Witchbrook: Everything we know so far about the witchy life sim

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. When it, you know, actually releases. 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 sometime in 2026 so the devs can "ensure the world feels rich, immersive, and alive."

Chucklefish also said 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.”

You might have noticed that Witchbrook has also past its 10 year announcement anniversary. In a 2026 interview with Knowledge, the COO of Chucklefish, Donna Orlowski, elaborated on why the heck Witchbook is taking so long:

"When we went full-on on the project in 2019," Orlowski says, "we decided to slightly shift the focus from people [who] kept saying, 'It's Harry Potter meets Stardew Valley' to making something more unique. That was the cause of the delay."

Still on track for 2026

Chucklefish took to its discord server on May 6 to answer a fan's question, confirming that it's still aiming for a 2026 Witchbrook release. But a specific date won't be announced until Chucklefish is "completely confident and happy" with where the game is at.

That "aiming" may be used as a Get Out of Jail Free card should there be a future delay, but for now, I'll continue to get my hopes up and cross my fingers no clown make-up appears in my near future.

Witchbrook trailers

Witchbrook - First Look Trailer - YouTube

Watch On

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 (now updated with some festive snow snaps):

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Witchbrook gameplay

The massive "Life at Witchbrook" dev blog came nearly seven months after the game's last blog, but boy was it worth it. We got a look at so much gameplay it's hard to know where to start. So we've condensed everything seen in the blog (plus what we previously knew) into individual gameplay sections below.

Your business

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• Your classes at college expand the kind of goods you can sell
• Fulfilling business orders increases your relationship and unlocks perks and upgrades for your business
• Deliver goods all over Mossport with a moped, or broom, once you’ve earned your license
• You can set up your business at the Sunday market

College

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• Pay for classes with money earned from your business
• Classes teach you new skills, which help with:
  • Completing college assignments
  • Crafting and obtaining new items
  • Undertaking new activities
• Taking classes also helps you get to know your professors and covenmates
• Classes include:
  • Crafting tea, incense, and salves
  • Potion brewing
  • Astrological divination
  • Arcane rituals
• College will post assignments for you to complete using the skills you learned in class
• Completing an assignment rewards college merits, which can be spent in the college shop, and allow entry to college exams
• Credits are also earned throughout the game for "exemplifying what it means to be a witch." Such as helping out around town, completing side quests, and unlocking knowledge

Knowledge

• Is basically Witchbrook's collectathon menu
• Knowledge tracks everything you've learned and contains the requirements to memorize new information

Exams

• You need to complete a set of exams in order (with a passing mark) to advance to the next grade
  • The mark you receive depends on how much knowledge you've accumulated in the sections of the knowledge collection that the exam tests
• Higher grades enables access to new classes, spells, activities, and "dangerous areas"
• You can take mock exams during a coven study group to see if you'll pass the real exam

Spells

• Obtaining a wand immediately lets you move objects "intuitively" and "without guidance"
• Each completed exam entitles you to learn a spell from Professor Carlyle
• Spells offer a variety of shortcuts, such as guidance spells to help track down rare ingredients, to flying over the rooftops on a broom

Wellbeing

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• Everything you do in Mossport can increase (or decrease) your wellbeing. Such as:
  • Petting a dog (increase)
  • Taking a walk in nature (increase)
  • Having a conversation with a friend (increase)
  • Staying up far too late (decrease)
  • Upsetting a friend (decrease)
• At the end of a long day, the day's events are tallied up and your current wellbeing level is adjusted
• The higher your wellbeing level, the more bonuses you get. Such as:
  • Increased income
  • Better deals
  • Gifts
  • Relationship benefits
  • Performing better in exams

Graduation

• Completing exams allow you to advance to the next year. This unlocks new spells, classes, and activities
• You can stay in college as a postgrad to:
  • Fill your knowledge collection completely
  • Improve grades
  • Improve your business even more

Life outside college

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• You can build friendships and relationship, and go on dates with other witches and townsfolk, or even form a rivalry. Hana, Eli, Cormac, and Pip are the confirmed dateable characters thus far
• Join clubs and begin to collect knowledge outside of school
• Cook
• Go to festivals
• Customize your character’s features with variety of skin tones and hairstyles
• Change your style with lots of clothes to pick from, and lots of layers to work with
• Spend time at your cozy forest cottage, gardening and raising animals
  • Grow plants and brew them into potions
• 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 also cited references from Terry Pratchett to Studio Ghibli. Looking at the art style in 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 story and characters

You start the game by receiving an acceptance letter to Witchbrook (sound familiar?) but as you need to pay your way through it, you travel to a cottage gifted by your aunt in the witchy town of Mossport. The cottage familiar, Fable, has a plan to make money, so you start your own business.

You'll also have the support of your coven, a group of witches you'll be living and studying with at Witchbrook. As well as the guiding hand of your benevolent coven leader, Professor Carlyle.

Stories

Stories with your coven-mates play out like mini visual novels, and each has a "unique and bespoke" story to tell. As you increase your relationship level with your covenmates, you'll be invited into their stories "and their lives". Hana, Eli, Cormac, and Pip are the only confirmed dateable characters so far.

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.