This adorable sandbox RPG looks like Skyrim combined with Stardew Valley, which might be helped by the fact that Skyrim’s lead designer is working on it

Farm, fish, decorate, and forage as you live out your life as a woodland creature

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

If you were to put Stardew Valley andSkyriminto a pot and mix it up, I’d imagine that the video game soup you’d create would look an awful lot like Hawthorn – an adorable upcoming sandbox RPG from a group of ex-Bethesda,BioWare, andNaughty Dogdevs.

Hawthorn is the debut game from indie studio NEARstudios, which is led by Heather Cerlan (who previously worked as a senior artist forStarfieldand a texture artist on The Last of Us, amongst many other things) and Jason Richardson. Richardson was a gameplay designer for Mass Effect Andromeda and a systems designer on both Starfield and Fallout 76. What’s more,Game Developer reportsthat Skyrim’s lead designer, Bruce Nesmith, will also be helping out with Hawthorn.

Set in what looks like a picturesque fairytale-style setting called Windermere Valley, we’ll be able to live out our lives as a little woodland creature alongside many fellow animal friends, who all have their own tales to share. Hawthorn will offer both solo and co-op play, and we can expect to fill our in-game lives with farming, fishing, and exploring the wilderness for resources. Charming woodland homes can be rebuilt and decorated to suit your vision – which gives it a touch of an Animal Crossing vibe, too – and you’ll have to adapt to life as the seasons change.

Thegame’s websitesays Hawthorn is “inspired by Victorian-era European fairytales and the spirit of 80s and 90s anthropomorphic animal adventure stories,” and that vibe definitely comes through with what’s been shown so far. For the time being, there’s no release date for the sandbox RPG, but it’s alreadyavailable to wishlist on Steam.

In the meantime, be sure to check out our picks of more greatgames like Stardew Valley.

Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

I’m one of GamesRadar+’s news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield’s student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming’s news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you’re sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.

The Witcher 3 quest designer behind a hilarious scene only accessible with mods is “glad to see it was found,” even if it “took you a while”

Turns out, people still like single-player BioWare RPGs as Dragon Age: The Veilguard tops sales charts and breaks Steam records for the studio

It looks like an Atari 2600, but I’d use it as a sub-$200 indie gaming Steam Machine