Dorfromantik board game sequel trades idyllic calm for a village building competition

Hot off its win of the 2023 Spiel des Jahres, Dorfromantic has announced a followup board game that ditches its cooperative village building dynamic for something more cutthroat and competitive.

Dorfromantik: Das Duell, which roughly translates to Romantic Village: The Duel, pits two players or two teams of players against one another in their bid to construct the best pastoral town amongst a hexgrid landscape of rivers, mountains and postcard-worthy landscapes.

According to the official description on BoardGameGeek, Dorfromantik: Das Duell will retain the relaxing, tile-placement core mechanics, including bonus flags, resident requests and specific victory points for constructing the longest river and rail track. Das Duell tosses two new types of assignments into the design cookpot - individual and all-around assignments will offer the competing teams more chances to tackle specific construction tasks in order to earn victory points.

We don’t yet have the official rulebook to see what else has changed, but publisher Pegasus Spiele implies that each side of the table will build their own landscape. Instead of sharing one big map and vying over territory, this board game instructs players to develop separate villages by placing tiles that connect to their respective initial game pieces, eventually sprawling out from that starting point.

Everything in Dorfromantik: Das Duell can be added to the base game like you would an expansion, but smaller play groups (2-4 people) can replay Das Duell’s sttandard modes as many times as their parochial heart desires. Four new tiles introduced in this board game can also be thrown into Dorfromantik’s core setup, and the independent game modes are apparently well-suited to quick, interchangeable play.

Michael Palm and Lukas Zach return as designers of the calming video game translated into a cosy tabletop title. Illustrator Paul Riebe was once again tapped to prove box art with a similar vibe - puffy clouds, green grass and windmills slowly creaking in a spring wind.

Dorfromantik: Das Duell will hit retail sometime later this year, as the publisher has remained tight-lipped on details as of yet. Price point and a more thorough understanding of what is lost and gained when playing competitively will have to wait a bit longer. Dicebreaker has contacted the publisher for more information and will update you as more information surfaces. Curious about the other Spiele des Jarhes winners? We’ve got you covered there, too.