Witchbrook, the Harry Potter inspired RPG that lets you live the life of a magic school student, has a new look and it is enchanting.
Developer Chucklefish first revealed Witchbrook back in 2017. Back then it had a cute pixel art aesthetic that evoked Stardew Valley and the golden era of SNES RPGs. Paging through an early design document was enough to give us 10 reasons to be excited about Witchbrook, but Chucklefish has been fairly quiet about the project since then. Now we know why - the studio was spending its time taking the game from cute to gorgeous.
The new look for Witchbrook is built on an isometric perspective. That means everything's at angles like you're looking at it from above and to the side but without any vanishing point. This lets you see all the little details on walls, windows, and bookshelves better than the usual top-down perspective. In this case that means more bulbous potion bottles, more scrumptious-looking baked goods, and more freaky pumpkins to avoid eye contact with.
Witchbrook's characters have also had a makeover to be more proportionate, bringing them in line with their new surroundings. They still have stylized cartoon faces as well as colorful hair and outfits - they remind me of extra-tall Final Fantasy Tactics characters.
The official site for Witchbrook confirms that the game's top-level mechanics are still the same, letting you balance learning magic, making friends, and exploring the town. Chucklefish still isn't ready to give out a release date or planned platforms for Witchbrook, but it has opened signups for a newsletter if you want to be first in line for more info.
Find some more lovely lives to lead in our guide to games like Stardew Valley.
