There is no heart-pounding action of bombastic set pieces designed to get your adrenaline flowing. You can also engage certain characters in romantic interactions, go on dates and eventually fall in love.įor all its similarities to ‘The Bully’ and Harry Potter, ‘Witchbrook’ stays true to the Chucklefish tradition of providing engaging, yet relaxing experiences.
‘Witchbrook’ promises the opposite – interactive characters each with their own quirks, desires and even in-game birthdays. As a player, nothing breaks immersion like an empty world populated by generic Non-Playable Characters (NPCs) who lack any semblance of a personality. However, what is perhaps the single most enthralling thing about ‘Witchbrook’ is its focus on creating an authentic, living, breathing world for the player to explore. Be warned though, not every spell in the game can be learned in school, and you can get into trouble for dabbling in the forbidden magical arts.
#COMING OUT ON TOP GAMEPLAY FULL#
Of course, being a Chucklefish game, ‘Witchbrook’ is bound to be chock full of quests, activities, mini-games and other distractions for the player to engage in, including potion making (you’re in a magic school after all), cooking (even wizards have to eat!), fishing, card games, chess and possibly even broom racing.Īccording to the game design document for ‘Witchbrook’, the spells you learn in class also help you in your various extracurricular activities. This affects the gameplay in various ways, possibly including seasonal events such as Halloween or Christmas. There are also four distinct weather conditions in the game, each lasting for a period of 30 days (1 month) according to the in-game calendar. Both of these mechanics affect gameplay extensively, with a nighttime curfew forcing players to either play nice or sneak around during nighttime under threat of detention if you get caught. ‘Witchbrook’ integrates several other features we have come to expect from Chucklefish’s games, such as full day and night cycles as well as changing seasons. That game showed how much potential there was in an RPG game revolving around everyday school life, and ‘Witchbrook’ could very well carry on that legacy. This is exactly what many of us have been craving from a Harry Potter video game ever since the first book came out, instead of the last major entries in the franchise ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1’ and ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2’, both of which were mindless First Person Shooters (FPS) in a magical garb.īesides Harry Potter, the concept behind “Witchbrook’ is also very reminiscent of Rockstar Vancouver’s criminally underrated 2006 game ‘The Bully’. If this is indeed the case, then Harry Potter fans everywhere have reason to rejoice. A school of witchcraft and wizardry where you attend classes, partake in adventure, make new friends and eventually graduate? It sounds very much like Harry Potter. The first thing that I’m sure you’re reminded of after hearing the pitch for ‘Witchbrook’ is very likely going to be Harry Potter.
Like any good student, you follow a daily routine of classes and other activities in order to enhance your thaumaturgical skill and eventually graduate from the school. In ‘Witchbrook’, you play as a student currently attending a school of magic. However, the theme of ‘Witchbrook’ is entirely different from anything the developers have worked on before. The art style is also very reminiscent of Chucklefish’s previous endeavors such as ‘Starbound’, ‘ Stardew Valley’ and even the upcoming ‘ Wayward Tide’, a beautifully nostalgic 32-bit pixel aesthetic with oodles of color and character.
#COMING OUT ON TOP GAMEPLAY SIMULATOR#
Much like many of Chucklefish’s other games, ‘Witchbrook’ is a Role-Playing Game (RPG) and life simulator hybrid game presented from a top-down isometric view. Read on to find out everything we know about the upcoming Hogwarts simulator from the folks behind ‘Starbound’. Given the developer’s track record thus far, there is an understandable amount of hype around any of their projects, and ‘Witchbrook’ is no exception.