- Dawnfolk is out on Android and iOS - 17 August 2026
Today's a special day: Dawnfolk is out on Android and iOS!Just search for Dawnfolk on the App Store or Google Play and you'll find it. This is something a lot of players have been asking for, so I'm really hoping you'll have a great time with it! As for you guys on Steam, I'm pretty sure most of you already own the game, but feel free to share it with your friends who play on mobile! You can of course buy it to support me, or if you just want another excuse to play Dawnfolk again and beat it on your phone. A huge thanks to Short Circuit Studio, who ported the game and are currently handling everything, so I can sit back and relax while players report bugs. And thank you all again for joining me on this adventure. I started working on the first version of Dawnfolk almost 4 years ago, and now it's available on PC, Switch, and mobile. iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dawnfolk/id675944244…
- Here's the winner of the "Famine" contest! - 16 July 2026
The "Famine" contest is now over. Thank you to everyone who participated, and congratulations to our Top 10 players! The winner is Borealis, with an incredible score of 174 points! To give you some perspective, 2nd place has 118 points, and 3rd place 81 points. Borealis really optimized everything. Congratulations Borealis, you'll be immortalized in the #hall-of-fame and the game credits (in the next update), you have a shiny role on discord with access to a secret channel and you'll have a tile of your own design integrated into the game! Borealis strategy to win: Pause the real-time timer. The first turn is by far the most important (followed by the last), so don't hesitate to restart if your opening isn't strong. Your goal on turn 1 is to maximize Science and set up your economy: collect the shipwreck and treasure chests, upgrade your Home into a Forge, clear the first Crypts, destr…
- patch 1.5.1 - 14 July 2026
Removed the contest level Fixed bugs reported by players on Discord and Steam forums
- You still have 3 days to enter the contest! - 10 July 2026
You still have 3 days left to enter the contest! Right now, Borealis is in 1st place with an incredible 139 Food produced! TolkaKiska is close behind in 2nd with 118, and treybc is currently 3rd with 81. To make it into the Top 10, you'll need to produce more than 31 Food. Here's the original contest post if you'd like to learn more about it and how to participate.Good luck! I'm excited to see if anyone can dethrone Borealis! Take care,Darenn
- You actually own your copy of Dawnfolk. - 3 July 2026
Hey everyone,I think this is a good time to remind you that Dawnfolk is yours forever, even if you bought it on Steam.I believe our games should remain ours and playable forever, even in digital form.Dawnfolk is DRM-free. You can copy the entire game folder anywhere you'd like and it'll still run. Steam isn't required to launch the game.To do so, simply right click on the game in your steam library, go into properties, then Installed Files and finally click on the Browse button. This will open the game's installation folder "lueur", which contains the game files as well as the executables for Windows, Linux, and macOS. You can simply copy this folder wherever you'd like to keep a backup.Dawnfolk didn't sell well enough to justify a physical edition, but I still hope it'll get one someday so those of you who collect physical games can add it to your shelves. Until then, make sure it's sa…
- Community Contest "Famine" - 11 June 2026
Hey everyone! It’s time for a new community contest. This one is called Famine. I also have some juicy news, I'll keep that for the end of this post.The last contest winner Thunderbird designed a new tile for the game, the "Crypt", and you'll find it in this new contest!Until now, all the contest were about completing an objective in as few days as possible, not this time!The objective is simple, have the biggest production of food possible by day 100.Everyone who participates will be immortalized on the public leaderboard and win 100 blue lights in game!But only the best player will enter the Circle of the Champions of Light: ✨ Design your own unique tile in Dawnfolk (will appear in-game!)✨ Immortalized in Dawnfolk's Hall Of Fame and in the game credits.✨ A fancy Discord role at the top of the member list ✨ Access to a secret channel reserved for the top players To participate:1. Updat…
- Update to add the new "Famine" community contest! - 11 June 2026
Check out the latest steam post for more info.
- Dawnfolk is coming to Mobile! - 27 May 2026
Hey everyone,I’m happy to finally announce that Dawnfolk is coming to mobile on both iOS and Android! (check out this early version)I know most of you here are PC players, but I received a lot of requests for a mobile version over the past year (both on the Steam forums/reviews and on social media) so I hope some of you are excited for this.I’m collaborating with Short Circuit Studio on this project. They are handling the porting and mobile publishing, as they have far more experience with mobile releases than I do.On Steam you can wishlist games, while on mobile you can “pre-register,” which helps a lot with visibility before launch. So if you’re interested, feel free to pre-register on your preferred platform!iOS: App Store pre-registrationAndroid: Google Play pre-registrationTake care,Darenn
- Update notes for patch 1.4.2 - 2 April 2026
Re-balancing of blue light costs to avoid players being stuck after unlocking too much bonus content.
