Bellwright is a mix of Rimworld and Mount & Blade, and a true rebellion game at heart

Why hasn't there been a proper rebellion game? Not some false implication of taking back control, where simply taking down some radio tower in Watch Dogs Legion suddenly "liberates" Oxford Street from oppressive forces. I'm talking about that real rabble-rouser energy. Forming a small band of like-minded people and taking the fight to enemy bases, pushing back the lines. Well, if that sounds like something you've been looking for, a contender may just be around the corner.

"I was wondering the same thing and to be honest, I never found a clear answer," states project lead Florian "chadz" Hofreither in the Bellwright preview hotel suite. With a background in the Mount & Blade modding scene, he and the original members of the developer Donkey Crew are coming back to their roots with a medieval management game where you have to build up your own settlement, build a rebellion force, and push back against the monarchy ruling over the land.

The world itself isn't this dire bloody mess of burning buildings and ruined castles. Instead, the world you inhabit (at least in the starting hours of the game) is luscious with vast open plains and woodlands. Indeed, this particular push against the ruling kingdom may not be the black and white business you'd assume. Especially as you grow your forces and wage larger conflicts, the merits of what you're doing isn't always clear.

"We intentionally didn't make the game overly gritty. We did not want this bleak dark world where you have people hanging from gallows. Actually, the tone changes as you go further towards the kingdom - it becomes more brutal. But I wanted a bit more of an idyllic world. Our world building world team were like, how the hell do we show this?"

He continued, "So we came up with multiple idyllic oppression ideas. "In the villages there are lots of things to explore. Propaganda pieces from the monarchy, things that are over the top but not outright evil. When you talk to villagers, you'll notice elements of oppression there too."

But as far as gameplay is concerned, what can you expect? Obviously with that Mount & Blade background you're seeing lots of directional sword swinging and the like - Bellwright isn't exactly ashamed of its heritage here. On a more macro scale you can direct your allies to attack or move as a commander, which I saw briefly being used in an assault on nearby bandit camps (even if it these battle lines quickly dissolved into an all-out brawl). Away from the action, you've got an in-depth settlement builder, in which individual pieces of buildings and constructed and placed rather than some giant house emerging out of nowhere. Building a life for yourself and your fellow freedom fighters isn't measured in minutes, but in-game weeks.

Bellwright is also fluid in its difficulty, allowing you to approach the hostile world as you see fit. If you'd prefer to build up slowly, invasions on your own settlement will come with the same sluggish pace. However, cut a bloody line through royalist encampments and you'll see revenge come in the form of battle-hungry soldiers running you down. Enemy aggression matches the strength of your own forces and buildings, so it should ideally feel challenging throughout.

Hofreither expands on the team's approach to pacing and momentum in Bellwright: "The measurement we use is 'do we feel bored'? Speed by itself doesn't mean anything. It's a video game. At the end of the day, none of it matters. But if we found ourselves bored doing the same thing over and over again, then we know we are too slow. But if we find that we never actually appreciate what we've done in the game we're too fast. Knowing the two extremes, we tried to land in the middle and that worked quite well for us.

It looks to be a rebellious sandbox, with strands of Rimworld weaved around a Mount & Blade core. Now there's still a lot of work to be done, and there's an elephant in the room by the name of Lost Oasis that must be overcome. That game was a multiplayer PvP survival game that, through a variety of development hurdles, was left largely abandoned by the team. While Bellwright appears to be something Hofreither and co are passionate about developing over the coming years, there absolutely is a degree of trust they'll have to win back when it comes to long-term fans of their projects.

But, if they can get the launch right, keep updates coming, and continue to expand upon the foundation I saw at GDC last week, then Bellwright may just be that rebellion game I've always wanted.

Bellwright is set to launch on Steam Early Access soon, so keep an eye on the store page and add it to your wishlist if this sounds like your kind of thing!