Dorfromantik is a combination of a relaxing tile-matching puzzle game and a construction simulation. Starting with a single spot, players create idyllic village landscapes by placing tiles from a procedurally generated stack. Tiles can be rotated and can be placed almost anywhere, but to advance and create a coherent landscape, the edges need to be matched, for instance houses, train tracks, rivers, trees and rocks. When a good match is made the environment is also updated visually and large areas of a similar type can be built, for instance larger water bodies or complete villages. This is also encouraged through challenges where quests can be completed for instance by creating a link of 100 trees. The player then also needs to take into account not to close off certain areas so further expansion remains possible. Next to working towards a high score, completing challenges is also rewarded with new types of tiles that are unlocked and added to the stack as well as new biomes for the environment. Tiles can also be landmarks such as a windmill or vehicles such as boat or a locomotive. Good matches add tiles to the stack, but when there are no more tiles available, the game is over.
Next to the Standard mode there is a Creative mode where there are no limitations and any type of landscape can be created, adding and removing tiles at will. The game is controlled using the mouse with free-roaming movement, rotation and zoom.