It's Time For The Maiden Voyage

[p]Preparations are over. Lubomir and his team are fully armed and waiting for your orders. Take one last look over your village.. How much has changed since the day you first arrived in Karvenia - what started as a few ramshackle buildings hidden in the forest has now grown into a large village - almost a town - protected by walls and bustling with tradesmen and merchants. This place has become home for you. It will wait for you when you return, but now it's time for a new journey. Turning to your people, you say: "Let’s move! To Halmare Isles..."
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[/p][h3]Halmare Isles
[/h3][p]Halmare Isles is our new expedition map which introduces a completely new environment, new quests, caves, new Points of Interest, new creatures and resources. It was a very ambitious technical and gameplay challenge of which we are incredibly proud. Our game, level, and narrative designers and environmental and technical artists really challenged themselves to push the bounds and create a whole new unique experience. Halmare Isles raises the bar across the board, providing much more expansive towns, improved visual quality, enhanced lighting, and a deepened narrative experience. As you explore the island, you’ll find there are multiple factions competing for the services of the Bellwright, and your choices really matter. [/p][h3]

Character Customization[/h3][p]
There is nothing more iconic in RPGs than creating your own character - maybe that’s rolling dice to allocate stat points, swapping out 8-bit textures, or, in the case of Bellwright, diving into the hundreds of customization options in our new character creator. Whether the Bellwright you imagine is a photorealistic copy of yourself or plausibly a bridge troll, you can now bring them to life! Along with that, there will be much more visual variety in all the various residents of Karvenia and Halmare Isles, including distinctive faction appearances and over time key storyline characters will receive distinctive makeovers.[/p][p]
[/p][h3]Caravans and Trading
[/h3][p]The medieval genre and economics go together like peanut butter and jelly. Whether you imagine yourself at the center of a vast trade empire or simply want to ensure that your soldiers are outfitted with the best gear Karvenia has to offer, trade and logistics are essential for the success of your rebellion. This update improves and expands on practically all economic systems in the game.

The Small Caravan Station allows you to establish trade routes and build carts. Villagers with the Caravaneer job will load up carts and use them to deliver and retrieve resources from your outposts and buy and sell resources with friendly villages, all based on rules set by you.

As you progress towards total liberation of Karvenia, villages will begin to take matters into their own hands, developing their own industry, creating new demands and offering new goods for purchase. The more you trade with villages, the greater their prosperity grows, and the higher your chances of throwing off Queen Osene’s chains become.
[/p][h3]Defensive Fortifications[/h3][p]
Similar to trading, walls are a critical element to the overall immersive medieval aesthetic that we want to provide and we are happy to finally have them in the game. We have already seen some amazing designs using them and they really bring villages together in a way we have yet to see. Along with the trade systems, walls add the possibility for additional strategic complexity, allowing you to keep your outposts much more reliably defended and ensuring those valuable resources aren’t pillaged by bandits or brigands.[/p][p]
[/p][h3]And More![/h3][p][/p][p]Of course this is all just a brief summary of everything this update has to offer. In addition, there are tons of new weapons, armors, and equipment, new structures, new animals, new points of interest, and a whole host of other fixes, tweaks, and improvements. We really hope you’re all as hyped about this update as we are and can’t wait for you to experience it.
[/p][h3]Console Release[/h3][p]
We've been working on something very exciting (and very top secret!), which we're hoping to announce in the coming months. Meanwhile, in light of this new development, we're updating the Xbox release window to Q2 2026. Make sure to follow the game on Steam to see this announcement as soon as it's out, and let us know in the comments what other platforms you would like to see Bellwright on!
[/p][h3]Modkit[/h3][p]Our newest Modkit update brings the editor up to UE 5.6.1 and adds a handful of Quality of Life (QOL) updates for modders and mod users:[/p]

• [p]Mods will now display the game version they were released under.[/p]
• [p]A warning will display if the mod is outdated.[/p]
• [p]The mod will automatically disable itself when updating the game for the first time to avoid crashes or unforeseen circumstances [/p]

[p][/p][p]
[/p][p]Notable Changes[/p]

• [p]Introduced Halmare Isles, where the story of Bellwright continues, consisting of branching narrative, faction warfare, and rewarding exploration.[/p]
• [p]Overhauled player Character Creator and NPC visuals.[/p]
• [p]Introduced caravans and carts, allowing transport and trade of goods between your settlements and neutral villages.[/p]
• [p]Introduced simulated economy with villages producing, buying, and selling various items and resources.[/p]
• [p]Added buildable walls and other fortifications attackable by enemies.[/p]
• [p]Overhauled village prosperity system with a focus on villages satisfying their needs via production and trade.[/p]
• [p]Introduced facial animations for NPC dialogues.[/p]
• [p]Added new gear and equipment types, including crossbows, spears, and cloaks.[/p]
• [p]Improved and overhauled a multitude of UI elements.[/p]
• [p]Added dogs. And you can pet them![/p]
• [p]Overhauled camera, introducing dynamic mode and various customization settings.[/p]

