually have much choice. Then they return. **They'd like some more.** You pay again. Then they come back wanting even more. At some point I began to suspect Ashenholt wasn't particularly interested in our long-term financial wellbeing. 😂 That mixture of settlement growth, resource production, incremental upgrades and outside pressure works really well for most of the game. There's always another target ahead of you, and for a large part of both playthroughs I found progress extremely satisfying. The game also ran beautifully for me. Everything felt smooth, the pixel-art world is charming and watching the little settlement gradually transform into something much more impressive gives that progression a nice visual payoff as well as the usual numbers-going-up satisfaction. Unfortunately, there is one area where I think Hearth and Hamlet stumbles. **The final few hours become considerably more grindy than they need to be.** On Easy, I noticed it, but it wasn't enough to seriously bother me. On the next difficulty setting, it became much more obvious. Eventually I reached a point where meaningful progression slowed substantially and the game became increasingly about waiting for the quantities of resources I needed. Gold is a particularly noticeable bottleneck, while on the higher difficulty I also found myself needing considerably more food, iron and, later, magic. For roughly the final three hours of my second playthrough, I wasn't really discovering much or making interesting decisions anymore. I was mostly **waiting to finish**. That's an important distinction. I don't dislike grinding. I'm an incremental-game player; watching resources accumulate is practically part of the job description. 😂 But there's a difference between a satisfying incremental grind where you're regularly making decisions and improving things, and a grind where you've essentially solved the problem and are waiting for the numbers to become large enough for the game to acknowledge it. For me, the latter portion of Hearth and Hamlet moves a little too far towards that second type. It didn't make me dislike the game. It didn't ruin either playthrough. **I just don't think those final few hours are as enjoyable as everything leading up to them.** And with another two difficulty settings still above the ones I've completed, I can only imagine those resource demands becoming considerably tougher. Which brings me to something slightly ridiculous. To earn every Steam achievement, I need to complete Hearth and Hamlet on **all of the difficulty settings**. I've finished two. That means, if I have this right, I have another two complete playthroughs ahead of me. And yes... **I'm going to do them.** Just not immediately. 😂 After approximately 28 hours across two complete runs, I think Hearth and Hamlet and I should probably spend a few weeks apart before beginning round three. That's probably the strongest indication I can give of how I feel about the game, though. Despite my criticism of the late-game grind, **I still want to go back and complete it twice more.** For incremental fans, Hearth and Hamlet is very easy for me to recommend. The progression is satisfying, the presentation is charming, there's plenty to work towards and watching a handful of refugees gradually establish a thriving magical medieval settlement scratches exactly the sort of itch I wanted it to. For traditional city-builder fans, however, I'd give one piece of advice: **Read the description and understand what you're buying.** This isn't Foundation. This isn't Banished. You aren't getting a sandbox in which you meticulously design every road, neighbourhood and building placement. You're getting an **incremental progression game set inside a city-building framework**. If that's what you're expecting, I think Hearth and Hamlet has an awful lot to offer. If you're expecting a traditional city builder, you may come away disappointed simply because you've asked the game to be something it never really promised to be. For me, though? 🏡 I built my settlement. ⚔️ I defended it from monsters. 💰 I repeatedly handed over increasingly unreasonable quantities of money to Ashenholt. 📈 I watched lots of lovely numbers go up. 🏆 I completed the entire game twice. And after a suitable recovery period... **Apparently I'm going back for at least another 28 hours.** 💜 **Tom Recommends** Hearth and Hamlet could absolutely do with reducing some of that late-game grind, particularly as the difficulty increases. (if you watch my gameplay videos (once I put them on YouTube), you'll see what I mean towards the end) But when I've already played a game for around 28 hours and I'm still planning to return and complete it another two times... **I think it's fairly safe to say the good considerably outweighs the grind.** 😂

没有什么正反馈爽感的游戏，就是很不好玩啊，而且并不能真正的挂机

It is not an idle game because you have to keep holding the mouse button to click and generate resources. It is not really idle because you are constantly being attacked, so you cannot even sit back and watch the scenery or see how the different areas evolve. It is an idle game that constantly puts you in a position where you have to be doing something instead of letting you enjoy the game at your own pace. In the end, it feels like 10 hours wasted on nothing.