Witchy Life Story lets me live out my ideal cottagecore fantasy

Although my favourite type of witch is a spooky old crone, who cackles at the top of her lungs and lives in a swamp crunching rat bones and squeezing crow blood into her cauldron, the laid-back cottagecore witch is a close second. What's not to love? Living in a cute little thatched roof house, tending to your garden, baking bread, sipping magical teas, reading old tomes on the front porch - absolute bliss.

Witchy Life Story is all about this lifestyle. It’s a fluffy, cosy visual novel where you play as a mischievous witch who is sent to live in a new town called Flora to prove themselves after royally flubbing their training. The town is preparing for a festival and, as the newly appointed town witch, you need to pull your weight by brewing potions, giving tarot readings, and even leading a guided meditation session or two.

Witchy Life Story OUT NOW on Steam!

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If you can’t tell from the screenshots, it’s all incredibly adorable. Each morning you’ll get a letterbox full of requests for potions, incense, magical oils and the like, which you’ll need to craft and deliver. You have your very own garden where you can grow and gather ingredients, alongside your witch's brewing table complete with cauldron and grimoire.

The crafting mini-game is simple but fun. Each letter you receive will talk about the sender's problem and the solution they're seeking. The mayor wants a potion that will help her reconnect with the people of her town, the baker wants to make his wife the perfect anniversary love potion, and the town artist wants a concoction that will give her a spark of inspiration. Using the grimoire as a guide, each potion has a type, colour, and astrological symbol, (as do all the flowers and herbs you’ve grown) so all you need to do is pick the right ingredients.

I really like this morning routine of gardening and crafting, providing lots of tactile mini-games that help break up the longer visual novel parts of the game. When you’re done with the day’s orders, it’s time to deliver them to the towns folk. This is the part where the wider story begins to unfurl, like how the artist has been asked to make a giant mural for Flora’s festival but is feeling a little intimidated, or how the town’s musician has been asked to write music to give the festival some atmosphere but is incredibly people shy and stage anxious. It’s all light-hearted conversation where you help everyone with their problems, and yes, there are a fair few datable characters too.

It’s all incredibly laid-back, and with a lovely art style too. I particularly love the outfits you can choose from in the character creator, which are far more flamboyant than your usual boring t-shirts and jeans options, and the items you craft - potions, incense, and charms - all look so pretty. Everything is super cute; I can't handle it.

If you’re looking for a more cutesy recommendation from our Magic Week, then Witchy Life Story is the game for you. Let’s all let out a unanimous sigh about how we’ll never be a magical witch in a gorge outfit, living in the quaint countryside, making potions, and dating the town cuties. Sighhhhh.