Norland Will Be Getting Redesigned UI and Layouts for Steam Deck

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Over the weekend, we reported on Norland getting its quarterly roadmap, which includes a mention of Steam Deck support! The Medieval colony simulator, which feels similar to Rimworld, will be getting some big changes within the next three months. When we heard the news, we reached out to Hooded Horse to ask about the specific changes that would be implemented. Today, we heard back, and it sounds like there will be some very welcome changes.

According to Hooded Horse, there will be two changes as part of the Steam Deck support:

• The controls will be optimized for Steam Deck with pre-configured layouts.
• All menus will be adjusted to fit the screen, and some will be redesigned entirely for a smoother user experience.

Both of these sound like they will be really closing the gap to get the game Deck Verified! Currently, Norland is rated Playable, with three aspects keeping it from getting the green checkmark:

• This game sometimes shows mouse, keyboard, or non-Steam-Deck controller icons
• Entering some text requires manually invoking the on-screen keyboard
• Some in-game text is small and may be difficult to read

It sounds like these two changes will at least cover the small in-game text and hopefully the virtual keyboard coming up automatically is included in the redesign for the smoother UI experience. I am worried about the controller icons though. While the optimized controls will be extremely helpful and truly make the game significantly more playable, it doesn't mean it will show gamepad icons. Because of this, it may not get that Verified checkmark.

Regardless, these changes should make the game much better on the Steam Deck. The Verified badge is great to have, but it doesn't necessarily indicate how wonderful a game actually is on the Deck. Either way, I can't wait for these changes, since it will only make Norland be even more enjoyable to play on the go, since it is such an awesome game in general, and it should fix some of the issues we have brought up in our review of the game.

Norland can be purchased on Steam for $29.99.

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