It's been a little over two years since Bellwright stepped into Early Access. Rougher around the edges than it is today, and lacking many features that we all take for granted by now, but you'd shown up for it anyway and you've stayed to see it evolve side by side with us. More than anything, this update is our way of saying thank you for that.
This time, we didn't start by asking "what else can we add to our ever-growing digital love child?" We asked, "how do we make what's already here better, and more pleasant to play, no matter how and, more importantly, where you play?" Almost everything in this update grew out of that one single question, and with your feedback over the years, your bug reports, and preview branch discussions, everyone on the team feels like this update is as much our achievement as it is yours.
The biggest part of that "more pleasant to play" promise is by far performance. An enormous optimization pass, a jump to Unreal Engine 5.7, updated DLSS, FSR and XeSS, and we finally tracked down the late game micro-freezes on big settlements that so many of you with thousands of hours of playtime have been reporting.
After the Halmare Isles' story upped the ante for how the narrative can flow in Bellwright, we gave the early quests and the opening hours the attention they'd long deserved, so the introduction to the world is clearer, warmer, and plays far better. It's worth a fresh save even if you've been with us since day one, as there's quite a bit you might not have known about the Lowlands, its history, and the people of Haerndean.
Beyond that, there have been dozens of new features, improvements, and all kinds of changes that we've been gathering from you: a planning mode to lay out a whole settlement or individual buildings and decorations before spending a single resource, a way to connect your own roads and travel signs to the existing road network, food diet and medicine slots in gear presets, and squads that hold together over long distances, and are far easier to command from the map, and much more.
Console Release
With all that, it finally felt like the right moment to open the doors a little wider. Bellwright is now available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S! If you've ever felt like a revolutionary at heart, but the couch is just soooo cozy and soft (most of us at Donkey Crew can relate; why do you think we made it?) - welcome, and please let us know how you're liking the game. And if you're a PC veteran who's been here since the early days, we kindly ask you to avoid openly posting spoilers on Discord, at least for the time being.
All the versions are nearly identical in every way, and are available right now on platform stores!
What's Next
There's a third (and a fourth!) big thing we've been quietly working toward too, and it's one a lot of you have been asking about.
Crossplay - playing alongside your friends, whatever platform they're on, and self-hosted dedicated servers are both in active development, and both are coming later this year. Likely before the next major update.
Mostly though, we just want to say thank you. This update exists because you kept showing us which parts of Bellwright deserve a little more love, and cared enough to keep telling us. To everyone who's stuck with us through the rough patches, and to everyone setting foot in the Lowlands for the very first time today - we're glad you're here. Jump in, drag a friend along with you, and keep pointing us at whatever we should tackle next!
Changelog
Notable Changes
Vast performance optimization.
Added Full controller support.
Overhauled the early Main Quest storyline and the player's introduction to the world.
Added the ability to place travel signs near player-built roads connected to world roads.
Added Food diet and Medicine slots to Gear presets.
Added building and decoration plans, allowing for planning settlements without beginning construction until they are approved.
Added building variations for stairs and some other buildings.
Allowed to change height for all buildings on platforms.
Added multiple access points for NPCs to all warehouses.
Allowed marking items as prioritized in storage settings (star priority).
Made squads stay together when moving over long distances, waiting for slower members.
Improved commanding squads on the map.
General Improvements
Updated the Engine to Unreal 5.7
Updated DLSS to version 4.5
Updated FSR to version 4.0.3a
Updated XESS to version 3.0.1
Made intro cinematic play in up to 4k resolution.
Disable the possibility of saving in single-player when the player is falling, dead, or too close to enemies
Disabled the ability to turn companions into workers or guards until a personal shack is placed
Make non-codex non-researched items appear in gear presets and storage rules if they were ever present in player settlements
Added the Primitive club and Torch to the starting player equipment.
Added "Gameplay" section to the codex with mechanics explanations
Name corrections for a lot of buildings and items.
Made homeless NPC's walk back to their closest settlement within range before sleeping on the ground
Increased feathers in bolt crafting recipes
Reduced trap durability. Traps now break after 5 rabbit catches.
Idle workers and guards now update gear when better equipment becomes available
NPCs now leave broken items in storage when switching gear
Improved pathfinding to update paths if they become blocked by a standing character.
