Hello again! Devlog #2 is 27 October, the day Hearthroad stopped looking like a prototype. It got a painted front door, a score of its own, a sound for every trade, and the first systems a kingdom stands on: research, taxes and one shared stock. Everything below was filmed in the game as it was that night.
A front door
The game now opens on a painted valley. New realm asks for your realm's name and the colours of its banner, then sets out the charter you start with: six souls, 150 bronze and five plots of land. Press Light the first hearth, and a loading curtain with a porter walking across it takes you to your hamlet. A pause menu and the settings came the same day.
Every trade sounds like its work
Turn the sound on for this one. Under the countryside plays a score of our own. Each building is heard at its work when you choose it: the mill, the saw, the farm, the clink of coin as homes pay their taxes. Even building has its small story, the click on the card, the coin paid, the knock of wood and the hammers while it goes up, and a chime when it stands. Every loop is seamless, so a long session never hears a seam.
A build bar by trade
Buildings now come from a build bar sorted by trade: Extraction, Food, Processing, Housing, Commerce, Civic and Logistics, with a card for every building and its price. Buildings also got classes, and each class waits for a level of the Hall before it can rise.
A research tree
Knowledge now has a book of its own. The research tree runs from the Old Stone Age to the Late Middle Ages, and it is studied at the University, which you build like any other building.
Taxes from fed homes
Homes pay their taxes when they are fed, and a Market Place feeds the homes within its reach. A home out of reach says so plainly: No market in reach. Where you put a market now decides who pays. The same day, the realm's goods went into one stock that the whole realm shares.
And the rest of the day
The land became seamless, with no lines between plots. Roads run both ways and find their way around buildings, and the Hall can lay road works. Problems now say what they are, roads give tips, WASD pans and Q and E zoom, and zooming is smoother. Every change is in the patch notes below.
What's next
Devlog #3 is 28 October: rivers and lakes come to the map, and the Hearth becomes a small market. It's out tomorrow. The game isn't open to play yet: leave your email on the home page and we'll write when it is.
Patch notes · 27 October 2026
12 changes- The painted look and the music: a title backdrop, the great works, category icons, recorded and composed sound with seamless loops.
- A front door: the title screen, a loading curtain, a pause menu and settings.
- A research tree from the Old Stone Age to the Late Middle Ages, and the University.
- Taxes come from fed homes, market places serve the homes in reach, and the realm shares one stock.
- Buildings have classes and need a level of the Hall to rise.
- A build bar by category, with build cards.
- The land is seamless, with no lines between plots.
- Land resets for each tier, and great works for the late game.
- Two-way roads, the Hall's road works, and roads that route around buildings.
- Problems you can read, road tips, sound and effects; WASD pans and Q/E zoom.
- Raids and the Barracks wait for later.
- Zooming in and out is smoother.
Behind the scenes: The documents follow the work.