A malnourished 4-year-old girl was found lying next to her mother’s body in an apartment in southern France

A malnourished four year old girl was discovered lying beside her mother’s lifeless body after seemingly being trapped with the corpse for several days.

Emergency responders found the 40 year old mother, who reportedly suffered from epilepsy, deceased around noon on Thursday, June 4, in an apartment in Montagnac, near Pézenas, in France’s Hérault department.

The youngster was found alongside the body, suffering from malnutrition, dehydration and shock. She was rushed to hospital and is now said to be in good health, placed in the care of a family member while receiving treatment, reports the Mirror US.

As of Monday (June 11), investigators were leaning towards the likelihood that the death was due to natural causes. Neighbours reported hearing nothing out of the ordinary and noticed no indication of violence or forced entry.

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An autopsy is yet to be carried out, however authorities believe she may have suffocated following an epileptic seizure. The little girl was reportedly too young to unlock the door to seek help, with the key said to have been left in the lock.

Fortunately, the child’s nursery teacher alerted police after noticing her prolonged absence from school. Having received no response from either the mother or her relatives, she took matters into her own hands and raised the alarm.

However, French news outlet Actu.fr also states that concerns were triggered when the mother stopped responding to relatives and neighbours from Sunday, May 31 onwards. Philippe Audoui, first deputy mayor of Montagnac, informed Le Parisien: “She wouldn’t have lasted another day.”

Her mother resided alone with her and wasn’t believed to be in a relationship, with residents characterising the family as “discreet”.

A psychological support team was deployed to assist those who attended and were deeply affected by what 7sur7 termed an “indescribable scene of horror”.

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The Pézenas gendarmerie is spearheading the inquiry, working alongside the public prosecutor’s office in Béziers. One police officer recounted the scene to Le Parisien.

They remarked: “It was a horrific scene that really upset me. We often see dead bodies, but this… As soon as the door was opened, we realised: there was a foul stench.”

Regarding the child, the officer continued: “She screamed when she saw all those people around her.”

According to additional reports, four officers turned up at the residence, located within a modest social housing development in a town of roughly 4,880 inhabitants. Following repeated doorbell rings and knocking, they encountered only silence.

Local gendarmes were alerted, and firefighters positioned a ladder against the first floor before breaking in through a window to enter the premises.

The application to Durham County Council details plans to vary the premises licence for the Graham Sports Centre at Maiden Castle, which would also introduce additional licensable activities.

It also seeks permission to add regulated entertainment and indoor sporting events to the licence, update the site’s approved plan and introduce new conditions covering CCTV, staff training, Challenge 25 age-verification measures and noise management.

If approved, alcohol could be sold for consumption on and off the premises between 11am and midnight from Monday to Saturday, and until 11pm on Sundays.

The current licence permits alcohol sales until 11pm on weekdays and 6pm at weekends.

Opening hours would also be extended to 12.30am from Monday to Saturday and until 11.30am on Sundays.

However, the proposal faces opposition from a Mr J Tyrens, who said the extended hours would be out of keeping with the area’s residential and rural character.

In a letter submitted to licensing officials, Mr Tyrens argued that later opening could disturb nearby residents and visitors to the surrounding greenbelt and woodland areas.

He also raised concerns about parking and traffic, claiming the sports centre already experienced congestion at busy periods.

Mr Tyrens said: “Having been a member of the gym at the centre, I have observed how parking is already poorly managed at times with overcrowding and vehicles obstructing pedestrian zones and emergency exits. There is not enough attention paid to the safety of pedestrians in the car park.”

He added that longer alcohol sales hours could also increase noise from customers leaving the venue and create challenges in managing sports teams and post-match drinking.

“The proposed extension would encourage late-night disturbances for residents in the neighbouring area, such as Shincliffe, or even those wishing to take a late-night walk,” Mr Tyrens said.

Responding to the objections, Durham University said licensed events at Maiden Castle would remain occasional rather than becoming part of the site’s day-to-day operation, with all events being planned, risk-assessed and appropriately supervised.

Addressing concerns about crime and disorder, it said the proposed changes would not increase risks and would instead be supported by measures designed to mitigate them.

On the parking and traffic concerns, recent improvements have been made to the site, including speed bumps, barriers and marked pedestrian footpaths.

Durham University said: “While we fully acknowledge and respect the concerns raised, we are satisfied that the proposed variation falls within the flexible framework of the Licensing Act, will not result in regular late-night activity, is supported by robust and proportionate management controls, and will not undermine the licensing objectives.”