Improved pathfinding in shallow water (previously causing issues with River Dock construction).
Slightly rebalanced npc traits to make them more fitting and actually affecting something.
Improved Halmayan and Heater shields offset when unsheathed.
Separated melee and ranged martial arts buffs from food
Optimized (fix micro-freezes) on late-game saves caused by job updates and delivery updates
Auto-save game right after starting a new game and before manually saving.
Added an error message if co-op session fails to be created.
Removed outdated “(P)” keybind mention from knowledge books description.
Prevented hiring militia and mercenaries while they're currently in active battle (was causing them to get stuck).
Fixed sometimes breaking collisions on objects when colliding with them, while being in the water
Fixed butchering producing incorrect amounts of resources.
Fixed the client wormhole between child actors with corresponding names on the server/client
Fixed obtaining Tin Ingot and Fox carcass, unlocking different codex entries, leading to incorrect storage rules
Fixed a bug when NPC's were picking up coins as items while using a cart
Fixed copy settings for structures in some cases
Fixed camera being slightly rotated to the side, depending on the horizontal offset
Fixed stamina not being synced properly on clients
Fixed fishing difficulty and ShowDialogueChoiceEffect resetting to Medium/On after restart
Fixed hunter behaviors getting stuck when trying to interact with storage, when seeing hostile threats
Fixed some outdated and unnecessarily long descriptions of items and buildings
Fixed NPC's getting stuck in remote outposts after loading save
Fixed multiple bandit camps having the same codex entries and excluded them from migration (already migrated camps are unaffected)
Fixed hidden faction names being shown instead of NPC names in map menu tooltips
Fixed hair turning white during snowfall
Fixed beer and wine having the equipment category
Fixed characters falling through the ground during fast travel
Fixed NPCs in Padstow falling from the sky after respawn
Fixed missing items in gear preset editing
Fixed incorrect houses being assigned for characters on Halmare Isles.
Fixed companions sometimes not using ranged weapons when Hold command is toggled on.
Fixed various decorative objects not blocking movement.
Fixed visual glitches after character death.
Fix navigation not updating correctly on loading saves in areas nearby player, but not immediately next to him
Fixed characters sometimes thinking they're not allowed to open gates when they are.
Fixed palisade stairs not having the same material as walls.
Fixed issue with starting to sprint again after the stamina runs out or character equips a weapon
Fixed not being able to travel between faction-owned sea ports on Halmare Isles after they've been conquered.
Fixed npc getting stuck on casting rod when teleporting to them from a distance. Minimalize many npcs standing in the same location when fishing.
Fixed movement issues around personal shack decorations.
Fixed camps not getting auto-cleared when killing the last guard
Fixed clipping issues for various armors and helmets.
Fixed an issue where using "Revert Changes" in Character Creation could remove clothing from the character.
Fixed an issue where players could briefly respawn underground.
Fixed characters being deleted when loading co-op saves in single-player mode
Fixed travel signs being available for clients in co-op mid-combat
Fixed missing input action while waiting for other players to sleep in co-op.
Fixed walls incorrectly snapping to roads.
Fixed NPCs sometimes not being able to walk around player-built walls.
Fixed characters falling through walls after loading the game.
Fixed landscape not being rendered at large distances from player.
Fixed multiple problems with pathfinding over long distances (mostly relevant for caravans).
Fixed npcs getting stuck while fishing.
Fixed weapons being used incorrectly when a torch is equipped.
Fixed small hitches when loading equipment meshes
Fixed tree harvest interaction using incorrect offset
Fixed invisible caravans
Applied fixes to hair rendering shader shadowing
Fixed issues with map areas not loading correctly
Fixed rare cases of NPC's getting stuck in construction behavior
Fixed client not seeing parts of walls
Fixed sometimes not being able to respawn after dying far from respawning structure
Fixed camera overlapping the Tavern banner when going through it
Player Settlement
Added an ability to customize the operation radius for harvesting, fishing, and trapping buildings
Rework handling unreachable interactions - should fix different cases of villagers stuck trying to get to the tree in water
Ensure the correct number of finished one-off orders if there are more crafting AP's than the ordered amount of items in the smelters
Adding a new Clothing category to storage filters
Added that injured workers refuse hunting jobs
Added hunting error display if all potential hunters are injured
Made buildings ignore the original structure when relocating, allowing for minimal adjustments
Made Tier 3 buildings on platforms less restrictive to place on uneven terrain.
