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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.
Access
How to support Hawthorn, what each route actually grants, which tiers unlock playtests, and why there is still no published price.
Last reviewed September 13, 2026
Short answer
How do you get Hawthorn, and how much does it cost?
There is no price, because the game is not for sale. Steam shows the publisher as “TBD” and the release date as “To be announced”. What exists today is support: Kickstarter, Ko-Fi, PayPal and pre-ordering on the official site.
For playtest access you specifically need a tier that includes a Steam key. Anything below the cost of the key gives you the private Village Council Discord channel instead. The free alternative is the Proof-of-Concept Demo.
| Route | What it is | What it grants | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kickstarter | The original campaign, with named backer tiers | Tier-dependent rewards, including playtest access at the qualifying levels | Kickstarter backers were the first wave into the August 2026 playtest |
| Ko-Fi | Ongoing support; the official site calls it becoming a Village Council member | Equivalent tiers to Kickstarter for combined contribution levels | The studio was still distributing Discord codes to Ko-Fi backers as of August 2026 |
| PayPal | Direct donation to help the team build the project | Equivalent tiers when combined contributions reach the level | Treated as equivalent to Kickstarter for tier purposes |
| Pre-order on the official site | The route for people who were not original backers | Access to playtests only if the tier includes a Steam key | The studio directs new supporters here to join upcoming playtests |
| Wishlist on Steam | Free, and the fastest way to hear about release | A notification when a release date is set — no build access | Do this regardless of whether you decide to support financially |
Tier names are published; tier prices are not. That is why this page lists names without pretending to know what they cost. The ordering above follows the phase each tier enters, not a price ranking — the studio has never published one.
Phase-by-phase detail is on the Playtest page.
If you are not ready to support financially, you still have a real option: the Hawthorn Proof-of-Concept Demo, free on Steam with no key, no form and no approval. It is an older prototype focused on village building, but it is the only zero-cost way to play something today.
See Demo & playtest access for how the two compare, and the Demo Walkthrough for what to do once you are in.
NEARstudios has been unusually direct that community support is what keeps the project going: it says its ability to continue developing Hawthorn depends on the support and involvement of its community, and that staying independent is part of the goal.
Read that plainly. This is crowdfunding a passion project from a first-time indie studio, not pre-ordering a dated product:
None of that is a warning against supporting — it is the context you should have before you do.