WARDOGS
WARDOGS
Game
Game2026
Hearth and Hamlet
Developer Phorust Studios
Start with a campfire. Build a kingdom. Hearth and Hamlet is a medieval citybuilder clicker that blends resource management, in-depth upgrade trees and relaxing idle gameplay. Build your empire by researching new technologies, passing new laws, trading with far-off lands, and more. From the Steam store page
343 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
77
LovedLoved
255 positive · 78 negative
95% range 72–81%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 255 | 78 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 1 | 0 | 9 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
933 of 1,116 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
75% recommend · 206 yes, 67 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 273 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mostly Positive (1,836 of 2,318 positive).
Many players find Hearth and Hamlet a cozy, relaxing incremental city builder. [1][2][3] Some reviewers criticize the lack of player agency and predetermined town layout. [4][5][6] Several players note the game's charming pixel art and music. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [4]
The aesthetic is very nice and pleasant, and the screenshots of the more advanced towns are very pretty. But the actual gameplay is like the reverse of what I expected. I thought I'd be idly generating resources and building MY town. By MY town I mean choosing the locations of buildings and roads and layouts and all the fun stuff. Instead, the resources we're generating idly are not enough, so I'm out there clicking …
- [2]
Really cool incremental city builder! It's chill, cozy, and has just the right amount of content and challenge to keep you engaged over time. I finished it on normal mode in about 16 hours. There are 2 higher difficulty levels, and I think finishing it on very hard mode takes quite a bit of patience and strategy, as the challenge is definitely there. You launch the game, leave it running in the background, choose …
- [7]
Just dropping a positive review to counter all the negative ones where people who don't like incremental clicker games complain that they didn't enjoy this incremental clicker game. The general feel is sublime, the visuals and sound in particular are charming. My only complaints are that the UI could be better (edge scrolling is pointlessly slow even at the maximum speed, upgrade manual bookmarks don't make …
- [8]
Might be the best-crafted incremental game I've bought in a while. I picked up around seven similar games over the past two months, but couldn't stick with any of them—most felt like cheap "vibe coding" cash grabs thrown together with AI prompts. But this one is genuine quality. Definitely worth the $7. Seeing my small camp slowly turn into a thriving city feels super rewarding. Incremental games are all about …
- [1]
Pretty fun, chill game. First thing you should do is go to options and check the box that allows you to collect resources by just hovering instead of holding down the mouse button.
Summarised from 34 of the 283 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 10, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Players who liked Hearth and Hamlet talk about cozy and relaxing gameplay; those who didn't talk about lack of player agency and freedom. Which matters more to you?
Reactions
60 of 343 · most liked firstThe aesthetic is very nice and pleasant, and the screenshots of the more advanced towns are very pretty. But the actual gameplay is like the reverse of what I expected. I thought I'd be idly generating resources and building MY town. By MY town I mean choosing the locations of buildings and roads and layouts and all the fun stuff. Instead, the resources we're generating idly are not enough, so I'm out there clicking on wood like its minecraft all over again, and when I go to build a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🎮 My Top 5 indie games with FREE demos to play this June! If you're into discovering new indie gems, this list might be for you 👇 RD Racing Gladiator Command Dragon Shelter Tabletop Tavern Hearth and Hamlet 🎥 Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9LO... #indiedev #game #steamgames
neutral · AI labelView post →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…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The premise was good, but i cannot fathom why the developers chose to railroad this game so strictly. There is no player agency, and no freedom of choice. Every decision you make will always lead to the same outcome, the same soulless direction. The game doenst even hold your hand, it holds all of your limbs and nail them to a linear wagon just to put you on the most boring and generic ride you will ever have in a video game. This game could have been a fantastic incremental city builder, but…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A mediocre experience that serves best as 2nd monitor material. Oddly captivating, but in a brain hijacking way. This is an idle game that doesn't reward you for idling. You always could be harvesting your new bottle neck resource by holding down on it. But it never feels rewarding or impactful after the first 30 minutes. There is a drip feed of upgrades that are paced well, but through events you get hit with resource cuts which slow the game down. A predetermined story, set up, and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty fun, chill game. First thing you should do is go to options and check the box that allows you to collect resources by just hovering instead of holding down the mouse button.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Even for an idler, this was a disappointing experience. No real gameplay, decisions, nothing endless, nothing satisfying. Just a ton of waiting.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →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…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Relative fun. Sadly there undisclosed telemetry running with no option to turn it off.