Wytchwood Critic Reviews

While less carefree than simulation titles like Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley, the casual pacing and nonchalant nature of the main character make Wytchwood a great pick for relaxing exploration-style games. It is also a great choice for those who enjoy crafting and survival games, but prefer to have questlines to follow instead of self-governed gameplay. While the 2D art style is fun and reminiscent of storybook illustrations, this game is likely not the best pick for younger players due to questlines dealing with horror elements, as well as graphic depictions of animal death when using traps and lures. However, fans of twisted fairytales and creepy magical plotlines will likely find Wytchwood an enjoyable and spine-tingling experience.

Wytchwood is a dark fantasy indie adventure game that immerses you into a phantasmagorical land with endless troubles thanks to the villainous animal antagonists that inhabit it. Luckily, or not so luckily, you play an old witch who has made a pact with an ancient, black goat that's fond of eating grimoire pages and expects you to do something about the fairytale world's woes. What ensues is hours of hilariously creative dialogue and story, framed by colorful characters, relaxing music, and an enjoyable crafting system. There are always more spells to cast and mushrooms to pick for those that know where to look. Wytchwood is one of those rare gems that supports its rich story with a very successful crafting and gathering system that rewards creative and conniving crones. Collect all the souls and maybe, just maybe, you can enjoy that nap in your rocking chair without fairytale creatures knocking down your door for help. Who are we kidding? There's always another villain.

Wytchwood may only be a 10 – 15 hour romp, but those hours are packed to the brim with exploring, crafting, puzzle-solving, storytelling, world-building, and more. A subtly magical experience, Wytchwood’s secrets slowly open up over the course of the game in such a nuanced way, you’ll be eagerly watching out of the corner of your eye for novelty from start to finish. Wytchwood made my bog witch dreams come true, and if you love a good fetch quest game, I’m positive this will be your cup of witches’ brew too.

Wytchwood is a magical game that engages the player in a delightfully ZEN experience.

Wytchwood is an incredibly simple experience, but at the same time it manages to be fun, engaging and ideal for every player.

I’m used to crafting-themed games being huge, sprawling, self-guided odysseys, so compared to them, Wytchwood is a bite-sized revelation. It’s bleak, it’s funny, and it has character for days. By focusing on the story and puzzles, it creates an item-focused adventure that rarely wastes the player’s time, and then gets out on one heck of a high note. This one is a truly charming adventure that’s as gruesome as it is sweet.

Wytchwood shares much with its context. The small team of AlienTrap Games managed to create a powerful game that is capable to obscure the derivative nature of its origins. The only guilt that can be attributed to this project is that it wasn't able to determine when it was the right time to put an end to its story.

Rather short (about 10 hours to finish the main story), Wytchwood is a very good crafting game with a fantastic art direction and an excellent soundtrack promoting relaxation. The puzzles and fights present may not be complex enough, but the whole thing is lifted by finding different resources in various biomes and crafting unique items.

Cute, fun, and quite literally fetching; Wytchwood blends all of its elements together wonderfully, although there is little reason to play more once you conclude the 10–12 hours’ worth of story.

To be clear, there’s a lot of space in this world for gentle, low-impact games. Wytchwood isn’t a bad game because it’s easier than Dark Souls. Difficulty is not the only reason to play a game. But Wytchwood does let the player down with such a vague and uninteresting story. A game needs a hook, and this story ain’t it. Crafting games make me uniquely aware of how much time I am wasting by playing them. But in the end, I like to look back at the little work of art I made by building a house, or a city, or a space station. In Wytchwood I am just collecting ingredients because the game told me to collect those ingredients. It’s an attractive enough game, but it needs something else substantial.

This year has blessed us with games that radiate care, where you can tell that the people who made it really loved the process of making it. Wytchwood is like opening a hand-drawn pop-up book and finding a cheeky little hag inside, throwing snares at living pumpkins and yelling, "I'll chop you good!" at giggling little changeling mushrooms. And who wouldn't want to tick "chop annoying little mushroom good" off a to-do list?