Rumors about various unannounced Xbox Game Studios’ exclusives have been coming fast and furious lately, with details about codenamed games such as Project Shaolin (a Wu-Tang Clan RPG), Project Indus (a 4X strategy title from Oxide Games), Project Cobalt (a Steampunk RPG from InXile), Project Dragon (an RPG from IO Interactive), and Pax Dei (a cloud-based MMO from Mainframe Industries), being leaked in recent weeks and months. Well, it seems we may have details on yet another Xbox exclusive project.

　　The name “Project Belfry” has been bouncing around for a couple weeks, and on the latest episode of his premium Grubbsnax series, wanton leaker Jeff Grubb provided some more details. It seems Project Belfry will be a visually-lush 2D action-adventure game, with Grubb specifically evoking Vanillaware games like Dragon’s Crown and Studio Ghibli movies such as Princess Mononoke. The game will reportedly feature a large interconnected world, with a belfry home base at its center, which you’ll likely be able to upgrade in various ways. Players will also be able to establish settlements in the world, which will help generate resources used in a crafting system.

　　Sounds like an interesting concept! Grubb has held back on revealing the developer of Project Belfry, but does mention that it’s a team known for good 2D art, although they haven’t done a game quite like this before. The most obvious choice would be Ori developer Moon Studios, but they’re working on a multiplatform game for Private Division at the moment, so it’s probably somebody else. Of course, as always, take this with a grain of salt for now, but Microsoft has shown a certain commitment to these type of 2D games, so it’s not surprising to hear they might be making a new one.

　　What do you think? Does the Project Belfry concept sound interesting? Who might be making it?