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really cool incremental city builder! It's chill, cozy, and has just the right amount of content and challenge to keep you engaged over time. I finished it on normal mode in about 16 hours. There are 2 higher difficulty levels, and I think finishing it on very hard mode takes quite a bit of patience and strategy, as the challenge is definitely there. You launch the game, leave it running in the background, choose the buildings you want to upgrade, let your workers do their thing, and gather…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I did not enjoy playing this game I thought that there would be a little town customization, but all the unlockable building and upgrades seem to be predetermined. On top of that, the idling does not produce nearly enough resources, so I am stuck clicking over and over again. Its a fine game if you like clickers. It has a nice look to it, but it gets really boring after a while. I thought it could be a game I keep open on my second monitor while I do schoolwork, but it did not meet my…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Its not chill as soon as the game forces you to keep a militia with rising costs to defend against enemies. I dont like that. The rest of the game is kinda nice. Nice music, good progression and cute visuals.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →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…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🏡 **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…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just not a fun game. The progression of research and building upgrades is pretty boring and doesn't inspire the player to want to play more. The "combat" is more of an unpredictable and uncontrollable event where you just win or lose and have no way of telling why you won or lost or what you might need to do better. Once you realize combat really has no actual impact other than a short term debuff, you can just ignore the hell out of it. Then there is the quests, which are…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really wish I could leave a good review, but there are completely unnecessary mechanics that caused more frustration than the enjoyment I got from playing. The entire progression if locked behind a questline in a very unnatural way. I was hoping to be able to play my own way and upgrade things at my own pace, but a lot of town upgrades require to "unlock from doing the quest" which forces the game down a very vertical progression path. There's little to no room for optimization and efficiency,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you like idlers/clickers, this is probably up your alley. There no real choice except which upgrades you choose first - it's just linear progression that requires more and more of the same few resources. If that's your thing, you'll like this because it's well made, but personally find it very boring.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →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…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →At first, when I looked at the game, I wasn't sure if I wanted to play it because planning out the city seemed overwhelming, but after buying it, it turned out to be the exact opposite. There is zero strategy, no real choices to make, and honestly no point or purpose to any of it. Everything is completely linear, like build A to unlock B, etc. The upgrades feel irrelevant and the whole UI is just a pain in the ass. It could be so much better if you didn't have to click 2-3 times just to open a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Yet another reason why we need a "meh" option instead of being limited to thumbs up or down. So, after about four hours, I can safely say that this game is mostly boring to me. It's nothing but waiting for resources to build then click a button. I'm sure that there are many out there who will enjoy Hearth and Hamlet, but I'm not one of them. Not really. I suppose this is the first "cozy" game I've played. I still don't get the draw to it, but to each their own. Technically, I experienced…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just dropping a positive review to counter all the negative ones where people who don't like incremental clicker games complain that they didn't enjoy this incremental clicker game. The general feel is sublime, the visuals and sound in particular are charming. My only complaints are that the UI could be better (edge scrolling is pointlessly slow even at the maximum speed, upgrade manual bookmarks don't make sense....why are they moving around?!), and the combat feels pretty meh. Would've been…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Quick Steam Deck review. Runs perfectly. Loving it and already know I will be playing this for a long time.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Today I demoed Hearth and Hamlet, a cozy base building game releasing this year on PC (TBA) 🏗️🧰 Check it out if you like: 🏘️ A cozier and less stressful experience while building your camp into a proper city 🏘️ Something that is easy to pick up and put down 🏘️ Pixel art graphics
positive · AI labelView post →No it does not get better after 5 hours. It's not really a game. A Game you Play. Whatever this is does not need you. I hoped there might come a part where your input matters. but it does not. the only difference your input makes is how fast the premade town is upgraded. It feels a bit like those terrible resource management browser games that railroad you through a tutorial where at the end you make your first currency purchase to unlock more action points. but the tutorial is the game. yes…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →7/10 - only play if you really like slow idle games that become fun later. This game starts off INCREDIBLY slow. I almost returned it at 90 minutes, but I kept chugging along. Clicking on the one or two resource buttons available while mindlessly saving for the next minimal unlock. At about 2 hours the game starts to feel ok. Their is enough unlocked that their is normally something to do, some new building to make, new resource to balance, etc. After about 4 hours, the game is actually fun…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not what it says on the tin! So the game isn’t necessarily bad in my opinion, but it’s only a very straightforward incremental game. The description calls it a “city builder” and that it has “in-depth upgrade trees”. Both are not true unfortunately. You simply unlock, build and upgrade your buildings. There is no choice in placement or design involved. Upgrades are simple number bonuses to production values, storage capacity, with the occasional actual unlock. Then there’s the story itself,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So I played the demo before the full game released, and I Totally knew I was going to buy Hearth and Hamlet when it came out. The demo completely sold me on it, and now that I’ve finally gotten my hands on the full game, I’m even more stoked with the purchase. Hearth and Hamlet is EXACTLY the kind of cozy game I love. There’s something incredibly satisfying about building up my little settlement, watching it