[p]
[/p][p]Halmare Isles[/p]

• [p]Added Dockyard structure for sailing to Halmare Isles[/p]
• [p]Added a unique main menu background when the last save was made on Halmare Isles.[/p]
• [p]Added an intro cinematic when traveling to Halmare Isles for the first time.[/p]
• [p]Made resources from Halmare Isles be resold by Crasmere after liberating the isles. [/p]
• [p]Added Orchard and Distillery as conditional rewards for completing the Halmare Isles storyline.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Villages & Trading[/p]

• [p]Introduced village needs that affect prosperity continuously.[/p]
• [p]Added facilities system for villages, making villages have their own production with resource chains, supply and demand, and other mechanics.[/p]
• [p]Added neutral caravans that travel across Karvenia and trade with other villages.[/p]
• [p]Added Market structure, where players can create buy and sell orders to automatically trade with traveling merchants.[/p]
• [p]Overhauled prosperity and militia village improvements with economy-based facilities.[/p]
• [p]Rebalanced various item prices.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Player’s Settlement[/p]

• [p]Allowed placing structures when they are blocked by harvestable objects. Villagers will remove them on their own before completing construction[/p]
• [p]Moved Outhouse to an earlier tech tree progression.[/p]
• [p]Slightly buffed lumberjack spot efficiency.[/p]
• [p]Made both Delivery and specific structure jobs (crafting/cooking/smelting) priorities used for selecting villagers for the job.[/p]
• [p]Allow crafting structures to request items that were not yet delivered to stockpiles.[/p]
• [p]Allow the crafting structure’s job to carry resources outside of output to unblock crafting.[/p]
• [p]Current crafting orders are now preserved when copying structure settings.[/p]
• [p]Fixed disconnection issue when disassembling bird coops in co-op.[/p]
• [p]Added character customization interactables to player homes.[/p]
• [p]Added an ability to place decorative arches over roads.[/p]
• [p]Made River Dock construction site placement ignore foliage underwater.[/p]
• [p]Added a proper construction site for River Dock.[/p]
• [p]Fixed spoiled food disappearing from the Food Cellar.[/p]

[p]
[/p][p]Gear & Equipment[/p]

• [p]Added polearms skill and knowledge books for player and NPCs.[/p]
• [p]Added various sabres and cutlasses.[/p]
• [p]Added crossbows and spears to bandits and brigands on Karvenia.[/p]
• [p]Changed Pitchfork weapon type to polearm.[/p]
• [p]Added buckler and heater as new shield types.[/p]
• [p]Added unique gear and equipment obtainable on Halmare Isles.[/p]
• [p]Improved items carry and drop models.[/p]
• [p]Added new default Crossbowman gear preset.[/p]
• [p]Added back slot to all gear presets with Cloaks enabled by default.[/p]
• [p]Added new ranged weapons to Marksman and Crossbowman gear presets.[/p]

[p]
[/p][p]Combat[/p]

• [p]Overhauled Archery mechanics to support longbows and crossbows.[/p]
• [p]Added kick and spear shove abilities to create distance when NPC gets too close.[/p]
• [p]Added ability for the player to hold attack indefinitely.[/p]
• [p]Added bow and crossbow string animations.[/p]
• [p]Added a behavior for ranged NPCs to conserve stamina.[/p]
• [p]Rebalanced ranged weapon stamina cost.[/p]
• [p]Added new idle animations when holding weapons with shields.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a rotation glitch when sheathing and unsheathing shields.[/p]
• [p]Fixed bandits teleporting through walls during combat.[/p]
• [p]Fixed enemies running towards player companions when they're very far away.[/p]
• [p]Fixed autoblock not working in practice fights.[/p]

[p]Animals[/p]

• [p]Added feral dogs, bears, foxes, chamois, and wild goats appearing in the wild.[/p]
• [p]Added sheep and geese as farm animals obtainable from animal merchants.[/p]
• [p]Added takeoff, landing, and walking behaviours to birds.[/p]
• [p]Added pigeons, seagulls, and dogs to neutral villages.[/p]
• [p]Added color variations to wolves.[/p]
• [p]Added stronger white wolf variants to highlands regions.[/p]
• [p]Added visual effects to animal slaughtering animations.[/p]
• [p]Added wing flapping sounds to bird flight animations.[/p]
• [p]Adjusted animal footstep volumes and timing.[/p]
• [p]Fixed animal-related memory issues when animals leave settlements.[/p]
• [p]Improved animal animation performance for distant animals.[/p]
• [p]Improved animal sound mixing and volume balance.[/p]
• [p]Improved collision and physics for farm animals and humans.[/p]
• [p]Fixed loot markers being visible for animals when they can't be looted.[/p]
• [p]Optimized cat meowing logic. [/p]

