Donkey Crew has finally released their highly anticipated medieval town-building survival game, Bellwright, into Early Access.

The game is set in Karvenia, a vast land stretching over 25km². This expansive map is filled with diverse regions to explore and build your settlement in, villages to free from oppressive regimes, and numerous points of interest to visit. You start as a stranger to the lands, and by proving yourself to the various town leaders by completing their quests, you gain trust and renown. As you do, they will allow you to set up your own city in the surroundings. You can focus on making one large village or setting up multiple around the world.

Unlike many other survival games, in Bellwright, you can recruit NPCs that you can task with different assignments like crafting or resource gathering to lighten your load as you liberate Karvenia. In order for them to work, you will need to keep them fed. The further you progress in the game, the easier this will become as you expand your recipe book for better meals. Your town can also be attacked, so setting up guards to defend your base and other people is a must. They won’t only help around your town; you can also request them to assist you on your quest and accompany you into battle. Multiple allies can follow you at once, and you will be able to equip them with gear and command them to attack certain enemies. Once you have gained enough trust with a settlement, you will be able to hire people as well.

Bellwright features a skill-based directional combat system, where you can choose the direction of your attacks and blocks. In order to defeat an enemy quickly, you will need to read their attacks and counter them by attacking from another side. There will be many times when you face multiple enemies at once, so learning how to deal with them quickly is crucial in group battles. The game offers a substantial story; in the main quest, you follow the main character as they search for the truth of their past. Along the way, you can expect to encounter an endless number of side quests to make the world feel more alive and expand on the lore.

The developers are already working on several features that have been requested by users who played last month’s playtest. These include walls and fortifications that can withstand enemy attacks, the construction of roads to speed up your followers as they move around your town, and compatibility with controllers. A highly requested feature is the addition of official mod support; Donkey Crew is currently looking into how to implement it. We can expect the game to stay in early access for around three years. During this time, they will expand the map with more biomes, complete the main story, add horses for faster traveling, and more buildings to construct and gear to craft.

If you would like to check out the game, Bellwright is now available on Steam.

Do you think it could be the next big medieval survival game? Let me know in the comments.