Durham County Council’s licensing committee will determine the application on Monday (June 22).

Evans, known for its womenswear brands in Britain for almost 100 years, closed shortly after the pandemic began, but is making a return to stores across the UK

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A fashion brand is returning to the Scottish High Street after closing all store a few years earlier.

The brand, Evans, was known for its womenswear in Britain for almost 100 years and once had hundreds of stores located throughout the UK. It closed shortly after the pandemic began, but is making a return to stores across the country.

Established in 1930, Evans became know for creating high-quality, women’s clothing for over size 14s.

The plus-size brand was forced to shut down all physical store and concessions and cease operations in December 2020, after parent company, Arcadia Group, plunged into administration.

Evans turned into an online-only retailer and was bought by AK Retail in 2023.

The firm also owns Yours Clothing and M&Co, and bosses have agreed to Evans as an additional concession in Yours Clothing stores.

The brand has over 100 locations across the UK, and Evans will have concessions in 35 of them, these being:

1. Belfast
2. Bexleyheath
3. Bluewater
4. Bognor Regis
5. Bradford
6. Braehead, Renfrew
7. Bromley
8. Cramlington
9. East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire
10. Hempstead Valley
11. Hull
12. Lakeside
13. Leeds
14. Lincoln
15. Liverpool
16. Manchester
17. Meadowhall
18. Merry Hill
19. Metro Centre
20. Milton Keynes
21. Newry
22. Nottingham
23. Peterborough
24. Plymouth
25. Romford
26. Skegness
27. Southend of Sea
28. Stirling
29. Stockport
30. Swansea
31. Telford Uxbridge
32. Wakefield
33. Westwood Cross
34. Yate

In Scotland, the Evans brand will be located in The Plaza in East Kilbride in South Lanarkshire, Braehead Shopping Centre near Glasgow and The Thistles Shopping Centre in Stirling.

Evans will sit alongside Yours Clothing’s own range, which also caters to a plus-size audience.

Yours Clothing told Fashion Network: “Plus-size women are among the most loyal fashion shoppers in the UK.”

“When a brand gets it right – when the fit works, the range is genuine, and the product reflects real women, they come back.

“Evans earned that loyalty over decades. And when the brand reduced its high street presence, its customers did not stop looking.”

The Grade II-listed building at 9 Market Place was first built as a house in the mid-18th century.

Over time, it has had several different uses, including as a girls’ school and, more recently, as part of a café.

Many people in Bishop Auckland still remember the building as The Mount School, which educated generations of local girls.

The school opened in 1864 and remained an important part of the town for a century, closing in 1964.

Historic England’s official list entry describes the property as a “house, later school, now a coffee shop premises”.

The building was officially listed in 1952, in recognition of its historic and architectural importance.

Fifteas Vintage Tearoom (Image: SUBMIT)

It stands on the south side of Market Place, one of Bishop Auckland’s most recognisable streets.

The building is close to several of the town’s best-known landmarks, including Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland Town Hall and the Spanish Gallery.

The property is a reminder of Bishop Auckland’s Georgian past. It has three storeys and three windows, along with a Welsh slate roof and brick chimneys.

Historic England says the building is “made with render, with painted stone details and a slate roof”. It also notes “several traditional features, including sash windows, a six-panel door, stone surrounds, a bay window and a dormer window”. While these architectural details may not be noticed by everyone passing through Market Place, they are part of the reason the building is protected.

For many former pupils and local families, however, the building’s strongest connection is with The Mount School.

For almost a century, the school played a role in the education of girls in Bishop Auckland.

Its closure in the 1960s marked the end of that chapter, but the name is still remembered by many people in the area.

Today, 9 Market Place is also associated with Fifteas Vintage Tearoom, a popular café known for its 1950s-style décor, cakes, breakfasts and afternoon teas.

The tearoom has become a familiar stop for visitors to the town, especially those exploring nearby attractions such as The Auckland Project, the Spanish Gallery, the Mining Art Gallery and Auckland Castle.

A huge column of smoke was seen rising from Edwards Air Force Base, California, after officials confirmed a B-52 Stratofortress bomber crashed shortly after take-off, with US authorities confirming at least eight people have died

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At least eight people have lost their lives after a bomber aircraft came down at a major US Air Force base.

A vast plume of smoke was spotted rising above the base in California after officials confirmed the aircraft had crashed.

