The hottest board game of 2023 and this year’s Spiel des Jahres winner hasn’t even been properly settled in our board game collections, but designers Michael Palm and Lukas Zach have already announced a new title in the charming Dorfromantik universe. Forget everything you know about the peaceful and relaxing co-op builder, because this time, the landscaping gloves are off, and the new standalone game is a competitive rather than cooperative landscape builder.
Dorfromantik: The Duel will maintain the picturesque charm of its predecessor, challenging players to create a captivating landscape using hexagonal tiles adorned with various scenic elements, such as quaint villages, lush forests, flowing rivers, and rolling trains, but this time it will pit them against each other in one-on-one or two-on-two team duels.
It will also keep several of the original’s mechanics, including the core tile-building system with beautiful hexagon tiles, bonus missions for area completion, special tasks, and victory points for various achievements, such as having the longest river in the game.
There will also be new double and all-around assignments, which add variety to the new game and can easily be combined with the original if you’d rather avoid the cut-throat nature of the new title. We’ll also get two new independently playable modules, which will doubtlessly add further variety to an already content-rich game.
Dorfromantik: The Duel is set to be released later this year at Europe’s biggest board game festival, SPIEL Essen, in October, with an anticipated retail price of €34.99 (approximately $38.75).