- The "Snack The Cats" contest results are here! - 31 March 2026
Hey everyone! The "Snack The Cats" contest is now over. Thank you to everyone who participated, and congratulations to our Top 10 players! The competition was tough. As usual, TolkaKiska took the first place very quickly on the first day and managed to keep it for a while. Mila Klem followed by being 15 days faster, but treybc broke the record a few days later with a sub 40 days. In the end, Thunderbird managed to win with a 31 days record that nobody was able to beat over the past week!Thunderbird's strategy to win:They quickly realized that exploration already provides most of the resources needed. Cat villages give food, and elves provide light without requiring any trading.A key part of the early game is getting the Golden Apple event, which lets you start exploring from turn 0 and gain a strong early advantage.From there, the focus is on setting up 4 tents and one house upgrade, th…
- Community Contest "Snack The Cats" - 18 March 2026
Hey everyone! It’s time for a new community contest. This one is called Snack The Cats.The last contest winner TolkaKiska designed a new tile for the game, the "Cat Village", which inspired that new challenge.Find all the cat villages and feed the cats!Everyone who participates will be immortalized on the public leaderboard and win 100 blue lights in game!But only the best player will enter the Circle of the Champions of Light: ✨ Design your own unique tile in Dawnfolk (will appear in-game!)✨ Immortalized in Dawnfolk's Hall Of Fame and in the game credits.✨ A fancy Discord role at the top of the member list ✨ Access to a secret channel reserved for the top players To participate:1. Update the game to version 1.4.02. Unlock Secrets in the main menu (earn more blue lights if needed 👀) 3. The contest is at the bottom of the Secrets menu Your score is automatically submitted to the public…
- Update notes for patch 1.4.0 - 18 March 2026
Added the new "Snack The Cat" contest! (and fixed a few minor issues)
- The contest is over, here's the winner! - 4 March 2026
The contest is over! Thank you to everyone who participated, and congratulations to our Top 10 players! It was a very close competition, with three players tied for second place.But the winner is, once again, @TolkaKiska. A true master of the game who has now won two contests in a row! As you can see from the map, he really used everything he knows about the game and showed serious dedication by re-rolling many times to secure the perfect seed. Congratulations, you're now immortalized in the hall of fame, the game credits, have a shiny role on discord with access to a secret channel and you'll have a tile of your own design integrated into the game in the next update!Next time, I’ll probably go with a fixed map so re-rolling for a strong seed won’t be necessary. Stay tuned for the next contest!
- 1.3.6 Patch - 21 February 2026
If mouse mode is enabled, pressing a gamepad button automatically disable it so you can play with the gamepad. Fixed audio issues when playing with mouse. Fixed some mini-games giving +2 points by mistake if you have the blacksmith upgrade. Fixed a bug that allowed to cheat during the contest. :D
- Community Contest "Under Pressure" - 20 February 2026
Hey everyone! It’s time for a new community contest to celebrate the anniversary of Dawnfolk! This one is called Under Pressure. You’ll have to build a castle on a chaotically generated map. And when I say chaotic… I mean everything wants you dead.Your goal? Build the castle in as few days as possible! Everyone who participates will be immortalized on the public leaderboard, and the top 10 can show off a ton. But only the best player will enter the Circle of the Champions of Light: ✨ Design your own unique tile in Dawnfolk (will appear in-game!)✨ Immortalized in Dawnfolk's Hall Of Fame and in the game credits.✨ A fancy Discord role at the top of the member list ✨ Access to a secret channel reserved for the top players I’ve improved the system this time, participating is easier than ever: 1. Update the game to version 1.3.5 2. Unlock Secrets in the main menu (earn more blue lights if nee…
- Community Contest "Under Pressure" update - 20 February 2026
Added the level for the community contest. More info in the next post!
- Update notes for patch 1.3.4 (anniversary update) - 13 February 2026
Numerous small bug fixes reported by the community. New "erase save data" button in the options to completely reset your progress. New "options" menu available in the pause menu to change the sounds, music volume and full screen. Also a button to see the controls.
- Dawnfolk's Anniversary is near! - 24 January 2026
We’re getting close to Dawnfolk’s first anniversary on February 13th! To celebrate, the game will exceptionally be on a HUGE sale for one day only as part of steam daily deals. The biggest discount it’s ever had, and probably the biggest of 2026. Make sure the game is wishlisted to be notified.I’ll also be announcing something very very very cool that you guys have been asking for.Is there anything you'd like me to do for the anniversary? A live gameplay stream, a post-portem, a video update about my journey or maybe an AMA session. Let me know!One last thing that would be amazing: We’re 15 reviews away from reaching 500 reviews, which should unlock the “Overwhelmingly Positive” rating on Steam. Fingers crossed we get there before the anniversary, you know what to do. 🙏Thank you all for the support, take care! - Darenn
- Nominate Dawnfolk for the Steam Awards! - 24 November 2025
Hey everyone!Nominations for the Steam Awards has just started, and I'll let you on a secret: I'd love Dawnfolk to get one! If you liked Dawnfolk, nominating it is a huge way to help as it will bring more eyes onto the game.You can vote for any category you want, but I think Dawnfolk was especially good on Steam Deck and it's worth letting everyone know that it might be The Best Game On Steam Deck in 2025 (big statement). The Most Innovative Gameplay award also seem appropriate as strategy games enjoyable with a game pad are rare and as you know, Dawnfolk is a weird mix of arcade cozy survival dark cute city-building strategy 4X games ;)Thank you very much for taking the time to nominate my little game.Take care!- Darenn
- Dawnfolk has been nominated for the Indie Game Awards! - 14 November 2025
Hey everyone!Dawnfolk has been nominated for the Indie Game Awards, specifically for the Gameplay Design Award, alongside nine other incredible games.I'm proud and honored that Dawnfolk was selected (you should have seen my face when I got the email).The lineup is insane:Absolum – Dotemu, Guard Crush Games, SupamonksBallxPit – Kenny SunDawnfolk – Darenn KellerHades II – Supergiant GamesHollow Knight: Silksong – Team CherryKeep Driving – YCJY GamesLook Outside – Francis CoulombeÖoo – NamaTakahashi, tiny cactus studio, TsuyomiPipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo – Pocket TrapThe King is Watching – HypnoheadWith games like these, the chances of Dawnfolk actually winning are slim, but being nominated next to such incredibly good titles already feels like a victory.Dawnfolk would never have reached this point without you guys playing the game, leaving reviews, and spreading the word.Thanks to you…
