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Hawthorn is still in development with no announced release date. Pages state which build they describe · Fact base last reviewed September 13, 2026.
Development log
Official development updates and playtest milestones, newest first. Every entry is linked to the pages it changes, which is how this wiki keeps guides honest while the game moves.
Last reviewed September 13, 2026
Short answer
What changed in Hawthorn recently?
The most recent cycle was the August 2026 Village Council playtest — three phases between 10 and 31 August — preceded by the Summer 2026 development update, which shipped an entirely new area map, an expanded Windermere town layout, ruins on the outskirts, Mouse fur patterns, a new flight system, dye and clothing systems and an updated weather system. Before that, the Winter 2025/2026 update rebuilt the game’s foundations: quests, dialogue, the storyteller, assignable NPC jobs and the three villager stats.
The third and widest playtest phase opened to Legends, Stewards, Homesteaders and equivalent supporters, closing the three-week August window.
Pages needing re-check
Source: Hawthorn — News Index
Phase two opened to Royal Settlers, Philanthropists, Trailblazers and equivalent supporters, with new supporters able to join by pre-ordering a tier that includes a Steam key.
Pages needing re-check
NEARstudios formalised a three-phase playtest structure — Draft, Preview and Proof — modelled on editing a storybook. The team said the same process may be reused for Early Access updates if it works.
Pages needing re-check
Source: Village Council Playtest Process
The first hands-on session with the post-Proof-of-Concept build opened to Scriveners and Forerunners at 12pm EDT. NEARstudios also flagged a rare save-file corruption issue and asked affected players to send in saves.
Pages needing re-check
Source: Village Council Playtest Begins
A large content and systems drop: Mouse fur patterns and colours, an expanded Windermere town layout, an entirely new area map, ruins on the outskirts, updated homes, new furniture and food recipes, a new flight system, new animations, plant physics, new NPCs, an updated weather system, dye and clothing systems, new plants and resources, and butterflies.
Pages needing re-check
Source: Development Update — Summer 2026
A charity partnership post from the studio. No gameplay information.
Pages needing re-check
Source: Hawthorn — News Index
Short update showcasing reworked character animation work.
Pages needing re-check
Source: Hawthorn — News Index
Bug fixes and improvements to the public Proof-of-Concept Demo following a playtest round. Confirms the public demo is still being maintained separately from the main build.
Pages needing re-check
The team branched off from the Proof-of-Concept build late in the previous year and rebuilt the foundations: an expandable map, new dialogue, quest and storyteller systems, crops that need watering, assignable NPC jobs, villager Happiness / Morale / Affinity stats, a conversation journal, improved housing interiors, wall decor, controller support, private co-op sessions and a new save system.
Pages needing re-check
Most wikis write a guide once and let it rot. Hawthorn changes too fast for that, so each log entry carries an explicit list of pages it invalidates. When a new update lands, that list becomes the work queue, and the affected pages are re-checked before anything else is written.
The rules are simple:
The current record shows substantial development updates separated by shorter posts and playtest windows. This is too small a sample to treat as a fixed release cadence. The August 2026 playtest was run as a living manuscript: rather than waiting for the window to close, the team shipped updated builds throughout so that the Draft became the Preview and the Preview became the Proof.
The studio has said it intends to reuse that three-phase structure for Early Access updates if it works. That is the clearest signal available about how Hawthorn will be supported after it becomes playable more widely.
Some things look like patch notes and are not. These stay off this page on purpose:
If you spot something here without an official source attached, please report it.