Reduced the food cellar footprint, making it easier to place and corrected its collision
Reduced the number of clicks required to finish scaffolding for the Thresher, Mixing bucket and Small Caravan Station
Take into account estimated crops output for crop top-up at Farm.
Prevented workers from cutting orchard trees when free planting space is still available
Hide stair variation that causes wall misalignment (existing ones remain unchanged)
Changed player faction name to Outlaws and Rebels depending on the stage of the game.
Fixed being able to place Food Cellar and Drying Rack in a floating state.
Fixed an issue where the player could collide with a building preview while placing it in build mode which would display "Another object is blocking"
Fixed some building interactables floating as they were placed on uneven terrain.
Fixed trade data missing after relocation of the Market
Fixed cases of wrong settlement assignment to NPC's when returning from Halmare Isles
Fixed smelters producing incorrect items if worker fails to deliver all ingredients on time
Fixed some building interactables floating if they were placed on uneven terrain.
Fixed a bug that led to the ocean location not being properly detected in the fishing hut
Fixed characters sometimes standing on top of the bucket while butchering
Fixed villagers sometimes getting stuck between two stockpiles
Fixed bookmarks not being reassigned after relocating a structure
Fixed camera not zooming out enough when placing Farm, Orchard and Garden
Fixed an issue where some Tier 3 buildings had oversized colliders, making them difficult to place in placement mode
Fixed inability to disassemble player-owned lost carts
Fixed inability to open storage in some buildings without workers in outpost
Fixed workers cutting orchard trees before fruit production completes
Fixed Hops not appearing in the storage filters.
Fixed caravan drivers sometimes looking for their cart while already driving it.
Fixed a game freeze after disassembling a road.
Fixed invisible collision at T1 & T3 Pit saw before sawing started.
Fixed npcs sometimes getting stuck on construction when build interaction are moved out of water.
Fixed workshop collision
Fixed garden flowers not showing up in storage filters on saves.
Fixed npcs getting stuck on swtiching gear when they have ammo in quiver, but they cannot put both their ranged weapon and quiver anywhere in the settlement.
Fixed caravans getting stuck far from player after loading save
Villages & Trading
Added new activities for Npcs in neutral villages and improved their everyday life to make them feel more natural and busy
Improvements for the brigand behavior in neutral settlements - they now guard village entrances, relax during downtime, and no longer wander too far from their village.
Improvements for the NPC's behavior in neutral POIs - added new activities, kept them from wandering too far, and enabled them to sleep in nearby houses when available
Innkeepers on Karvenia are now also selling food
Caravan NPC's are no longer displayed as hireable in the village screen
Add correctly working canceling neutral village facility investment.
Linked the quality of NPCs in neutral villages to prosperity levels.
Added idle conversation between NPC's
Added feathers to some facility construction costs
Added Tin plate to Smelter facility output
Fixed Orchard facility not producing apple seeds
Fixed villagers not reacting to being kicked.
Fixed incorrectly assigning expelled npcs to houses in villages.
Combat
Modify combat AI behavior to do less "deathblobs"
Turn previous settlement guards back to the same role when dismissing the combat group
Enemies now have a lower chance of successfully blocking in combat
Made the full draw of short bows longer
Rework squad alignment to obstacles
Made kicking work with animals.
Improve logic of squads movement - don't wait for for npcs far behind if target is close
Fixed combat AI doing melee hit way too early when approaching the enemy
Fix patrols disappearing on loading save if they were in the fight
Fixed visual jittering while aiming a ranged weapon.
Fixed arrows going through characters when they shouldn't.
Fixed squads becoming unresponsive after combat in some cases
Quests & Narrative
Restarted Arrival quest if player had Arrival or New home quest active on saves before early quest changes.
Minimap icon for available Main Quest is now always visible
Hunter and Hunted Quest dialogues have been rewritten and changed to a Side Quest
Removed a misleading line at the end of the dialogue in Black Tusker quest
Moving up in the World quest dialogues rewritten
Ancient Legacy quest dialogues and codex entries are rewritten
Changed Mona's outfit in Fowl Play Quest to better fit her character and the medieval setting
Added reward to the Poison quest
Slightly rebalanced prosperity quests rewards.