Authorities at Edwards Air Force Base disclosed that, “A United States Air Force B-52 Stratofortress crashed shortly after takeoff on the Edwards airfield at 11:20 am.”

Several hours after the incident, the base confirmed eight fatalities, reports the Mirror.

“An Air Force B-52 Stratofortress carrying eight people on a routine test mission crashed today shortly after take-off at 11:20 a.m.. Initial indications are that the crash was not survivable. Emergency response personnel are on scene, and officials are working to account for all personnel,” a statement read.

Images of smoke rising above the base, situated in the Mojave Desert in Southern California, were circulated online. “Did something just happen at Edwards Air Force Base? Currently seeing a large column coming from the base, cams are aligned with one of the runways,” one user posted.

The Air Force and NASA carry out test flights of new and developmental aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base.

Edwards Air Force Base is located in the western Mojave Desert in Southern California, approximately 100 miles from Los Angeles. It is regarded as a substantial base spanning over 300,000 acres, predominantly within Kern County, with sections extending into San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties.

A spokesperson for the base said in an update following the incident: “The airfield has been closed, and all inbound aircraft are being diverted. All non-commercial visitor passes have been suspended until further notice to allow the installation to focus entirely on emergency response operations.”

The B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range bomber first introduced in the 1950s that remains a cornerstone of the US military’s air power. Manufactured by Boeing and typically operated by a crew of five, the aircraft is capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear weapons over vast distances, and has seen action in conflicts ranging from Vietnam to more recent operations in the Iran war.

Edwards Air Force Base in California is home to the Air Force Flight Test Center and acts as the Air Force Materiel Command’s centre of excellence for flight research and development, as well as the testing and evaluation of aerospace systems from initial concept through to operational deployment in combat.

Set on the south bank of the River Tyne in the Tyne Valley, it is the sort of place you arrive for a quick look around and end up staying half the day in, and visitors on TripAdvisor regularly call it “the best village in the North East.”

A Roman town that never really went away

The Romans were here first.

Corbridge’s earliest incarnation was as Coria, a fort and garrison town at the crossroads of Dere Street and the Stanegate, two of the most important roads in Roman Britain.

The first fort was built around AD 85, and over the following centuries it evolved into the most northerly Roman town in the Empire, a thriving centre of military logistics, civilian commerce and daily life.

Today Corbridge Roman Town, managed by English Heritage, allows visitors to walk along the original Roman high street, explore the granaries, fountain house, markets, workshops and temples, and see the town’s treasures in the on-site museum.

Open daily from 10am to 5pm in summer, with tickets from £9 for adults and free entry for English Heritage members, it is one of Hadrian’s Wall Country’s essential stops.

The Corbridge Hoard

The museum’s star exhibit is the Corbridge Hoard, described by English Heritage as “one of the most influential Roman time capsules ever discovered in Hadrian’s Wall Country.”

Found in 1964 inside an iron-bound wooden chest, the hoard contains the contents of a Roman workshop and a soldier’s worldly goods: armour, tools, weapons, wax writing tablets and papyrus, all dating from between AD 122 and 138 and preserved in extraordinary condition.

The discovery transformed historians’ understanding of how Roman armour was constructed and worn, and a display of never-before-seen excavation footage accompanies the exhibit.

The village itself

Away from the Roman site, the village of Corbridge is a pleasure to wander through.

The Market Place is the heart of things, with St Andrew’s Church, which has stood for over a thousand years and blends Norman and Gothic architecture, a medieval Market Cross built around a Roman altar, and Grant’s Bakery, a local institution where visitors pick up food for a riverbank picnic.

The high street is lined with independent shops: Forum Books, an independent bookshop with a strong events programme; a cook shop; antique and art galleries; a traditional grocer; a butcher and a deli.

The Grade I listed seven-arch bridge over the River Tyne, completed in 1674, is a landmark in its own right, and the riverbanks below offer easy walking paths popular with families, dog walkers and anyone who just wants a quiet hour by the water.

Where to eat

The Angel of Corbridge on Main Street is the natural starting point, a pub dating back to before 1569 and described in guides as possibly the oldest inn in Northumberland.

It combines a traditional pub bar and log fires with a food-led menu using locally sourced produce, and has ten en-suite rooms for those wanting to stay over.

For breakfast and coffee, the Watling Coffee House on Watling Street is rated 4.7 out of 5 on TripAdvisor across more than 500 reviews, with one regular writing: “The food is home cooked, amazing quality, and the coffee is great, nice and hot. Cakes and scones are delicious.”