[p]
[/p][p]Quests[/p]

• [p]Expanded the story with the Halmare Isles arc, including branching routes and outcomes.[/p]
• [p]Added temporary and quest companion mechanics.[/p]
• [p]Fixed duplicating book rewards in the Communication Breakdown quest.[/p]
• [p]Changed quest rewards in Digging Deeper and Thief in the Field - replaced hemp seeds with garlic and seeds for better utility.[/p]
• [p]Disabled discarding the A Hearty Request quest since it can't be picked up again.[/p]
• [p]Redesigned dialogue structure for non-quest-giver NPCs, adding more information about where to find resources and people.[/p]
• [p]Fixed bring-item quests being too strict with weight requirements - now accepts items within small rounding tolerance.[/p]
• [p]Fixed text errors in On The Verge, Special Delivery, The Expecting Mother, and other quests.[/p]
• [p]Improved audio and reverb in quest locations.[/p]
• [p]Improved punctuation and text formatting in quest dialogues.[/p]
• [p]Quest map markers now remain visible until quest completion instead of disappearing when location is found.[/p]
• [p]Quests now fail properly if the quest giver is absent when the quest starts.[/p]
• [p]Redesigned On The Verge quest with new objectives.[/p]
• [p]Relocated quest item in The Fishermen's Nets to a more accessible position.[/p]
• [p]Renamed 'Pickpocket' quest to 'Sleight of Hand'.[/p]
• [p]Renamed Warriors Guild Quest Part 1 to be consistent with other Warriors Guild quests.[/p]
• [p]Updated Hunters Help quest dialogue to change based on whether Election quest is completed.[/p]
• [p]Updated quest item sound effects.[/p]
• [p]Temporarily hid and disabled Overflowing Fields, Arrows of the Future, Rebuild Community and The Newcomers quests due to Village Improvement changes.[/p]
• [p]Fixed Crimson Reid not using a Short Sword like his quest description suggests.[/p]

[p]
[/p][p]UI & UX[/p]

• [p]Added gamepad support for status effect list, tech tree, and other previously unsupported menus.[/p]
• [p]Added a setting to make hold interactions instant.[/p]
• [p]Fixed NPC interaction timing with time acceleration[/p]
• [p]Fixed being able to place multiple unique buildings outside neutral village boundaries.[/p]
• [p]Fixed custom structure names being lost when relocating buildings.[/p]
• [p]Fixed tooltips and focus effects not clearing properly when switching from gamepad to mouse and keyboard.[/p]
• [p]Improved army overview menu performance.[/p]
• [p]Improved crafting screen stat display for weapons and tools.[/p]
• [p]Improved harvest notification display for single heavy items.[/p]
• [p]Improved reservist status display - now shown as icon in occupation column instead of separate button.[/p]
• [p]Improved text capitalization and layout in storage rules menu.[/p]
• [p]Improved toggle button styling and spacing in storage menus.[/p]
• [p]Made interaction points visible in building modification mode.[/p]
• [p]Prevented placing production buildings in locations unreachable by workers.[/p]
• [p]Renamed Roads category to Travel & Trade.[/p]
• [p]Simplified interaction holding progress display.[/p]
• [p]Fixed incorrect UI display for quests that require items of certain weight after loading saves.[/p]
• [p]Fixed bug report and news buttons being cut off in the main menu on 16:10 screens.[/p]
• [p]Added an ability to modify gamma when HDR is enabled.[/p]
• [p]Made the difficulty settings menu open automatically when finalizing a new character.[/p]
• [p]Set FSR as default AA for non-DLSS compatible GPUs.[/p]
• [p]Disabled an ability to select aspect ratio narrower than 16:10, as it's unsupported. [/p]
• [p]Added a reset graphics settings to default that use hardware auto-detection for graphics settings.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Voice & Audio[/p]

• [p]Overhauled quality of voice overs for all characters.[/p]
• [p]Added interior building audio system with automatic ambient sound adjustment.[/p]
• [p]Added soundscape system for dynamic environmental audio.[/p]
• [p]Adjusted armor sound effect volume[/p]
• [p]Adjusted wind and shore sound effects volumes.[/p]
• [p]Improved bird sound mixing.[/p]
• [p]Improved audio for quest location interiors.[/p]
• [p]Improved various sound effects related to birds.[/p]
• [p]Improved bow sound effect timing.[/p]
• [p]Improved harvesting sound network performance.[/p]
• [p]Expanded dynamic music system.[/p]
• [p]Optimized voice asset loading performance.[/p]
• [p]Fixed Cudka Ricket using male voice.[/p]
• [p]Added new music for Halmare Isles.[/p]
• [p]Tweaked and improved fade in of various sounds.[/p]
• [p]Adjusted areas where music and soundscapes are supposed to stop and begin.[/p]
• [p]Fixed audio issues when digging, harvesting, and performing other actions.[/p]
• [p]Added hostile area music near large enemy camps.[/p]
• [p]Added a special music trigger after completing one of the main quests.[/p]