Text fixes and improvements to the early game Codex
Divisions in the Dark changed from Side-Quest to Main-Quest to improve the early game narrative
Idle dialogue added for Cillian Gregor from A Fool and His Limbs Quest
Early Game Codex - improvements and text fixes
Renamed NPC from Kasia to Katherine Rodin
Added Orchard as a reward for sharing findings with Marti Kostra
Made Berthold Kug refuse a duel if the player is in active combat already
Awarded missing faction items from Halmare Isles when loading old save files.
Fixed Lubomir not fighting back if he gets attacked before hiring
Fixed A cut above quest bandits not showing up on the map as red dots and behaving weirdly.
Fixed village prosperity quests giving trust as a reward
Fixed not being able to hire Rudy from the Stopping the Harassment quest if the player accidentally pressed ESC during the conversation
Fixed disappearing mesh when interacting with the note in a Bandit Camp
Fixed some quest POI's having bandit faction when they shouldn't
Fixed Trade routes quest, duplicating Toast to war hidden stash map icon.
Fixed Isa Cisne and Falsgar convoy destination being outside of Port, leading to the quest failing when it's not supposed to
Fixes to dialogues in several different quests
Fixed an issue with the Thieves of Harthbay Quest that prevented completing the objective of finding the smuggler camp
Fixed quests with multiple simultaneous required tasks progressing incorrectly when the last task on the list is completed after loading a save
Fixed "The One Above All" quest not progressing after traveling to Halmare Isles
Fixed quests requiring travel to specific maps failing incorrectly
Fixed not all faction items being awarded when completing the Halmare Isles arc without the faction's support, but choosing them to rule in the end.
Fixed Damsel & As dusk sets quests getting stuck if player decides to kill Isa during escort
Characters & Animation
Updated the unarmed locomotion animations
Improvements of the Character Creator
Improved the cloak cloth sim
Improved locomotion with 1h weapons
Make NPC's now stir only when there is a fire under the cauldron
Added new animations for beggars and for warming up
Added a special idle animation for the spear guard at the start of the game
Added more variations for sitting animations
Added animations for various nonverbal interactions
Added medallion mesh to the player character.
Adjusted NPCs positions during dialogues between NPCs in selected locations
Fixed NPC's not playing the woodcutting animation on the client when they have a shield
Fixed stance switching bug while hitting a block with a 1h weapon
Fixed the wrong rotation of the Buckler shield when NPC's carrying it
Fixed clipping issues for various armors
Fixed the wrong skinning animation being used for the NPC
Fixed the wrong displayed value being shown in the Character Creator screen.
Fixed camera preset switches back to Custom after selecting Static/Dynamic preset.
Fixed the last arrow being invisible when being drawn
Fixed an issue where NPC's sitting on the bench near the inn could clip into the building mesh.
Fixed downed character still being able to move
Fixed female walk cycle bugging out
Fixed small jittering when walking downhill
Improved movement animations while holding a bow.
Fixed some visual bugs related to too much twist in spine while using 2h weapons
Fixed left hand detaching from handle when using heavy two-handed weapons
Fixed companions holding one-handed weapons incorrectly when idle after reloading a save.
Fixed companions NPC's on the client trying to wield weapons during non-combat orders
Fixed drawn weapons appearing to be out of hand while character is moving.
Fixed not being able to vault over objects after using "Unstuck" button.
Fixed dynamic tree cutting camera incorrectly activating when using a static camera preset.
Fixed incorrect holding position of some weapons.
Animals
Animals improvements and overall optimization.
Village animals now walk in defined zones
Added new wolf mesh with colour variations.
Added new fox mesh.
Made sheep's mesh visual update when they start producing wool
Added cow bells to calf and cow.
Added sleeping for pets.
Update fox and wolf carcasses to carry and hang on the racks
Improved dog and cat ragdoll physics
Fixed flying animals sometimes not landing on the ground
Fixed T-posing when eating for sheep.
Voice & Audio
NPC's now comment on the weather and missing resources in construction sites.
Added sound when an NPC breaks their equipment
Added wind whistling sound depending on player position
Barks improved, new barks added for innkeepers, villagers, reachable NPC's, and merchants
Improvements in game mix and audio behavior
Improved combat, body, and animal hit sounds
New menu music
Updated missing voice overs and facial animations.