For Italian food, Casa Rosso on Front Street is rated 4.7 with nearly 350 reviews and is described by diners as offering “very attentive and friendly staff, a nice Italian atmosphere, and food that was very prompt.”

The Black Bull on Middle Street is the most reviewed restaurant in the village, rated 4.3 across more than 1,600 TripAdvisor reviews, with guests regularly commending “friendly and attentive service” and food that arrives “hot and well-presented.”

Getting there

Corbridge is on the Tyne Valley railway line between Newcastle and Carlisle, with a station about a 10 to 15 minute walk from the village centre.

By road, it is signed from the A69 west of Newcastle and from the A68 at junction 58 of the A1.

Paid parking is available on Main Street, Church Lane, Front Street and Watling Street, with charges applying Monday to Saturday between 9am and 6pm.

For those using the Hadrian’s Wall bus, the AD122 seasonal service stops outside Corbridge Roman Town, and the 684 service runs into the village centre.

Have you ever visited Corbridge? Let us know in the comments.

Darren McCurry has been in and out of Tyrone’s first 15 this season, but he gave a timely reminder of his classy by scoring six points in their round two win over Mayo in Omagh

At the beginning of the season, Tyrone fans would have been salivating at the prospect of watching Darragh Canavan, Darren McCurry and Eoin McElholm torment defences.

They are still waiting for the chance to watch all three star attackers fully fit together in unison, although that day could arrive in the All-Ireland SFC quarter-final.

All three have battled injury throughout the season and while McElholm started against Mayo on Sunday , Canavan’s role was restricted to a brief four-minute cameo.

McCurry’s game-time was 24 minutes. That was long enough for him to turn the Round 2A clash in favour of the home side as his six-point haul helped see off the determined challenge of Andy Moran’s men with his Edendork clubmate Niall Morgan landing the winner from a two-point free.

McCurry was mobbed by Tyrone fans in the aftermath of the game and he was delighted to play such an important role as the Red Hands confirmed their place in the last eight of the All-Ireland series.

“I was just happy to come on and make a good impact.

It was a massive game to get through to the next round, into the quarter-finals, where we wanted to be at the start of the year, and thankfully we have done that.

He added: “I could see from watching in the first half that there was a lot of space there. I have struggled all year with injuries, and I haven’t been able to get a good block of training in.”

Was asked to elaborate on his injuries, he joked: “They’re called old fella injuries!

“It’s just the body – I have struggled since last year’s quarter-final, shaking off a couple of injuries.

“Thankfully, after the Roscommon game, I was able to get a couple of weeks under the belt, I felt sharp in training this last week or so, so I knew coming on there, I knew I was in good shape to make a good impact.”

Another telling aspect of Sunday’s win over Mayo was the size of the crowd in O’Neills Healy Park to watch their thrilling one-point victory.

Tyrone fans have been urged by some senior players to get behind the team with several League games struggling to draw more than a couple of thousand spectators to the Omagh venue.

That changed on Sunday afternoon when 11,921 fans were in attendance, including a good travelling support from Mayo.

Their one-point win over Mayo was also just the third time since their 2021 All-Ireland final win over the Westerners that Tyrone have put back-to-back Championship victories together. “It’s great to see so many supporters here, it’s a long time coming,” stated McCurry.

“We probably haven’t put on good performances this last year or so, but we’re just delighted to have all the supporters back supporting us, and we’re going to need it in Croke Park.

“It’s massive, it’s something that we talked about this last week or two, getting that back- to-back performance.

“We played decent against Armagh, but didn’t get over the line, then we put in a good performance and thankfully got over the line against Roscommon.

“Our big aim coming here today was to put in back to back performances, which we haven’t done in a long time.

“The main objective at the start of the year was to get into the quarter-finals and get back to Croke Park.

“A lot of these young boys haven’t played in Croke Park yet, so we were keen to get them in there.

“It’s the place that you want to be, for if you don’t get over the line, it’s a very competitive draw, so we wanted to get that extra week’s break and get into that quarter-final.”

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The Superb Estate iV SE Technology you see here – with a 1.5‑litre petrol engine, an electric motor and a headline electric range of up to 78–85 miles – is one of the most compelling and rational family cars on sale.

Under the bonnet is Skoda’s new‑generation plug‑in hybrid set‑up: a 1.5 TSI petrol engine paired with an 85kW electric motor for a combined output of 204PS, driving the front wheels through a six‑speed DSG automatic gearbox.

