Clanfolk

Clanfolk is a family survival and settlement game set in the harsh Scottish Highlands. Starting with an empty plot of land and your closest family, you build a home, care for livestock, work the fields and prepare for winter. You can grow your settlement into an inn or trade hub, or focus on a self-sufficient homestead or livestock ranch; the clan’s survival rests in your hands.

Generations of clanfolk

Create a lineage or choose an existing clan, then guide a family across multiple generations. Members marry, have children, grow old and die, passing their work and struggles on to those who follow. Each person has their own traits, aspirations, dreams and skills, and can care for themselves and others while developing over time. Children learn alongside their elders, who can teach them to hunt, cook, clean, build and farm.

You manage schedules to keep everyone rested, fed and reasonably happy while preparing for winter. Morning rituals, socializing and rest fit around chores such as sowing seeds, tilling soil, fishing, hunting, crafting and cooking.

Seasons and survival

Warm summers give way to crisp fall nights and brutal winters before spring returns. Each season brings different challenges and opportunities, from picking berries and trapping eels to hunting rabbits and finding mushrooms. Soil conditions and other factors affect crops, so you can till the land, use slash-and-burn farming and train farmers to help feed the clan.

The weather affects your people, animals and belongings. Heavy rain and sub-zero temperatures can put them at risk: water freezes and must be melted over a fire, while food spoils quickly when wet. Wet objects are less likely to catch fire, but livestock without shelter can become ill and die. Clanfolk without proper fur clothing can freeze when away from a fire’s warmth. Poor health, severe weather and fires can also devastate a settlement.

Build and craft

Begin with the land around you and develop survival knowledge across generations. Collecting branches, trees, stones and reeds unlocks ideas and methods for improving your clan’s living conditions. You progress from sleeping outdoors to building ventilated houses and barns from materials such as brick and stone, unlocking new materials and craftable items along the way.

New techniques emerge as you work with resources. Pottery, bricks and tiles become available after you dig up clay; iron tools come from working the right mountains; and making use of furs follows hunting and skinning animals at the butcher’s block. You manage production chains across the seasons by prioritizing tasks and setting crafting quotas and requirements, balancing essential supplies with luxuries.

Visitors and trade

Traders, travelers and neighbors looking for work visit your homestead. Trading posts bring members of other clans who sell useful goods and buy your wares. Your reputation with each clan affects what its traders bring, and clans specialize in different products.

Travelers may seek lodging, which you can offer them. Happy guests might stay longer or pay well, making an inn one possible direction for your settlement. Workers from other clans also arrive at job boards looking for paid work; their skills can help with the harvest, hunting parties or staffing an inn.