Xbox has spent the last several years acquiring new teams to help develop first-party games. Recent leaks have confirmed thatXboxis also expanding its efforts to publish third-party titles, as well. Recent projects like the Wu-Tang action-RPGProject Shaolin, cloud-based MMOPax Dei, a fantasy RPG fromHitmandeveloper IO interactive, and potentially Hideo Kojima’s next game. Add another game to the list, too, as a recent leak has teasedProject Belfry, a Ghibli-styled 2D action-adventure game.
Details regardingProject Belfrywere shared by GamesBeat reporter Jeff Grubb during his latest GrubbSnax podcast.Project Belfryisn’t a confirmed game, but Grubb has a source that leaked him some early information. The heart of the leak is thatProject Belfryis a side-scrolling action-adventure game, described to be similar toDragon’s Crown. In other words, this isn’t aGolden Axebrawler, but rather something more complex with layers of progression and a larger world to explore.
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The world ofProject Belfryis said to be both large and interconnected, with a belfry hub base at its center. Players will be able to return to this belfry and upgrade it as they progress. Players will also be able to establish settlements further out on the map, which are used to bring in more resources for crafting. Obviously, there’re a lot of questions regarding how these systems will be presented, how theaction-adventurestages will mesh with the overworld, belfry, and settlements, but it does present a compellingly large and complex experience.
The last bit of news Grubb has to share about the game is that it’s influenced in visual style byStudio Ghibli’s animated films, withPrincess Mononokespecifically mentioned. While Grubb doesn’t elaborate on this, it seems to imply thatProject Belfrywill be a fantasy game with stylized art.
One glaring omission from Grubb’s leak is which studio is working onProject Belfry. That would obviously reveal a significant amount about the game and what kind of expectationsXbox fansshould have for it, as they could look to the studio’s past work for reference. Without a studio, the scale and potential ofProject Belfryremains mysterious.
Fans will have to speculate on their own for a while yet, it seems. There is no further information aboutProject Belfry,no word on the state of its ongoing development, and no tentative release window. At the very least, it can likely be assumed to be coming toPC and Xbox Series X/S. Hopefully, there’s more news to share soon.