Adjusted spawn rate of dog barking sounds
Lower volume of outdoor ambiance when being in crossroads tavern.
Added cow bell sound.
Fixed harvesting sounds not playing on the client in coop game
UI & UX
Added a visible radius of operations to the map screen for selected buildings
Show the path of squads on the map
Show player-built roads and walls on the map
Optimized the status widget for far-away NPC's
When a player is blocking a building, tell that in the warning message instead of "Another object is blocking..."
Moved Quick Craft from the inventory tab to a separate tab in the player overview screen
Added a region difficulty icon when entering a new region
Enabled editing of amount rules in storage even when the item is toggled off
Added info widget when the "invite friends" button is not responding due to the Steam overlay being disabled
Made clicking on tech tree items start research or navigate to them at the Research Desk menu
Added the north symbol to the minimap
Companions hunger notifications now include their gender
Interactions on the workbench have been unified for clarity
Hidden irrelevant input hints when building roads and walls
Make the Gameplay tab visible in the main menu
Hidden interaction points on stone fences in neutral villages
Removed misleading item acquisition hints from Codex
Improve display of squad paths on the map
Show villagers paths when selecting icon on the map
Added unique wayponts for each player in co-op
Made commanding radius for looting and harvesting adjustable.
Improved commanding widget.
Added a confirmation dialog when closing the character creator screen
Added an asterisk indicator next to settings that have unsaved changes
Added chimney fake tunnel depth effect in top-down view
Added loading screen during respawn until map fully loads
Character name restrictions tightened to prevent file system issues
Disabled “Call to Arms” button in radial menu before it is unlocked
Disabled armor toggle in Finalize tab of character creator
Disabled tech tree button when opening it from new technology unlock if not applicable
Added an ability to view caravan paths on the map.
Made icon movements look smooth on map screen.
Use different map icon for npcs fallen in battle
Added visible bodies of water to Fishing Camp's management menu while being construction.
Added icons for active battles that player faction is a part of.
Improved map icons for certain building categories
Hid “Copy Settings” button for non-copyable objects
Made settings screen remain open after applying changes
Removed ability to place command banner on map without an active squad
Added a dynamic main menu background.
Added waypoints and markers to HUD in co-op mode, similar to NPC indicators
Unified personal map marker and waypoint colors for each player in co-op.
Removed unused input hints from UI.
Fixed ESC key not working on the map screen after closing an overlapping screen
Fixed a bug with focus shifting by itself in the village screen
Fixed the bar for predicted prosperity going out of bounds in the village screen
Fixed displaying input hints in the loading screen
Fixed the details pop-up not displaying properly in the army squad list
Fixed the character creator screen, which was sometimes too bright
Fixed the issue with outposts' names not being visible for the client
Fixed difficulty text not updating on the character creator screen
Fix "Object is under landscape" warning when placing gates
Fixed resource icons getting unloaded when far from the player
Fixed distance to fishing spots being displayed incorrectly
Fixed brief health bar flicker when approaching distant characters
Fixed fruit growth list not updating when cutting a tree during growth stage
Fixed invalid value (-1) for female skin color in character creator
Fixed issue where items could not be added despite sufficient space
Fixed missing map icon after structure construction completion
Fixed overview tab losing focus when switching tabs in crafting/harvesting screens
Fixed widget going out of bounds when inventory contains too many items
Fixed missing icons for decorative shrines in codex.
Fixed the Inn displaying incorrect number of residents when building.
Fixed tooltips on the map being empty for first minute after loading late-game saves in single-player
Fixed homeless animal tool tip text.
Fixed paths on the map screen sometimes being displayed incorrectly in relation to the icon.
Fixed interactions being displayed above the minimap.
Fixed not always being able to click on fast travel building icon when it's overlapped by other icons.
Fixed gates and tower icons being weirdly rotated on the map.
Fixed an issue where researching the Palisade technology could display incorrect Codex information.
Fixed felled tree trunks occasionally falling through the ground when far from the player.
Fixed an issue where Block Assist did not work correctly for clients in co-op during Practice Battles.
Fixed bandit camps sometimes not clearing correctly for clients in co-op.
