- From thatched cottages to palaces… Building a Hanok yourself with 210 types of building materials
- From copying to freestyle architecture… Building Hanok in three ways
One-person developer WATSI will officially release the building game ‘Hanok: From Thatch to Palace’, which involves building traditional Korean houses, on Steam on the 29th at 10:00 AM (KST).
‘Hanok: From Thatched House to Palace’ is a building game where you complete a house by placing components used in actual Hanok construction, such as foundation stones, pillars, beams, rafters, and roof tiles, one by one.
You can build various types of Hanok yourself, ranging from thatched cottages to palace halls, and Steam tags such as Casual, Cozy, and History are registered, giving you a glimpse of the game’s nature in advance.
From thatched cottages to palaces… Three ways to build Hanok
The game consists of three modes: ‘copy-build’, ‘village building’, and ‘manual building’.
In ‘Build by Imitation’, you complete various traditional buildings in a set order. Starting with a thatched house, you can build a total of 11 buildings, including an L-shaped thatched house, a house with a magpie hole, a tiled house with a gable roof and a hip roof, a Seowon lecture hall, a palace hall and gate tower, and a two-story pavilion over a pond.
Each architectural component is briefly labeled with its actual name and the reason for its use in that location, allowing one to examine the structure and components of a traditional Hanok while following the construction process.
In ‘Building a Village’, you can configure the space even more freely. You can utilize 210 types of components, including thatched and tiled houses, palace halls and government offices, corridors, walls and gates, streams and bridges, town fortress walls, rice paddies and fields, market stalls and lanterns. In addition, you can place 40 types of people and 8 types of animals.
It also supports a method of constructing a village with the goal of completing six types of requests, such as a farming village, a marketplace, a noble village, and a palace main hall.
In ‘Build Your Own,’ instead of constructing buildings according to a separate design, you can build your own Hanok by freely combining various components. You can apply the traditional building sequence or turn off the rules to build freely, and completed buildings can be moved and placed in Village Build mode.
From the dawn mist to the moonlit night, a village where one walks as a king
The completed village can be changed to four time zones: dawn fog, midday, sunset, and moonlit night.
When night falls, indoor lights spread through the paper windows, and lanterns light up the alleys. Players can walk around the village as the King character to look around the buildings, and it is also possible to step onto the veranda or enter the rooms.
Eleven pieces of Korean traditional music are played as background music during the construction process.
The developer explained that the architectural elements and construction sequences appearing in the game were constructed based on materials from the National Folk Museum of Korea, the National Heritage Administration, and the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture. Any content that was summarized or could not be verified during the production process will be disclosed separately through the in-game ‘Basis of Creation’ screen.
A traditional architecture game developed by a single person
‘Hanok: From Thatched House to Palace’ was developed and published by Watsi, a one-person development studio led by CEO Kim Geon-woo.
However, on the Steam store page, Watsi and ‘Tiger Without Claws’ are listed together as developers, and the specific relationship between the two names has not been separately confirmed.
The game runs on Windows 10 or higher 64-bit PCs, and the minimum specifications are 4GB of RAM and 500MB of storage space. It stands out for being designed to be enjoyed without burden on a standard PC thanks to its relatively low system requirements.
Released at 14,000 won… Palace and village content updates scheduled for free
The official retail price of ‘Hanok: From Thatched Houses to Palaces’ is 14,000 won. For one week after its release, it can be purchased for 11,900 won, a 15% discount.
Even after the official launch, Washi plans to introduce additional palace buildings, such as the Queen’s chambers and the Crown Prince’s palace, as well as village life content, through free updates.
‘Hanok: From Thatched House to Palace’ is a game that goes beyond simply admiring a finished Hanok; it implements the process of completing a traditional building by allowing players to directly arrange architectural components such as foundation stones, pillars, beams, and rafters.
With the official launch on September 29, it is expected that players will be able to see how the fun of traditional Hanok architecture, ranging from thatched cottages to palaces, has been brought to life in a game.
Information regarding ‘Hanok: From Thatch to Palace’
| item | detail |
|---|---|
| Developer | WATSI, on the Steam page, the clawless tiger weapon |
| Publisher | WATSI |
| Genre | Building Games (Copy-building · Village building · Hand-building), Casual, Indie |
| platform | PC (Steam), Windows 10 or higher (64-bit) |
| Release date | September 29, 2026 (Tue) 10:00 AM (KST) |
| price | 14,000 won (15% discount for one week to celebrate launch, 11,900 won) |
| language | Korean, English (interface standard) |
| Usage rating | Suitable for all ages |
| Reactions/Evaluations | No reviews registered in the pre-release stage |
| Steam Page | Shortcut |
