Jan 12, 2023Indie Highlight
In this cute and cozy little visual novel game, Witchy Life Story, play as a customizable, fully emotive witch of your own design. You are the youngest member of the esteemed and magical von Teasel family. You aren’t exactly the star of the family, though. Grandma has set you a test, and should you fail, you’ll receive no more magical training. The task? Save the harvest festival in the small village of Flora. And you only have two weeks!
You and your crow familiar, Ramsey, will spend your time gardening, using your plants in spells and rituals, getting to know the villagers, and helping them make their upcoming harvest festival a success. Fulfill orders for the villagers, including relax incense or chitchat potions. You’ll craft spells, perform tarot readings, and lead guided meditations. Witchy Life story even has three romanceable villagers! Two weeks is enough time to make the festival a success and for you to make some big life choices, right?
Witchy Life Story is now available on Steam. There is even a free demo if you’d like to give it a test spin!
for other witchy, fun games check out A Garden Witch’s Life, Little Witch in the Woods, and Mika and the Witch’s Mountain.
Jan 11, 2020Feature
When J.K. Rowling published Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone back in 1997, she had no idea how popular the book would become. The book was so popular in fact, that Rowling went on to write another six books, all of which were turned into great films.
With J.K. Rowling being an undeniably great writer, in combination with the attractive magic (but still refreshingly relatable) premise of the franchise, it’s no wonder the series has a cult following. And so for all you Potterheads out there, here are six games picked especially for you. ?
Set in Hogwarts and the Harry Potter universe, this game was bound to make the list. Developed and published by Jam City under license from Portkey Games, This RPG game was released for Android and iOS devices on the 25th April 2018.
The game is set between Harry Potter’s birth and his enrollment at Hogwarts. Upon beginning the game, players can create and customise their character, who is about to begin their studies at Hogwarts. Your player can attend various different magic classes, learn spells, duel rivals, and undertake quests.
The game is free to download, but there is the option to make in-app purchases for additional perks.
Described as a cross between Harry Potter and Animal Crossing, Magicians Quest: Mysterious Times was published by Konami for Nintendo DS in Japan on the 12th November 2008. The game hit the shelves in the US on the 11th May 2009.
Magician’s Quest: Mysterious Times is a fantasy life simulation game for the Nintendo DS. After customising the appearance, name and gender of their character, players are able to attend classes at the game’s magic academy. During classes, players will learn spells and incantations, the mysteries of magic, and interact with fellow students.
Despite criticism for its striking resemblance to Animal Crossing games, Magician’s Quest offers plenty of unique features for players to enjoy. Examples include: monthly quests during ‘Mystery Time’, dates with other students, the ability to form a band, getting to prank others (and be pranked), plus many more amusing quirks.
The game is quite rare, and therefore rather pricey, but pre-owned copies of it often pop up on sites like eBay and Amazon.
Guildlings is a JRPG single player episodic adventure for mobile. The game is a fantasy adventure game ‘set in a world of wizards and Wi-Fi’.
Playing as a homeschooled teenager, you unfortunately manage to activate a cursed smartphone. Recruiting your friends as Guildlings, you must utilise their incredible powers to rid yourself of the curse, and more importantly, save the world.
Game developers Sirvo Studios released Guildlings for iOS on the 8th November 2019. It was also a featured release on the Apple Arcade.
You can read more about the game by clicking here. Additionally, you can obtain a free mobile wallpaper by visiting the game’s official website.
Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time is an action adventure RPG game. The game was initially released in Japan for PS4 on the 30th of November 2017. It was released worldwide on the 15th of May 2018. The game was developed by A+ Games and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is currently playable on PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows.
For those unfamiliar with Little Witch Academia, it is an anime series that takes place at Luna Nova Academy, a school for witches in training, The protagonist of the series is a Japanese girl named Akko who is from a non-magical background.
In the game, you must uncover the mysteries at Luna Nova Academy with Akko and her friends. Players get to explore dungeons, cast spells, and use witchcraft, in order to discover the seven wonders, and solve the peculiar shift in time.
Witchbrook (which initially had the working title of Spellbound), is an up and coming RPG simulation game with turn-based strategy elements. Currently in development by Chucklefish, the pixel-art-stylised game is described as ‘Stardew Valley meets Harry Potter’.
The game is set in a magic school, where the player is enrolled as a student, Whilst completing their studies, players will go on a journey to discover who they really are. The game offers a variety of side activities that include social events, potion making, fishing, gardening, artefact hunting and more!
You can find out more about this highly anticipated game by clicking here.
Ikenfell is a pixel-art-stylised turn-based RPG game that features a group of troublesome magic students. The game utilises timing-based battle mechanics to allow players to power spells and block attacks. Ikenfell is set in a vast and mysterious magic school. Inside the school, players will encounter numerous monsters and bosses to fight, discover hoards of hidden treasure, and uncover dark secrets never meant to be discovered.
