Hawthorn Demo Launches on Steam for Next Fest
The demo gives the first public hands-on look at the debut title from a studio founded by veterans of Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and The Last of Us, following a successful Kickstarter.
Key Facts
- NEARstudios released a demo of its open-world survival RPG Hawthorn on Steam on June 12.
- The demo is available until June 22 as part of Steam Next Fest.
- The game is set in a Victorian fairy-tale forest with anthropomorphic animal characters.
- The demo is an early prototype focused on village-building mechanics.
- The full game is planned for early access release in October 2026 on PC.
Reporting from 2 sources: Denfaminicogamer, Automaton.
NEARstudios released a demo of its open-world survival RPG Hawthorn on Steam for Next Fest, available until June 22. The game, set in a Victorian fairy-tale forest with anthropomorphic animal characters, focuses on village building and exploration. The demo is an early prototype for feedback.
NEARstudios, a studio founded by developers who worked on Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Starfield, League of Legends, The Last of Us, Uncharted, and Bioshock, released a demo of its debut title Hawthorn on Steam on June 12. The open-world survival RPG casts players as anthropomorphic animals like owls and mice in a forest inspired by Victorian-era fairy tales. The demo, available until June 22 as part of Steam Next Fest, is an early prototype focused on village-building mechanics. Players can construct houses, farm, fish, and assign tasks to NPCs, while hostile forces and random events threaten the village. The full game is planned for early access release in October 2026 on PC.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.