Originally teased way back in 2016, Witchbrook is an upcoming life simulation and social RPG that puts you in the shoes of a witch in college (you could call it Big Witch Academia). Developed by Chucklefish, the indie studio that helped publish Stardew Valley, the comparisons are inevitable—pixel art, farming, relationships, and magical battles against forest monsters will all be part of your academic journey. If all goes according to plan, you will follow in your ancestor’s footsteps and take over as the resident witch of the sleepy seaside town of Mossport.
Witchbrook is now one of Steam's most-wishlisted games, and alongside Eric Barone's Stardew successor Haunted Chocolatier, it has a chance of being the next breakout cozy life sim. Here's everything we know about it so far.
Is there a Witchbrook release date?
After a long period of silence, Witchbrook finally has a release window, if not a date. It's launching in winter 2025.
According to Chucklefish, early on Witchbrook was being coded in the programming language Rust, but it eventually switched to an in-house engine created for Wargroove. That game came out in early 2019, so it's safe to say that Witchbrook's development began (or restarted) in earnest after Wargroove was finished.
In a 2022 Reddit AMA Studio Chucklefish gave another reason for the slow development: "Chucklefish is a zero-crunch studio." In 2019, the indie developer was criticized for using unpaid contributors in the development of its first game, Starbound. The studio didn't exactly admit it was wrong, but did say "Chucklefish has grown considerably into an indie studio that has a strong emphasis on good working practices, providing a welcoming environment for all employees and freelancers."
Witchbrook finally has a gameplay trailer
It's been years since we've seen Witchbrook in motion and now thanks to a Nintendo Direct there's at last a new trailer. There's a lot to take in here: seasonal changes, flying on brooms, and a world populated with tons of other students and townsfolk.
Here are a bunch of brand new Witchbrook screenshots
What will being a witch be like?
Even without gameplay footage, we know a fair amount about what your daily life as a witch will look like. You can:
- Attend classes and improve your magical abilities.
- Grow plants and brew them into potions.
- Customize your character’s features and outfit.
- Spend time at your cozy forest cottage, gardening and raising animals.
- Develop relationships with other witches and townsfolk, including romance and rivalry.
- Cruise around on your broom and participate in broom races.
- Hang out in Mossport and take advantage of shops and restaurants.
- Participate in seasonal events. We’re definitely going trick-or-treating.
In an interview back in 2018, developers cited references from Terry Pratchett to Studio Ghibli. Looking at the art style in early screenshots, I can definitely imagine the game feeling a bit like Kiki’s Delivery Service—I can only hope that I, too, can bring my kitty along for a broom ride!
Will Witchbrook be multiplayer?
Yes, and though we don’t know what this will look like just yet, it's confirmed to support 4 players. Maybe we can work together to fetch wood for some fancy new wands, or come up with a spell that dumps stinky pondwater on some jerk that looks like Draco Malfoy. And it definitely wouldn’t be college without scraping what little money we have together for a trip to brunch. We’ll probably be a bit less hung over, though.
