Hawthorn is a cozy co-op RPG where you can play as animals.
Hawthorn is a cozy co-op RPG where you can play as animals.
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NearStudios unveils Hawthorn co-op sandbox RPG with animals

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 4 min

Former Bethesda game developers have announced their indie game studio, NearStudios, and their debut game called Hawthorn.

Hawthorn is a nostalgic co-op sandbox role-playing game with animals as the characters. It has a creative mixture of cozy gameplay with more realistic looking animated creatures and environments.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.