Fix Respawn Loading Screen closing too early.
Fixed roads remaining visible on the map screen after being removed.
Controller & Input
Added controller support for various screens
Added the ability to scroll through journal and codex entries when using a gamepad
When having a conversation with an NPC, the first dialogue option is now automatically focused on gamepad
Remapped skipping dialogue on gamepads
Improved gamepad navigation in load game menu
Removed numeric dialogue indicators when using controller
Moved sprinting with controller from holding B to toggling it on the Left Stick.
Unified showing hidden dots and overhead icons on the same button on gamepad
Improved gamepad navigation and focus visibility in the Codex screen.
Added a possibility to set book reading priorities for NPC's while using a gamepad
Changed gamepad navigation in the building screen
Disabled placing a building with X when using a gamepad.
Added a highlight for modified keybinds
Added the ability to restore keybinds via right-click
Added the ability to use the mouse wheel as a keybind
Changed keybind for hiding UI
Made building placement begin by pressing Enter while searching the building menu.
Fixed news and bug report buttons from the main menu not being accessible on controller
Fixed gamepad focus defaulting to Select button when assigning a gear preset to an NPC, now it stays in the current column when navigating
Fixed controller focus not staying on the previous button after moving or deleting a crafting or harvesting order
Fixed gamepad focus occasionally being lost in operation widget
Fixed gamepad navigation issues in widgets
Fixed incorrect gamepad focus when hiring a new companion.
Fixed gamepad input hint for placing a marker on an NPC not being displayed
Fixed the lack of gamepad focus in the General settings tab
Fixed the details pop-up not being displayed when using a gamepad
Fixed the lack of gamepad focus in the General settings tab
Fixed missing icons for gamepad bindings when keyboard is active and vice versa
Fixed focused effect not being visible on the delete button in army squad entries.
Pois & Environment
Improved rock material logic: many rocks and pebbles are no longer covered by snow in winter
Improved various neutral POIs in the starting area
Reworked ex-bandit tent and Lubomir Juice Quest place
Reworked bandit camps related to early quests and starting area
Polished Haerndean Pagan Shrine and Fisherman Golden scales quest POI
Cutout road north of Haerndean, which leads to a non-playable area
Polished collision for huge cliff rocks/ boulders/ various small meshes
Polished Padstow big trees LODs
New composition for Karvenia grass, forest ferns, and river reed
Reduced height differences of footbridges to improve NPC navigation
Added waterfall LODs for performance improvement
Created a second waterfall after the main one
Updated waterfall textures and optimized meshes
Made waterfalls blend smoothly with the river.
Added new lightning bolts during heavy rain
Updated Mediterranean map water colors to be more vibrant
Improved chimney smoke visuals.
Added lamps and other light sources for the starting area.
Fixed structures in neutral villages not properly aligning to terrain
Fixed missing snow on some fallen leaves
Fixed candle flames drifting in the air
Fixed exposure not updating through day/night cycle.
Fixed smoke behavior from torches.
Fixed various navigation issues in pois on Halmare Isles
Fixed non-interactable note in Wolf’s Cave near Haerndean
Fixed various pathfinding issues in villages and POIs on Karvenia
Fixed bushes not being removed by structures and roads sometimes coming back
Localization
Overhauled localisation for all languages.
Improvements for the localization graphics.
Fixed various translation issues across the game.
Crash fixes
Fixed a crash due to the NPC not existing on the map when we're trying to change faction relations.
Fixed the crash after recalling caravans during loading/unloading
Fixed the crash after inspecting animals in the barn
Fixed various crashes when using map travel in single player and coop
Fixed crash when selecting a map icon after map travel
Fix crashing when loading some old saves
Fix crash related to npc trying to interact with destroyed object
Fixed crash caused by neutral villager leaving village while sleeping
Fixed a rare crash related to loading of character customization.
Fixed a crash related to death animation.
Fix navigation crash when ordering companions to loot bags
Fix crash when reopening the map with structure selected that has villagers assigned to it
Fixed a crash on client in co-op when opening management screen of some crafting buildings.
Modding
Mutable armors and Character Creator appearances are now fully moddable.
Fixed a bug where clients were receiving the wrong mod mismatch message.
Fixed a bug where the mod mismatch message was displayed after each respawn.