Anyone interested in the incredibly popular niche of cozy games has likely heard of the upcoming title Witchbrook. A life sim from Robotality and Chucklefish, the same publisher as Stardew Valley, Witchbrook promises a witchy world of discovery, where players can attend a magical school—learning spells, brewing potions, and telling fortunes—all while living in an idyllic seaside town of Mossport and building relationships with charming characters.
While every piece of information about Witchbrook only builds anticipation for the game (it’s currently in the top twenty most wishlisted titles on Steam), the actual release date has become murky. The game recently popped up at the March 2025 Nintendo Direct with a late 2025 release date, only to be pushed back further to a vague 2026 release window.
What is Witchbrook?
Witchbrook is everything a fan of magic, witches, and cozy games could ask for. The upcoming game is a life sim set in Mossport, a bustling town next to a magical college built out of beautifully crafted pixel-art towers and arches.
There, players will join new classmates as they learn how to advance their mystical knowledge and compete to be on top of the class. While learning how to use magic is an important part of Witchbrook, building relationships around Mossport with townspeople and your magical peers is just as important.
Players will also be able to provide witchy services to the town and earn money, which can in turn be used to customize their cottage and their appearance. Taking part in town events, going to shops, and spending time at festivals are features of the game, which prioritizes a laid back atmosphere over any specific in-game goals.
As revealed through the developer blog, Witchbrook will have a number of features to increase its magical atmosphere. Seasons will pass, which will change how characters dress, their schedules, and which tasks are available for the player. Players will be able to take pictures around town, attend festivals, and fly around on brooms.
Witchbrook’s Release Date and Development Timeline
Most small indie games have long development timelines, but Witchbrook has an especially long timeline. First teased under the title Spellbound in 2016, Witchbrook has had a long history of small updates over the years, which included a multi-year pause in development when developer Chucklefish opted to focus their resources on Wargroove, a turn-based strategy series, just before 2020.
Once production began again in 2020, the game started from scratch with a new engine – the game had been on Rust before the team switched to the in-house Halley – and with an entirely new art style. From 2020 onwards, some consistent work was made on Witchbrook alongside Wargroove 2, with the company fully dedicating its resources to Witchbrook in 2024. The next major piece of news came with the March 2025 Nintendo Direct, where the first announcement trailer finally debuted alongside a Winter 2025 release window.
By Oct. 2025, a blog post broke the news that Witchbrook wouldn’t make its original release date. The most recent post, made in late Dec., made no mention of a new release date and social media accounts for the game have been silent on the topic as well. While it does seem most likely that Witchbrook will come out sometime in 2026, players should assume it’ll be in the latter half of the year due to the lack of updates so far.
Witchbrook platforms and multiplayer
As confirmed in the Nintendo Direct reveal, Witchbrook will be available on the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. It will also be on Steam and the Xbox Series X, with other platforms “TBD”, according to the official FAQ page.
Chucklefish confirmed that up to four players can play together, though the developers haven’t confirmed how exactly that will work with the game’s robust customization.
Beyond the small tidbits that developers confirm in their Discord or through the sprinkling of developer blog posts, there haven’t been too many confirmed aspects to Witchbrook. Hopefully once the game receives a firmer release date down the line, a gameplay trailer will give more insight into what the actual gameplay feels like.