Skoda Superb iV Estate

Officially, the Superb iV will sprint from 0-62mph in 8.1 seconds and top out at 136mph, which makes it brisk rather than exciting, but the emphasis here is refinement and efficiency rather than hot‑hatch drama.

The star number is the electric‑only range. Where the previous Superb iV’s real‑world electric capability was around 20–25 miles, with an official figure of about 35 miles, the new car is claimed to manage 78–85 miles on the WLTP cycle.

In everyday terms, that means many commutes and school runs can be done without disturbing the petrol engine at all, provided you plug in regularly. Skoda quotes 201.8–235.4mpg on the combined cycle; as ever with plug‑in hybrids, you should treat that as a best‑case scenario if you do most of your driving on battery power and only occasionally venture further afield.

Skoda Superb iV Estate

Run a Superb iV as a de facto electric car during the week and you’ll see three‑figure mpg, but if your life is mostly long motorway slogs with little charging, the figures won’t look so favourable once the battery has depleted.

In comparison to the previous model, the new one’s 70‑plus‑mile capability turns the Superb iV into a genuinely viable EV substitute for many households, with the comfort of a petrol back‑up for the occasional 300‑mile family trek.

Behind the wheel, the Superb iV feels much as you’d expect a large, front‑wheel‑drive estate weighing close to two tonnes to feel: composed, secure and largely unflustered. In E‑mode it glides away in silence, with the instant torque you get in most electric cars, and even when the petrol engine fires up it remains quiet and refined. The six‑speed DSG is smooth and unobtrusive; you can take manual control via paddles on the latest car, or through the selector, but there’s usually little need.

Skoda Superb iV Estate

Visually, the fourth‑generation Superb doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. It’s a very big estate with clean lines, chrome detailing around the grille and dark chrome roof rails in SE Technology guise. The particular car described here is finished in Cobalt Blue metallic and rides on 17‑inch alloy wheels – not the largest rims available, but arguably the sweet spot for comfort.

Inside, Skoda has moved the Superb on from the functional but slightly drab cabin of the outgoing model. The new Loft Design Selection brings a more modern mix of materials and colours, but the real talking point is the tech. A 13‑inch free‑standing touchscreen sits high on the dash, backed up by a 10.25‑inch virtual cockpit. Skoda’s clever new Smart Dials – physical rotary controls with small displays in their centres – give you quick access to core functions such as temperature, volume and drive modes, addressing the criticism levelled at earlier VW Group systems where too much was buried in sub‑menus.

Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard, feeding into that big central screen.

Space is where the Superb has always earned its name, and the estate remains one of the most capacious cars on sale this side of a van. The hatchback version offers 645 litres of boot space with the seats up; the estate is larger still, at around 660 litres with the rear bench in place.

Rear passengers enjoy limousine‑rivalling legroom.

Skoda Superb Estate iV SE Technology

PRICE: £41,575 OTR

ENGINE: 1.5 TSI petrol

ELECTRIC MOTOR: 85kW (116PS)

SYSTEM POWER: 204PS

TRANSMISSION: 6‑speed DSG auto

DRIVE: Front‑wheel drive

PERFORMANCE: 0-62mph: 8.1 seconds (136mph max)

ELECTRIC RANGE: 78–85 miles

Kingdom Come: Deliverance may have cornered the market on historical role-players but this new indie game takes a more strategic approach to a similar concept.

While there are countless games based on Tolkien’s vision of the Middle Ages, blending people living in primitive conditions with magic, fantastical beasts, and mythical evils, there’s another breed of role-playing game that ignores fantasy in favour of a more realistic and nuanced simulation. Kingdom Come: Deliverance is the most obvious example of that brand of historically authentic first person role-playing.

Another is Bellwright, which has just launched on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S after a successful spell in early access on PC. It shares much in common with Deliverance, from its emphasis on unvarnished realism to its Central European setting and historical time period, but it’s in the areas where they differ that Bellwright really gets interesting. While both cast you as an initially lowly peasant who has to work your way up from ragged insignificance, where Kingdom Come is all about you as an individual, Bellwright is a management game at heart.

Not that you won’t be fully involved in absolutely everything, from the mechanics of survival in a harsh winter to battles with brigands, wolves, and soldiers loyal to a corrupt monarch, but thriving in those scenarios is about far more than just forging stronger weapons and armour. In Bellwright, success is a team effort, but at the beginning of the game that team is just you and a grumpy hunter who’s been cast out by the local village elder.

