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Painted ships and a rowing boat arriving at a wooded settlement on the James River at sunset

THE FIRST CHAPTER OF ROOTS & RECKONINGS

NOVA
BRITANNIA

Guide your family from James Fort to a home of their own.

A historical farming and homestead-building game. Guide a family from a harsh arrival in Virginia through the choice of where to settle, what to build and how to live with the people around them.

In development with Rust and Bevy.

Development updates Watch the opening film
Key art · Artistic interpretationSee how your choices connect
ROOTS & RECKONINGS

Estimated Early Release: Q2 2027

IN DEVELOPMENT AT IOIO.DEV

FROM ARRIVAL TO THE NEXT GENERATION

Your family’s journey begins in Virginia

Your family crosses the ocean expecting the opportunities promised in accounts of Nova Britannia. Life at James Fort is far harsher than they expected. Keeping Thomas, Anne, Elias and Ruth alive is the first challenge, and what happens there shapes the people they become.

Once departure is permitted, you choose when to leave. Move to another fort or settlement, or set out to establish an independent homestead. Decide who goes, what you take and whether the family is ready for the risks ahead.

Farming and homestead building are at the core of the journey: settle land, build a home, raise crops and animals, trade, take part in the community and defend what you have built. Experiences and relationships formed along the way influence later decisions and the lives of future generations.

THE CHOICES AHEAD

Decide when to leave and where to settle

  1. Face the arrival

    Keep the family fed, housed and able to work through life at James Fort. The people they meet and the things they experience affect what comes next.

  2. Choose when and where

    Leave as soon as you are allowed, or take more time to prepare. Choose another fort or settlement, or an independent homestead. Weigh the people, supplies and relationships you will rely on.

  3. Establish your home and farm

    Build, farm and raise livestock. Trade with neighbours, form relationships and defend your home. Your family carries its experiences into each new situation and into the next generation.

THE OPENING FILM / 1 MIN 23 SEC

Watch the opening film.

Meet the historical setting through the illustrated opening cinematic: the return to James Fort in June 1610.

Illustrated opening cinematic. This film is not a gameplay capture.

Read the film transcript

Capt. James Davis — Commander at Point Comfort
“My Lord De La Warr, praise God your three ships have made the Capes. Yet four hundred lie buried at James Fort from the winter famine, and Sir Thomas Gates makes ready to embark the remnant and abandon the river.”

Thomas West, Lord De La Warr — Lord Governor & Captain General
“Virginia shall not be yielded while the King’s commission is in my hand. Man the longboat with all speed, Captain Brewster, and bear my letters upriver to Sir Thomas Gates: command him to turn every vessel back to James Fort.”

Capt. Edward Brewster — Bearing the Lord Governor’s Letters
“Hold your course, Sir Thomas, and strike sail upon the Deliverance! The Lord Governor lies at Point Comfort with three ships and a full year’s store, and by these letters commands you to bear up your helm for James Fort!”

William Strachey — Secretary of the Colony
“Stepping ashore before the south gate while I bore Sir Thomas Gates his colours, my Lord Governor fell upon his knees in silent prayer upon the bank — then led all the company into church to hear Master Bucke preach.”

Sir Thomas Gates — Lieutenant Governor of Virginia
“Before God and this congregation, my Lord, I yield up my commission — and deliver these scarce-saved companies into your hands to govern and restore this plantation.”

Thomas West, Lord De La Warr — Lord Governor & Captain General
“Cast off your haughty vanities and sluggish idleness! I bring you a full year’s store from England and the King’s law — now set every hand to the earth, and build up James Fort anew!”

Illustrated wooded river valley in warm evening light
Landscape concept art · Not a gameplay screenshot

WHAT THAT MEANS WHEN YOU PLAY

Daily choices affect
the wider journey.

Work, learning and relationships compete for your attention. These illustrative situations show how one decision can affect several parts of family life.

  1. 01

    Save the supplies—or keep the lesson?

    Rain wets exposed stores. Drying them takes work, while a practical lesson needs both teacher and learner to be present and ready. Protecting today’s food competes with building tomorrow’s skills.

  2. 02

    The same event. Different people.

    Witnessing punishment can discourage theft. Being punished can increase defiance. Memories and temperament influence later choices, so a rule that brings one person into line can push another away.

  3. 03

    Good plans need current knowledge.

    People plan with the information they have. Counting supplies and sharing the results gives them current knowledge of the stores and changes the plans they make.

02 / THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE IT MATTER

Shared home.
Different people.

Thomas, Anne, Elias and Ruth begin together, but each has their own condition, skills and experience. As choices and experiences accumulate, the family you guide develops a different history. Who you ask—and what they have lived through—matters.

