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?
Unfortunately, Witchbrook received a delay at the end of 2025, and it will now release in 2026 so the devs can "ensure the world feels rich, immersive, and alive."
Chucklefish also added that this added development time “has opened the door to exploring a few additional exciting opportunities, including additional platforms and language support we hadn’t initially planned.”
I mean, I get it, this is definitely for the best, but I was really looking forward to losing my life to this game over the winter break. Guess I'll resume my usual state of yearning for Witchbrook once more in 2026.
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 trailers
It had been years since Witchbrook was seen in motion when a Nintendo Direct mercifully revealed 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 Witchbrook screenshots
If you want to scrutinize every little detail in Witchbrook, here's some screenshots of the game in action:
Witchbrook gameplay
Even without lengthy gameplay footage, we know a fair amount about what your daily life as a witch will look like. In Witchbrook, you can:
- Attend classes, improve your magical abilities, learn spells, and take exams.
- 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. Hana and Eli have been the only confirmed dateable characters thus far.
- 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.
Witchbrook map
Although the news of Witchbrook's delay into 2026 was a bummer, developer Chucklefish bandaged our not-so-cosy wounds by revealing an interactive map of Mossport, the town in which Witchbrook takes place.
Keeping in mind that this isn't the complete map, and just a teaser of things to come, here's the list of all the significant landmarks in Witchbrook's map:
- Witchbrook College
- Arcane Arts (in Witchbrook College)
- North Hallway (in Witchbrook College)
- Lecture Theatre (in Witchbrook College)
- Tea-Making Class
- Shadhollow Forest
- Shadbrook Cottage
- Spring Festival
- Hana's Apartment
- Whitecap Esplanade
- Parasol Sands
There's also an unnamed purple forest to the north of Witchbrook College that I'm very interested in finding out more about, a small island off the southwestern coast, and another big unnamed area to the east of Witchbrook College.