Ikenfell is currently still in development by Happy Ray Games. It will be published by Humble Bundle. Upon its release, the game will initially be available for Windows and Mac. However, the Ikenfell website says that ‘other platforms and consoles will be announced as they are confirmed.’
Jul 8, 2019News
Fans of Harry Potter and Little Witch Academia will be pleased to hear that there are currently two very exciting magic school games in development. Whilst Chucklefish’s game, which has the working title of ‘Witchbrook’ is still in its early stages, Ikenfell is much further in development. Ikenfell is expected to be released around June 2018.
Interestingly, both games use pixel game art, are simulation games, and are (obviously) set in a magic school. However, they both have unique art styles, with Chucklefish’s game Witchbrook having visual similarities to their very popular game, Stardew Valley.
Ikenfell is a JRPG game which utilises turn-based and timing-based battle mechanics. These mechanics enhance it’s variety of characters and story development. It’ creator has said it’s art style was influenced by a plethora of games such as Paper Mario, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Earthbound (Witchbrook, Starbound, Earthbound, Warbound, everything-bound!), and Robotrek. The game also takes i nspiration from fictional teen series such as Harry Potter and Carry On.
The game’s publisher is Humble Bundle, and its platforms are PC, Mac and possibly Linux. Humble Bundle are helping to polish the game, market it, and will soon add it to Steam.
An update from the game’s founder talks of the release of a new game trailer at the beginning of 2018, so look out for that!
Currently, the game takes around 20 hours to complete (possibly more for less experienced players).
Safina is invited to the magical school of Ikenfell for witches and wizards, leaving behind her slightly embittered sister Maritte, who doesn’t have magic powers. Safina soon becomes one of the school’s most notorious students.
However, Safina doesn’t return home one summer. She has gone missing alongside the school’s headmistress.
You play as Maritte, who goes to Ikenfell to find her sister and discover the truth of what exactly is going on.
The expansive school is full of ‘magic, mysteries, secret passages, hidden rooms, and many strange characters’ for you to explore.
Witchbrook is an up and coming RPG turn-based strategy simulation game in development by Chucklefish, the creators of Wargroove and publishers of Stardew Valley. Finn Brice, the founder and director of the game says that a formal announcement is “maybe quite a way off”. He also suggests that the game is around a three-to-four year project. The working title Witchbrook came from Chucklefish’s game Wargroove’s working title, Warbound.
Influences on the game include a variety of old Nintendo console games (Earthbound again perhaps?), as well as games such as Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon and 2D Zelda games. Although not the intention of Chucklefish, many people compare the game’s graphics to Little Witch Academia. However, Brice has said that Ghibli films such as Kiki’s delivery service (which look similar to Little Witch Academia) did influence the game’s art style.
However, unlike Ikenfell, which is heavily story based, the developers want Witchbrook to have the appeal of Stardew Valley where players can simply enjoy being inside a charming world and make it their own.
Similar to Ikenfell, Witchbrook allows players to have relationships with other characters and to go on dates with them. However, these don’t always go to plan, making the game more true-to-life, as opposed to the idealised romance often portrayed in other forms of media.
However, Brice reassures players that even though the developers want to hit home and capture what it’s like to be in school, they want to provide a nice kind of nostalgia for players. Therefore, interactions with other characters won’t be too difficult or ‘horrific’.
Ikenfell has been pretty much complete since late 2016, with the kickstarter campaign being set up to mainly fund:
However, Witchbrook still has plenty of room for development, influences and features.
What would you like to see in Witchbrook?
Jun 12, 2018Mobile Game
[dropcap]G[/dropcap]uildlings is an upcoming mobile game for both iOS and Android. Currently in development by Sirvo, (the creator of ‘Threes!’), the single-player episodic adventure game is set to be released this summer. Combining ‘Wizards and Wi-Fi’, Guildlings (alongside upcoming magic school games Ikenfell and Witchbrook ) capitalises on the popular combination of teen angst and wizardry.
With amazing graphics, beautiful audio, and a focus on story, Guildlings is split into chapters, and is designed for longer play sessions than most mobile games. The JRPG game has you play as Coda, a home-schooled teen with a cursed smartphone. Recruiting your friends as Guildlings, you utilise their magical powers in an attempt to rid yourself of the curse, whilst also saving the world.
Gameplay combines exploration, conversation and non-traditional combat, which are connected by a mood-based character system. Each of your Guildlings have their own unique powers. However, in the realm of Worldaria, magic is driven by emotions. Essentially, your Guildlings can only use magic when they are feeling a certain way (eg confident). Therefore if your Guildling is afraid when they need to be confident, your task as a Guildmaster is to figure out how to influence their emotions and mood.
The first chapter offers players the ability to:
Guildlings was inspired by games such as Earthbound, and interactive narratives like 80 days. It was also influenced by the much-loved Studio Ghibli films and globally adored Harry Potter franchise.
The game’s developers have said that their two major goals upon starting Guildlings were:
To make the phone feel like a small portal into a large fantasy world.
You can read more about the game (and obtain a free Guildlings mobile wallpaper) here.