Illustrated character portrait of Thomas

Thomas

Illustrated character portrait of Anne

Anne

Illustrated character portrait of Elias

Elias

Illustrated character portrait of Ruth

Ruth

Character concept art.

03 / A HOUSEHOLD WITHIN HISTORY

Early experiences shape
later decisions.

Work, duties and encounters at James Fort shape each family member. Those experiences influence the decisions they make and the relationships they form in their next settlement or homestead, with consequences for future generations.

The setting draws on period accounts and research into the fort, its people and its laws. Your household’s choices unfold within that setting.

The wider Virginia setting includes the Indigenous nations and communities whose homelands surround the English settlement.

Illustrated congregation gathered in the timber and thatch church at James Fort
Opening-film artwork · James Fort, June 1610

04 / WHAT REMAINS

Your choices become
family history.

The family Bible and parish register record births, marriages and losses in your household. Read back through the lives of successive generations.

Explore a sample from the household’s books
THE HOUSEHOLD’S BOOKS

What is set down in ink

Two volumes keep the memory of the holding and the fort. In Our Bible, Thomas sets down the family’s landing, sickness, and harvest upon the blank leaves of a 1599 Geneva Quarto. In The Church Booke, Master Richard Bucke enters every christening, marriage, and burial within the palisade.

Entries stand in the seventeenth-century hand in which they were written. Open the Fair copy at any time to read the page in plain printed type.

Our BibleThe 1599 Geneva Quarto · Family Record
THE BIBLE
GENEVA QUARTO
With most profitable Annotations
Imprinted at London by the Deputies of Christopher Barker, Printer to the Queenes most excellent Maiestie, 1599.
This Bible belongeth to Thomas Hale. Anno Domini 1610.
FAMILY RECORD
ye 10th of Iune 1610
Vpon ye tenth day of Iune 1610 wee came a shoare at Iames Fort in Virginia wth my Lord La Warre, my selfe Thomas Hale being of ye age of 32 yeares, Anne my wife aged 29 yeares, Elias our sonne aged 11 yeares, & Ruth our daughter aged 7 yeares.
Leaf 1 of 3 · ye 10th of Iune 1610

Written by Thomas, the 10th day of June 1610 — Written on the first flyleaf in iron-gall ink on the evening after the landing.

FROM THE DEVELOPMENT DESK

Development notes.

In development · October 2026

The whole journey, shaped by your choices

Arrival at James Fort begins a farming and homestead-building journey. Once departure is permitted, choose when to leave and whether to join another settlement or set out independently. Build a life with a family whose experiences and relationships continue to matter.

Watch the film

From our founder: Our approach to AI, game development, and the people behind it.

Inside the fort: people, daily life & the calendar
VIRGINIA • JUNE 1610

A household in James Fort

You come ashore on Sunday the tenth of June 1610 with the Lord Governor’s relief ships. Four of the family — Thomas, Anne, Elias, and Ruth — are given a roof on the river street inside the palisade to mend before nightfall.

Three hundred and forty-six named people live within the three-cornered fort: sixty who endured the starving winter, the castaways of the Sea Venture from the Bermudas, and the company newly landed from England.

Your house on the river street

Mend the roof and timbers first, dig a sweet well of your own, and sow maize, beans, and squash before the autumn cold. Once departure is permitted, choose when to move to another settlement or establish your own homestead.

THE BELLS OF THE FORTSix until ten in the forenoon

Morning Drum & Work

Each captain's gang marches out through the palisade gates to the clearing, the saw pit, the fields, or the river bank.

Lawes Art. 28 · Capt. John Smith & William Strachey
PACE OF THE DAYKey 1

The usual pace of the day from the morning drum to the setting of the watch. Unless paused, the days go on while you are away.

THE COMPANY AT JAMES TOWNE

Neighbours within the palisade

Every person in the fort has a name, a county, a ship, and a place to sleep. At the church bell and the storehouse allowance, your family stands beside captains who sailed in 1607, castaways from the Bermudas, and neighbours from every shire of England.

LORD GOVERNOR & CAPTAIN GENERAL

Thomas West, Lord De La Warr

Lord Governor and Captain General of Virginia, a Hampshire lord of thirty-three, he brought his ships up on Sunday 10 June and knelt in prayer on landing. He has rebuked the company for its idleness.

Born
Hampshire (aged 33 years)
Voyage
The Lord Governor's fleet
Endured
Ten weeks at sea
Lodging
The great framed house

The release window is an estimate. Features and presentation may change during development. Artwork on this page is identified beside each image.