Bellwright GBAtemp review
PlayStation 5
Product Information:
- Release Date (NA): June 9, 2026
- Release Date (EU): June 9, 2026
- Publisher: Snail Games
- Developer: Donkey Crew
- Genres: Survival
- ESRB Rating: Teen
- PEGI Rating: Sixteen years and older
- Also For: Computer, Xbox Series X|S
Game Features:
Wrongfully framed for the death of the prince, you're exiled to the outskirts of Karvenia, a kingdom of opportunity and plenty. You begin the game with nothing to your name, so you are required to forge alliances, friendships and tackle tacks to elevate your position.
As a casual gamer, I really didn't know what to expect from this. The game literally pushes you away at the start by giving you nothing but a bearing and map. The level of discovery and interactivity you're thrust into is overwhelming at first. Everything is new, fresh and unknown, but will this sense of wonder last?
Humble Beginnings & Grafting for Gains
Starting out, you essentially become a new member of a small town, agreeing to abide by their laws and put up with any taxes they deem fit to slap you with. Wondering Haerndean's town center, you have a variety of people to meet, stories to unfurl and mysteries to explore. I gravitated directly towards anyone who was in any way connected to weaponry, because I wanted to play a game where I was kitted out and prepared for a battle, should it arise.
Finding various fetch quests to partake in is easy. Everyone in this game wants something, or knows something. Elders such as Dobron Yorklyn, would be a good place to start because they know everyone and are privy to a lot more information than most. He pointed me towards the central jobs list, and from there, I progressed to earn his trust and earned some favours and cash along the way.
In currying favor with Dobron, I embarked on a quest to approach an ex-guard, Lubomir Netterby, and get him to move on away from the town. Once I had located the man, I had options to talk to him calmly, or escalate the situation by being abrupt. Opting for the softer approach, I managed to gain his friendship and we began setting up a camp together.
With only lint in my pockets, I collected sticks, stones, herbs, and fungus to stock up on the fundamental building blocks I thought would be essential to leveling up. Don't worry, I won't go into too much detail with too many tasks here, because I don't wish to accidentally impart any major storyline spoilers, but the game is enjoyably expansive and progressive in equal measure.
Adventuring out of the main township, I went exploring the rather gorgeous medieval landscapes. The environments are conducive of what we would visually associate with the dark ages, with some incredible landmarks and some gorgeously immersive scenery all around. Playing on my PS5 Pro, I expected the frame rates to be rock solid and the graphics to look sharp, but there is a muddy janky feel to the overall presentation which I guess you could reason that it leans into the grimy world of serfs working on muddy farmland, and bandits living in trees, but not really when it comes to the population that live above the breadline.
The world outside of the habituated areas feels dense with possibilities and dangers, with animals to hunt, food to gather, items to locate and treasures to discover. However, I couldn't waste too much energy exploring, after all my character was surviving on berries and mushrooms, I needed to set up some digs of my own, and enhance my living conditions ASAP.
Building a camp requires materials, lots of materials. Figuring out how to begin placing elements of my future camp was a challenge in itself, but the menu system is quite robust once you have had a good scan of it and, after a time, muscle memory will kick in and you will get to know your way around it quite fluently.
I began by seating my personal shack in the center of a clearing, the indicator glowing green to say that this item could be placed within the environment, and I pulled the trigger on it being there permanently.
To execute the task of building a dwelling, you need to acquire the required materials and drop them off next to the floor space you have chosen ready for communal use. Calling on Lubomir, I altered his task priority to building/labor and he automatically helped me to start construction. You can re-assign each member of your gang from a worker to a guard, or to a companion, at any time, though their core professions remain, such as blacksmiths, bakers, or craftsmen, for example. I quite liked this ability to convert warriors to builders, or
Each item you build can be left to be auto built, which takes a long time, or you can pitch in and get it done considerably quicker. Each item you build begins as a pile of rubble with marks around it. Moving to each marker, you can interact with them to apply the various materials you have either on your person, or in the pile ready to build.
