Folklands is a relaxing settlement builder made by three brothers known as Bromantic Games. In Folklands, you’ll build markets, homes, and a variety of other structures to keep your bustling settlement alive. As you grow your settlement and find that even more people have come to live there, you’ll have access to different essentials, upgraded buildings, and, in the future, Steam Workshop support so that players can create their own in-game assets and resources. In a landscape where so many settlement builders exist, Folklands manages to set itself apart and already looks to be a staple in the libraries of all sorts of gamers.
I was provided with a (p)review key for the game’s current build, which offers about an hour of tested gameplay. In it, you go through the basics of starting your own settlement and helping the few people that already live there thrive. You’ll be tasked with very basic instructions like setting up where the settlement will be, placing your sawmill, and building homes in order to create more settlers. The demo is very much a tutorial, but paints the picture of just how easy it is to get into Folklands if you’ve never played a settlement builder before.
Although the game is still very early in it’s development, I absolutely loved so much of it already. What really sets this aside from other settlement builders out there is that building and upgrading structures never felt like a chore. In some cases, I was genuinely satisfied with listening to the music that played in the background while my settlers clinked away at stones or chopped down trees. Even the steady progression of how the settlement grows was relaxing simply to watch.
That being said, the current build doesn’t reflect what the final game will look like, but rather what it will play and feel like when it goes into early access later this year. The map that was available in this build of Folklands was also pretty massive, leading me to believe that when more assets become available, players will be able to create bustling cities or divided farmlands. The possibilities already seem endless, and we absolutely can’t wait for more to be available.
Folklands is currently available to wishlist on Steam at this link ! You can also check out the game’s official Twitter page as well as their Discord server for more news and information about the game!