![\"Dorfromantik\"](\"https:\/\/i.kinja-img.com\/gawker-media\/image\/upload\/c_fill,f_auto,fl_progressive,g_center,h_80,pg_1,q_80,w_80\/a5bf0126bb225288a00fc4735028d296.jpg)
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<\/figure>\n Dorfromantik <\/em>has been out in Early Access on Steam for a while now<\/span>, and was excellent even then, but now it is out out, and like the headline is saying, you should definitely play it.<\/p>\n The game can very loosely be described as a city-builder, but that\u2019s not quite fair, since that label conjures up images of Cities Skylines<\/em>, or SimCity<\/em>, games with a certain amount of complexity, and zones, and rules<\/em>. Dorfromantik<\/em> may have the construction of settlements as one of its most basic task, but it couldn\u2019t be further from those games in its execution.<\/p>\n Instead, it\u2019s a lot more like a board game. You\u2019re given a blank space, the game feeds you one random hexagonal tile at a time\u2014maybe it\u2019ll be a little river, maybe it\u2019ll be some cottages\u2014and all you have to do is put it down. The only rules are that it needs to be touching another tile that\u2019s already down. That\u2019s it! You can be scored for how \u201cconnected\u201d that tile is if that\u2019s the way you want to play (buildings connected to buildings, river tiles to more river, etc), but if you also just want to play like a sandbox, building whatever the hell comes up, then you\u2019re also free to do that as well.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how Riley described it while writing about the Early Access version last year<\/span>:<\/p>\n In the midst of my strategy deliberations, I\u2019ll come across a tile that would just look lovely<\/em> in a spot that won\u2019t give me a lot of points, and I can\u2019t resist plunking it down. Areas will start to grow naturally as I pursue points, but then I\u2019ll be taken by the aesthetics and start shaping them how I want, creating a little hamlet by a lake or a train line through a scenic wood, points be damned. You can min-max everything and gamble on the RNG, or you can just build a nice landscape and then sit back and watch the smoke rise from the houses, the train chug along its little track, or the boats navigate your canals. Once I saw a deer!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The whole time you\u2019re doing that everything, from the sound to the music to the art design, is just incredibly relaxing. There\u2019s even the world\u2019s most satisfying \u201cpop\u201d sound every time you drop a tile down, which is so good it\u2019s almost tactile, again harking back to that whole board game feel. <\/p>\n If everything I\u2019ve just written above hasn\u2019t painted enough of a picture, here\u2019s the game\u2019s launch trailer:<\/p>\n\n