Once you have a completed structure, you can use this to sleep, pass time, and store a couple of items to expand your overall inventory. In addition to your shack, you get to build a camp fire for warmth and sustenance, a camp chest for additional storage, and work benches and desks for fabrication and research. The latter would be extremely useful for a plethora of quests, so gathering all the materials for those was quintessential to having a good experience early on.
Make Friends, Build an Army
In order to gather or harvest things faster, you need to build an axe from sticks and stones. using base elements pays off to build tougher and more durable items that progress you further, but the durability has to be attended to in order to not break your tools while too far away from your camp. If you're too far away, you need food to fuel you, shelter to protect you and an eye over your shoulder at every clearing in case of robbers or wild animals such as wolves or bears.
In one mission, a man wanted a clutch of axes made, so I cobbled together some sticks and stones without even needing a work bench, and curried favor with a new series of allies. From here I was offered books to read that enhanced my fighting, crafting, herbalism, and more. The act of reading a book, like everything in Bellwright, takes time. You essentially select a book and it begins a countdown timer of around 30 minutes up to two full hours, depending on the complexity and content of the book. I like the fact that leveling up is almost real-time, there are certainly no short cuts in this game.
Now, again, I don't want to give much more away because Bellwright's best features are exploration and advancement, but everything you partake in will lead to something greater (unless you go wondering off and get repeatedly battered by the local mobs). Additionally, balancing hunger and the countless other stats in this game is far easier if you manage your resources cautiously. Build a stash, store essentials, stock up on valuables, and progress nicely albeit probably more slowly than someone who takes risks and wins bigger upgrades more quickly.
Your personal skill tree and ability "cloud" are extensive. There are so many things to research, build, and customise, as well as creating a harmonious community within which, you can manage peoples titles and tasks to either fortify your crew into battle-hardened warriors, or utilise them for construction and agriculture to forge a better land for your colony.
It has to be noted that waging war and battling is optional, though I would say you're missing out on most of the action if you switch the game into purely being a construction simulator. It is ultimately up to you how you want to conquer the lands, through carrot or stick, or by being cruel to be kind for the greater good of all the people within your circle.
Eventually you will graduate from your twig-based hovel to stone and mortar, and even a town and fortress of your own. The more people you gain trust with, the more allies and people-power you have, and the more acquaintances you have on your side, the more of a force to be reckoned with you will be when it comes to battling for land, building for prosperity, or fighting for honor.
Minor Quibbles for a Massive Quest
I have no idea how this game is only £24.49 on PSN, but in all honestly, it's worth that and more. It's an ambitiously huge yet slow-building survival title that evolves into a full-blown army/settlement simulator, that plonks you into a massive medieval landscape and lets you do whatever you wish. You can actually play this game with up to 4 players, cooperatively fending off enemies and building settlements, though I don't currently know anyone else who owns this game, which is a shame because that could have been quite and interesting experience.
Regardless, though I love the progressive nature of the game, it becomes such a grind in places that I really felt it needed a little more direction than I was being given. It's not that the game needs "yellow paint" but sometimes it feels a little bit like you're entirely left to your own devices and it becomes impossible to pin down exactly what you need to do first. I felt like I had so much scope that there was no focus for the most part, which is what comes with being a sandbox building/survival game, I guess.
I have to admit that the foraging and building elements were fantastic to ease you into the general mechanics of the game, if a little too in depth for me, and the combat progression and overall story arc was nicely rounded to allow you to be brutal or lenient depending on your mood, though a little shallow overall.
Overall, Bellwright should be looked at by city-builder fans rather than hardcore RPG or survival gamers, as the majority of options revolve around logistics, resource management and expansion, but you honestly cannot go wrong if you're into feudal, gothic and chivalric gaming.
Verdict
- A huge sense of achievement and progression throughout.
- Cosy foraging and building moments are punctuated by harsh reality checks.
- Highly prepped huge-scale wars can be rewarding to watch play out.
- Heaps of items and tools to research and make.
- Evolves into a building-focused game.
- Overly grind-lead at first.
- Intense resource management.
- Melee combat is shallow.
- The graphics are a bit janky overall.