[p]
[/p][p]Foliage & Environment[/p]

• [p]Allowed removing decorative rock fences with a pickaxe.[/p]
• [p]Polished map environment and foliage placement.[/p]
• [p]Improved crop meshes visuals at the player farm.[/p]
• [p]Optimized foliage and grass across Karvenia and Halmare Isles.[/p]
• [p]Changed Wheat to Straw when looking at the foliage.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a tree growing in an inaccessible water location in Karvenia.[/p]
• [p]Fixed some grass on a stone bridge in Karvenia blocking movement.[/p]
• [p]Made some of the previously decorative boulders harvestable.[/p]
• [p]Improved visuals of various waterfalls.[/p]
• [p]Optimized rainy and snowy weather effects.[/p]
• [p]Adjusted brightness of weather at night.[/p]
• [p]Made foggy weather slightly more foggy.[/p]
• [p]Introduced auto-exposure for various weather effects and interiors.[/p]
• [p]Improved lighting - bluer sky, better exposure, darker horizon fixed, more natural sun brightness.[/p]
• [p]Fixed weather and lighting not being updated when changing graphics settings.[/p]
• [p]Adjusted lighting produced by torches.[/p]
• [p]Improved snow weather visibility and falling snow appearance.[/p]
• [p]Optimized smoke effects at points of interest.[/p]

[p]
[/p][p]General Improvements[/p]

• [p]Updated Unreal Engine to version 5.6.1.[/p]
• [p]Updated Xess to 2.1.1.1.[/p]
• [p]Updated FSR to 4.0.2.[/p]
• [p]Updated DLSS4 to version 8.3.0.[/p]
• [p]Reduced CPU overhead for the minimap.[/p]
• [p]Reduced CPU cost of character movement.[/p]
• [p]Optimized network and co-op experience.[/p]
• [p]Added continuous crafting (top-up) capability to forester.[/p]
• [p]Fixed NPCs sometimes pausing or jittering on the same spot when walking long distances.[/p]
• [p]Optimized NPC navigation and movement.[/p]
• [p]Made characters run away and avoid combat if they're not actively participating in it.[/p]
• [p]Fixed NPCs getting stuck in various locations (training grounds, bridges, etc.).[/p]
• [p]Villages will now be automatically liberated if Brigand HQ has not been repopulated yet.[/p]
• [p]Added details button functionality for pets on the map.[/p]
• [p]Added unique map icons for companions and guards[/p]
• [p]Added weather-specific color grading and improved swamp atmosphere[/p]
• [p]Improved NPC background movement reliability.[/p]
• [p]Improved NPC pathfinding reliability.[/p]
• [p]Made Scientist, Marksman and One-armed traits less punishing.[/p]
• [p]Reduced blood on clothes and made it less affected by minor damage.[/p]
• [p]Fixed NPCs pausing between finishing crafting and storing output items.[/p]
• [p]Fixed active squad not loading correctly after save.[/p]
• [p]Fixed fishing rod being unlocked without research.[/p]
• [p]Increased fog of war revealing radius for player.[/p]
• [p]Fixed Sturdy waraxe having different visuals when sheathed and unsheathed.[/p]
• [p]Forbid putting Sour Milk into the Food Bag slots causing issues to workers not producing cheese.[/p]
• [p]Optimized worker construction behavior by reserving building interactions only when the worker is close to it.[/p]
• [p]Optimized various models, textures, LODs, and VFX.[/p]
• [p]Fixed not being able to sleep in co-op with inactive players in the world.[/p]

[p]

[/p][p]Modkit[/p]

• [p]Added a warning in mod manager if a mod was made for an older game version.[/p]
• [p]Made mods created for older versions of the game get disabled automatically when launching the game for the first time on the newer version.[/p]
• [p]Now displaying the game version a mod was released under with a warning if a mod is outdated. When updating their game for the first time, users will have their outdated mods disabled by default to prevent crashes, and they can either wait for an up-to-date version, or try re-enabling them (might cause a crash or unforeseen consequences)[/p]
• [p]Updated and adapted Modkit to UE 5.6[/p]
• [p]Can now directly import mods from the Workshop using their Workshop ID or their Workshop URL[/p]
• [p]Added a new folder in the modkit that displays the vanilla version of modified assets. This allows the use of the blueprint diff feature in order to see what changed.[/p]
• [p]Can now delete mods during mod selection[/p]
• [p]Can now close the editor during mod selection[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p]