Bellwright tops 200,000 sales in Early Access and is rapidly developing a dedicated community

Developer Donkey Crew has announced that roughly one month after the game’s Early Access release, survival crafting settlement builder Bellwright has passed 200,000 sales on Steam. It’s adopting a growing fan base that seems like it’s sticking around.

Donkey Crew has announced a selection of impressive stats in a press release for the recently released Bellwright. In addition to impressive Steam sales, the game has racked up 975,000 hours watched on Twitch and is building a strong community of fans who dive deep into the game’s mechanics. Roughly one month after its Early Access launch, the average time spent in the game is 20+ hours, indicating players aren’t hanging around for just a few hours and dipping out.

Bellwright is building up

Despite the game launching three days before Manor Lords, another settlement builder that had built up quite a lot of interest, Bellwright has managed to stand out thanks to an intriguing story and mechanics that see you advance slowly over time, scratching the itch for crafting and settlement building simultaneously.

Project Lead at Donkey Crew Florian “chadz” Hofreither explained, “The amount of support and enthusiasm from players has been a wonderful surprise for our team so soon after release. As we’re gathering feedback and discussing potential features with the community in preparation for our first content update, we have some exciting news on the way about the future of Bellwright and what’s coming next.”

What has pleasantly surprised Donkey Crew is its “higher than expected level of player retention on Steam’s competitive landscape.” This game has only just released, so it’s the perfect time for fans of survival games with settlement building elements to get in on the ground floor of a title that will only get bigger and more complex.

Players begin Bellwright as a peasant who was framed for the death of the local prince. Years later, this character becomes the Bellwright, sparking a rebellion against the sovereign, persuading locals to join them before taking towns and villages and mounting an assault on the most heavily fortified locations on the map.

What struck me about the game was the sense of progression. You don’t just start the game and kill things to unlock new buildings and create an army. You’ve got to earn the trust of those you recruit and complete quests and establish well run settlements before you unlock more technology to craft. We’ll see how Bellwright fares as time rolls on, but it’s a solid start for the newcomer.