grow, and slowly turning it into a place that actually feels like home. The vibe is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't normally review games but I've played a little over an hour of Hearth and Hamlet and it tickles my autistic need to manage resources in such a special way that I wanted to drop a review because I really want to see this game get off to a good start. I'm playing on "Challenging" difficulty and was initially worried the combat might be stressful but, somehow, even the combat manages to be cozy with the challenge truly being in the resource management rather than needing any sort of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I think having a very incremental game is okay. But then locking the very limited choices of "what building do I wanna see next" behind quests is weird. If the quests were actually more fleshed out and provide a real narrative I would understand it but there is no real character in the story. Its a very generic. City grows and there are some consequences you have to deal with. Just creating / upgrading buildings - your only gameplay - you complete the quest without actively working toward it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you like this style of game its definitely worth a run though, but after playing 1 game to completion on steady difficulty I wont play again, at least for a very long time. the first half was great and felt pretty good but at a certain point it became sitting and waiting for things to happen once you get enough resources. I originally planned on starting on steady then working my way through the next 2 difficulties once I became familiar and thought up some strategies for management but…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →(+): It's somewhat satisfying to see and manage your progress, but in the end, (-) it's just clicking the next free thing and managing your automatic income. Hardly any real strategy behind this. Good for 1 run (took me about 7h), but I would never start to replay this game for multiple times.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gather resources and grow your settlement from a humble camp into a vibrant, magic-filled kingdom! Hearth and Hamlet is an incremental citybuilder game in a cozy pixelart style 🔑 Key requests on #PressEngine 🔗 https://pressengine.games/hearth-and-hamlet #gamedev #indiegames #games
neutral · AI labelView post →Hearth and Hamlet does not have a fishing minigame, but it does have a fishing *mechanic*!! #hearthandhamlet #indiegame #gaming #videogames #fishing #fishingminigame
neutral · AI labelView post →Unfortunately, I can't recommend Hearth and Hamlet on Steam Deck right now. I experienced repeated crashes while trying to play, including crashes with multiple launch options. The final crash was severe enough that it completely reset my Steam Deck, which is something I've never experienced with a game before. I understand the game is new and the developers are likely still working on Steam Deck/Linux compatibility, but in its current state, the game is simply too unstable for me to recommend…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There's nothing interesting at all. It's incredibly pretty and charming, but that's it, unfortunately. 9 hours of mostly waiting (cause who wants to hold down the mouse for marginal gain).
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Might be the best-crafted incremental game I've bought in a while. I picked up around seven similar games over the past two months, but couldn't stick with any of them—most felt like cheap "vibe coding" cash grabs thrown together with AI prompts. But this one is genuine quality. Definitely worth the $7. Seeing my small camp slowly turn into a thriving city feels super rewarding. Incremental games are all about enjoying the sense of growth and progression, and this game nails it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love the fact that this game can be played very chill and partially idle on the easiest difficulty or I can ramp it up and make it more challenging. I pretty much like everything about the game from the gameplay to the music. It's something I can just sit and play while watching a film or something and not really have to pay much attention to.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's interesting and I hoped to like it, but it tries to be so many things that it doesn't do many really well. It requires too much management and is too restrictive to be a good 'clicker'. It's not really a city builder. It's too hands-on to be idle, but it's too slow to be active and rewarding. It's not a game that you sink a ton of time into and then look back fondly on, at most you go 'meh'. The graphics are charming and you can tell a decent amount of effort went into the balancing so…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not my type of incremental game. Felt like I was just clicking and holding with minimal to no thought. It may advance to something more complex but they did not provide a proper hook like most of these games do.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like this game. It is a relaxing way to grow a little village and help it thrive. A few things I would like to see so far are: Night Cycles Weather Seasons Thanks devs keep up the great work!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun little game. Only a few hours to complete but definitely worth the price.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hearth and Hamlet approaches medieval settlement building from a much calmer direction than the typical strategy game. Instead of surrounding the player with constant emergencies, complicated warfare, or demanding production chains, it combines city building with incremental and idle mechanics. The result is a comfortable progression-focused experience where a tiny frontier encampment can gradually become an elaborate fantasy kingdom. Developed by Phorust Studios and published by Runic Forge…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A pretty decent incremental game, with decent music, really nice pixel-style graphics and okay story. Takes between 7-12h to complete depending on the difficulty, and I had to go through 2 play throughs to 100% it. For the price I think it was worth it!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In-depth upgrade trees and resource management.... Where are they? Everything is fed you to in a boring linear sequence. There isn't scope in the game for meaningful decisions or management, you buy the upgrades as you can, without strategy. It's also not very idle because you are often under attack. So it's sort of a hands-on waiting game. I'd give it 3/10 Was hoping to have my smooth brain massaged for a few hours, but was bored to tears. Skip this one.