Witchbrook Is Stardew Valley Meets Kiki’s Delivery Service, And It Finally Has A Release Date

Eight years after its reveal, magical cozy game Witchbrook finally has a release date. We’ve been waiting a painfully long time for this Kiki’s Delivery Service-inspired pixel-art experience to break cover, and now we finally know it will be coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2 on January 28, 2027. So you’ll have plenty of time to complete GTA 6 before diving into this severe tonal shift. 

At first glance, Witchbrook seems like yet another comfortable life sim along the same lines as Coral Island, Stardew Valley, Story of Seasons, and countless others. The genre is super popular, so developers need to do something incredibly impressive in order to stand out. I’m a sucker for these games even if they don’t push the boat out, but Witchbrook seems awfully determined to innovate on the cozy genre. 

If you haven’t heard of Witchbrook before, it’s a lovely little life sim where you fill the role of a new student of Witchbrook College in the gorgeous seaside town of Mossport. The place, as expected, is filled with growing witches and wizards looking to both hone their magical skills and delve deeper into mysteries at the centre of town. You can play alone, or invite three of your friends into the same world to build up businesses, decorate your houses, or engage in a cheeky broomstick race or two. It’s like Studio Trigger’s Little Witch Academia come to life. 

Like other games of this ilk, the focus of your journey isn’t just about learning magic, but also making friends with fellow students or local inhabitants as you form relationships that stand a chance of blossoming into romance. I’m immensely eager to find out how deep the narrative goes, since I’d love to see an original magical tale that follows in the footsteps of countless beloved anime I grew up with. 

Alongside social mechanics and attending school, you can engage in extracurricular activities like joining an after-school club or entering a cooking competition to hone specific skills that I imagine will allow you to perform more challenging tasks or access more recipes, spells, and so on. Between classes you can seemingly do whatever you want, whether that’s embarking on epic quests or becoming a hermit obsessed with baking. 

Putting its gameplay mechanics and luscious aesthetic aside for a second though, I reckon what will draw players in most is the obscene levels of customization. Every single NPC in the game world seems hand-crafted, while the sheer amount of body and clothing options when creating your own character is extraordinary. Trailers have showcased hundreds of outfits over the years along with furniture items that can be placed wherever you see fit. There is so much to this game that it's kind of overwhelming. 

Witchbrook has been years in the making, and stands a chance of blowing other cozy sims out of the water if it sticks the landing. I just want to get lost in a magical world for the entirety of February and forget our own exists for a while, and hopefully plenty of others will join me.