Finding yourselves alone in a fairly hostile wilderness, you decide to pool your efforts and resources, building an encampment out of materials you scavenge from nature. Where plenty of games have you looting resources for construction, few match Bellwright’s dedication to accuracy, which has you adding each individual branch to your emerging building, assembling the wooden frame piece by piece, before finishing it with a covering of foliage.

You’re immediately encouraged to assign tasks to your new friend, who can be deployed as anything from labourer to mercenary: finding materials, bringing them to the site, and using them to build your camp, mining ore, or acting as a lumberjack. You can also set him to work at the research table, expanding your mastery of its medieval tech tree, a process that improves your ability to survive and fight, as well as letting you build more advanced structures.

That’s also enabled by the living countryside around you. As you explore, the map automatically records the locations of useful building materials, bandit camps, and natural features. Bellwright is admirably short of mollycoddling, letting you work things out for yourself, wherever it makes sense. That includes where to strike camp in the first place, a decision that turns out to have innumerable ramifications.

The first of those is proximity to resources. If your assembly lines are close to trees, water, and seams of ore to quarry, you’re in good shape, but you also have to consider the territory of local packs of wolves and the location of brigand encampments. Initially, before you’ve researched and assembled serviceable weapons and armour, meeting either of those groups is instantly lethal, and ensuring your opening hours are spent without running into either one is essential to survival.

As your settlement grows, you’ll increasingly need to gain additional expertise. It’s simply not feasible to become expert in everything, which means you’ll need to recruit specialists in everything from forestry and farming to combat. To do that you need to liberate villages by gradually growing your reputation with them, partly through trading with their elders and partly through completing side quests for locals.

Once freed, you’ll have your pick of recruits from the population and that’s where you can really start laying down useful tradesmen for your operation. This is also key to the overarching story, which has you fomenting a rebellion against a monarch whose cruelty and murderous intentions have all the local villages on edge. Becoming powerful enough to do that forms the meat of the game.

Outside combat, you can staff different facilities, as well as assigning them a level of priority, which governs the order in which your minions undertake the many jobs available. Tinkering with those settings to make sure you enjoy a steady flow of necessary resources, alongside feeding everyone and gradually unlocking the tech tree, will also occasionally be interrupted by raiding parties sent from local bandit camps. It helps keep you on your toes and ensures you never lose your fighting edge, as you build and expand.

With so many complex interacting systems there are inevitably technical issues, mainly in the form of minor graphical artefacts – villagers with transparent torsos or followers wandering around waist deep in the ground. Anyone who remembers the state Skyrim was in when it launched won’t lose too much sleep over this sort of thing and Bellwright has already received post-launch patches, a process that’s likely to continue over the coming months.

The other area where you can sense budgetary constraint is the script and voice acting. There you’ll find a constant flow of peculiar English translations (developer Donkey Crew is Polish), spelling inconsistencies, and characters whose vocal delivery is more about getting the words out in the correct order than adding emotion, making the people you meet sound universally flat and unengaged. You do get used to it, but it’s a world away from the warmth and humanity of Baldur’s Gate 3 or The Witcher.

It does still manage to deliver a remarkably organic feeling world and overall experience, though. That starts with the lack of obvious structure, with all your learnings about the way systems work coming from direct experience, or via a well-timed quest. One discovery seems to lead perfectly naturally to your next task. In hindsight you will absolutely be kicking yourself for what seem like obvious errors in the opening hours, but looking back with a more seasoned eye, you rarely come across mistakes you can’t work your way around.

Your settlements can be rearranged to optimise efficiency and workers re-prioritised to make up for a lack of key ingredients. You also soon learn that taking on bandit camps solo is not a good idea and as you scale up to larger battles it’s in the overarching organisation and management that Bellwright really excels. It’s a shame a bit more thought hasn’t gone into redesigning its PC-orientated menu system, though, which has to be laboriously navigated using the D-pad, a process that never feels either intuitive or straightforward.

Despite its many moments of clunkiness both systemic and mechanical, Bellwright offers an intricate and subtle medieval life simulator that gradually shifts your attention from survival to construction, before finally moving to insurrection and nation building. It’s a fascinatingly orchestrated and long term process that requires endless learning and refinement as your efforts gain momentum, and while its rough edges are evident throughout, once you get into its flow few games feel so all consuming.

Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Price: £24.49
Publisher: Snail Games
Developer: Donkey Crew
Release Date: 9th June 2026
Age Rating: 16

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