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Don't know how to describe it beside that its boring, the "effort" you put into the game doesn't feel like its giving back anything, you aren't even allowed to choose where to put down the building - just get x amount materials and click buy/upgrade and then move on to the next building/upgrade that you can buy, the upgrades are boring, the buildings you buy are boring, hell even the way you farm materials is boring just hold down left click on a building and then staring at the number slowly…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Idle Prestige - None Active Play - Nothing beyond managing upgrades and supplementing production. Visuals - Town grows bit by bit Special Mechanics - Games evolves ok, but nothing crazy Cash Shop - None This game does a good job of showing small changes to the town over time. Late game drags a little, a lot of the time I was just waiting for resources to slowly come in.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The definition of "Cozygame" fits this one. BUT it could be a mobile game as well. Dont get me wrong i enjoy it, but it lacks any meaningfulness. Its a idle game without any choices
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This one is a real gem. It's a real satisfying, super cozy incremental experience that's also got a whole lot of layers to it that you'll only discover as your settlement grows bigger. It's deceptively simple at first but there's a whole lot to it - and it's fun the entire time. Very recommended!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is the epitome of cozy, cute and fun! So much effort has been put into the art style and ambience and it shows! Huge congrats to the dev, who obviously cares a lot
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very. F'N. Tedious. Feels like an AFK resource/clicker, and it is, in a sense. This game could easily occupy your cell phone.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am having a hard time giving either a positive or negative review. I think that this game makes sense for some people, but it did not have what I was looking for so I lean negative. Fundamentally, this game is not a city or base builder. It is purely an incremental game, due to complete lack of layout choices or ability to decide where and how many constructions to place. There is the theme of building a city from the ground up, but it is fully automated. In terms of incremental…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I find the store page game descriptions to be misleading, so it did not meet my expectations and I found it quite boring. I finished the game once and will not play again. An idler would normally give some benefit to the next playthrough, but that doesn't exist in this game so there is no reason to play. Upgrade trees are NOT in-depth, they are completely linear, so there is no reason to play again to try new strategies. Passing laws is not needed to use even once to finish the game,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a clicker/idler game with some nice frontend. You're building a fantasy medieval settlement and develop it to become a small kingdom on its own. Graphically it's some really nice pixel art graphics that grow with your built buildings or rising population. Especially in the quest descriptions there are some really nice pixel art animations depicting the current status of the "story". Unfortunately gameplaywise it's rather shallow and kind of linear. There's rarely a real path to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Super cozy city builder / auto clicker / story game. I really enjoyed this. Very simple in gameplay, but visually nice. Good animations, something happens on screen at all times, and you always want to do more than you have resources for. Very well paced game. I managed 2 playthroughs. First one was 9,5 hours on difficulty 2/4, last one was 11,5 hours on difficulty 4. And that gave me 27/27 achievements. A nice game. A cute game. A well made game. Cudos to the game designers. Zero…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Going to give my review based off of the tags for this game on the store: Incremental: Yes City Builder/Base Building: No. This is not a city builder or base builder. You don't design or build your city. You upgrade and add set buildings. Casual/Relaxing/Idler - This is very much not a typical idle game. There is one aspect of it, the military and military upkeep system, which sets it apart from others in the genre. At the beginning, you're given 4 different difficulty options, and depending on…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As far as 'idle' games go, this is really bad at being idle. Theres no auto on your 'personal' click, which is fine, you just have to micro it. But after the first 30 minutes, you can kinda only wait for things to happen. Which again, fine, but suddenly 4 hours in you have to micro manage the trade system and juggle bottlenecks. Ok, fine, so now I'm just playing this game. And as far as games to be played go, this is boring as heck. Sometimes it flashes with something bright to grab your…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A fun take on the idle builder genre. The story is straight forward and the mechanics are simple, so don't go in expecting something incredibly deep. If you're looking for a quick cozy game to just chill out with and move on from this is perfect for you.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not My Hamlet What I Liked Love the graphics. Exactly what I want in a city builder type game. The look of the buildings, font, and NPCs is just perfect. What I Did Not Like This should not be labeled as a City Builder or Base Building, because it’s not. It’s just a clicker with a city builder overlay. I had hoped there would be more to it, but no, it’s just another boring clicker. Why I Stopped Playing Got bored after a few hours. Disclaimer I have been a gamer for over 30…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i thought it was more sandbox-y, where my villagers gather resources while I build and such but sadly i didn't enjoy the locked in placements and all. It very much felt like cookie clicker with a different theme.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Join me Sunday, August 16 at 10am CST as we explore some new indie game titles together on Twitch! On the showcase this week: - Hearth and Hamlet - Dreamcards Hope to see you there!
neutral · AI labelView post →
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