Scottish medieval city builder and colony sim Clanfolk just got even more Scottish with the addition of bogs and bagpipes to the management game. Update eight has now rolled out for Clanfolk’s Steam Early Access build, and developer MinMax Games is celebrating with an ongoing Steam sale offering the city-building game at a discount. Also included in the latest patch are heather and thistle patches, and a new range of historical Scottish Clan tartans for players to choose from.
Let’s talk bogs – no, not that kind. The dirty, soggy kind – stop it. Peat bogs. The wetlands are one of the biggest new additions to the Scottish simulation game and, much like real-world medieval times, they’ll be a great source of harvesting iron. Your villagers can collect peat bricks, which must be left outside to dry before use – just be sure to keep them out of any rainfall.
You’ll also be able to collect bog iron, which will initially be easy to gather but must later be dug out using a peat brick extraction process as you harvest more of it. The resulting bog iron then needs processing, which leaves you with a lovely, gradually renewable source of iron. As for the peat bricks, they can be used for building as well as implemented into a tiled peat stove to be used for heating and cooking.
To further reinforce the feel of the world, new heather and thistle fields add that extra-Scottish touch to proceedings. Both can be used for decorations, and will be available to be used in natural remedies in a future update. Heather has a high natural beauty and can be be broken down into branches if needed, while Thistle fields introduce a natural barrier to movement and can be turned into hay as required.
Perhaps even more crucially, your clanfolk can now learn to play Bagpipes and the Celtic Harp – after all, what’s a game set in Scotland without those trademark whistles and wails of wind whooshing through everyone’s favourite lovecraftian squeeze bag? Skill levels have also been introduced for instruments, meaning that your villagers can produce a different range of songs, beautiful or otherwise, depending upon who is playing together and their respective skills.
31 new Clans have been added based on historical Scottish Clans, complete with their respective tartans. These came from player requests, with a selection of generic tartans with custom names and mottos planned for a future update. There’s also some nice quality of life additions, including reminders when new seasons begin with some helpful beginner suggestions and a ‘smart harvest’ option that ensures your clanfolk will only harvest items when they’re at their maximum yield. You can read the full patch notes on Steam, where the game is 20% off at the time of writing.
Indie strategy games publisher Hooded Horse, who are publishing Clanfolk, also recently released dark fantasy city builder Against the Storm on Steam Early Access – we took an extended look at it and were very impressed by what we played. Meanwhile, a Manor Lords playable demo recently showed off the medieval city builder during Steam Next Fest.