Game: Witchy Life Story
Genre: Visual Novel, RPG, Story
System: Steam (Windows)
Developer|Publisher: Sundew Studios
Controller Support: None
Price: US $17.99 | UK £13.94 | EU € 17,49
Release Date: September 30th, 2022
Review code provided with many thanks to Indiebard PR.
Witchy Life Story is a visual novel about a witch who has been sent by their family to help out a small town. During the course of the story, you have the option to fall in love, help out all the people in the village, and learn a little bit about yourself along the way as well.
The Gameplay
Witchy Life Story is like most visual novels in that the story progresses on rails for the most part. While the main character has some autonomy in who they choose to date (if they choose anyone at all) and some dialogue choices, the days progress mostly the same through every playthrough.
Each day, players have orders to fill. Spells are created by blending plants into potions, incense, and other magical concoctions to help each one of the citizens solve their problems. The controls are all point and click, and the overall style is a sort of soft cartoon look.
Romance in Witchy Life Story
The characters are diverse; the romanceable characters are a woman, a man, and a non-binary love interest who can be romanced by any gender. There are loads of looks, body types, and pronouns to choose from; players of all genders and sexualities will feel included in this cute little story.
One of my favorite things about Witchy Life Story is how much real-life advice is hidden in the game. The main character not only helps out the villagers with spells but also gives them meditation techniques to help them live their best lives. These are all real relaxing techniques that actually work, many of them having been recommended to me by therapists at one time or another.
The Feel of the Game is Important
Witchy Life Story is one of the coziest games I’ve played recently. It feels like a hug. The story is of a witch that feels out of place in her own family. She is sent to a small town in the middle of nowhere to continue her training as a witch.
While the main character doesn’t seem pleased with the idea, they decide it’s just two weeks and they will do what they can. Every day, you wake up in your little borrowed cabin, read your mail, and fulfil the orders in your mailbox sent by citizens.
Each spell gets hand-delivered, and players get to learn more about each of their patrons every day as they interact with them. Every interaction is sweet with the main character trying to understand and help the villagers.
Everything visually feels warm and inviting, and all the characters are pleasant to interact with. The main character begins to change their mind about having been sent here as they get to know everyone.
Problems in Paradise
While Witchy Life Story is beautiful, fun, and has some amazing art and characters, it certainly isn’t perfect. There are A LOT of bugs in this game. I played it originally back in the last week of September or so, and it was loaded down with bugs.
A Few Bugs:
Sometimes a character model would appear over the screen and wouldn’t disappear until I rebooted the game.
There were tons of little instances where assets didn’t load in correctly; the Devil tarot card never worked for me while I played. The game would not let me make the special trinkets at the end.
Did the Update Fix the Bugs?
The last day of the two-week calendar is supposed to be a party, but the party never loaded for me. However, I tried to restart the game and even tried sleeping, but I have still yet to see the ending.
I tried replaying Witchy Life Story with the 10/2/2022 update in hopes of completing it, and it crashed between day 2 and day 3.
I also was a little disappointed with the potion crafting portion of Witchy Life Story. In addition, I guess I wanted it to be a little more of a mystery, and I wanted the game to allow me to mess the concoctions up. I wanted a little more Potion Craft mixed into this little mini-game.
Also, while the music was amazing, some of the sound design was super weird. There was what sounded like a real dog barking in some scenes while a person barking was used for others. It was very jarring. The sound of the crow cawing was one of the most annoying sounds in the game, and it happened a LOT.
Conclusion
I wanted to love this game. It filled me with the same feeling as a big warm hug or a cozy blanket. The art is amazing, the characters are wonderful, and the character creation is top-notch. But the bugs really just kind of ruined the whole experience for me.
I will keep trying it out as new updates come out in hopes of actually being able to finish this title someday.
Final Verdict: I Like it.
