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0 Cosy? I’m listening. Colourful? Go on. Collectathon farming sim that celebrates all things witchy? You had my curiosity, now you have my attention!
Ritual of Raven is the next wholesome outing developed by the aptly named Spellgarden Games—creators of the highly popular Sticky Business—and published by Team 17. Celebrating the practices of the craft and with a unique take on farming and tarot, it has all the hallmarks of an experience that speaks to the witch in all of us.
Witch Card is your Card?
Out of nowhere, you are promptly plucked from your grad student life and sucked through a portal to the magical village of Nevar. Under the tutelage of the witch Sage, you learn the fundamentals of witchcraft, gaining a familiar in the process. But Sage reluctantly departs through a portal herself, leaving you alone in this strange new world. You must develop your skills and become the witch you know you were meant to be to uncover the truth.
Gameplay
The main gameplay loop involves growing and gathering various herbs, flowers, and items to use in rituals or to complete quests. But wait—don’t pick them with your HANDS, you heathen! To retain their magical properties, you command ‘Arcana Constructs’ to tend your garden for you with the use of a pack of command cards. Coding meets divination! By laying these cards out in a sequence, the Construct will carry them out, from ploughing to harvesting and everything in between. Any gameplay mechanic involving cards typically sends me running for the hills, but within minutes, I was hooked! And by adding the element of completing Arcana Puzzles to add more Constructs to your deck, this mixes things up nicely to keep it from being too farming/crafting-heavy. Though admittedly, I could spend an age skipping through the verdant plains picking a florist’s worth of flowers!
As you fill your Book of Shadows, you’ll learn the properties of flora and crystals and also harness the moon to trigger different effects. While you are naturally in a highly fantastical setting, there is a strong reflection of the rituals of witchcraft practised in reality, warmly and respectfully explored in a way I’ve rarely seen in games. Using giant spell jars to dissolve thorny barriers is a genius touch!
But Nevar isn’t all full moons and nettle root! There is a cast of quirky characters to meet, help out, and learn from, including your sassy familiar, Raven (who may not be *quite* as helpful as they make out). All have their own stories and motivations, which are fun to uncover through completing quests. They give just enough lore to satisfy your curiosity, but also whet your appetite for what awaits in the whole game.
Can’t See the Cards For the Craft
While highly enjoyable, the demo is not without its niggles. There is a slight imbalance in optimisation with both keyboard/mouse and gamepad control. Neither feels completely smooth overall; both have a cumbersome element to them. Menus and inventories work better with the former, while movement and interactivity work better with the latter. This makes switching between them the only way to balance it out, which feels counterintuitive.
Card commands can be particularly fiddly with a controller when queueing up more than 6 cards. The only way to scroll along the command line is with the left stick, meaning if you select another card, you don’t see it on screen unless you scroll backwards along the queue with the card in tow. If you forget to drop a card before scrolling with 20 commands lined up, you’ll be scrolling for days!
Graphics & Audio
Ritual of Raven is another shining example of why pixel art has become such a popular visual style. The land of Nevar is brought to life with vibrant colours and lush landscapes to frolic through, as well as charming little animations for flora and plant life. Character sprites and speech portraits evoke a feeling of Adventure Time mixed with Over the Garden Wall, with contrasting colours, rounded features, and thin limbs—a combination that works exceptionally well.
There is a limited amount of voice acting, consisting mainly of grunts, gasps, giggles, and various other sounds. You can also choose how your character should sound. These are all perfectly matched tonally, but are used a little too often. Some lines would carry more weight with the sounds as emphasis if used more sparingly.
The music is limited to only a couple of tracks for the demo: one a soothing, peaceful ambience, the other… well, I won’t spoil it, but it’s highly entertaining! Both are great, as is the sound design in general, with crisp, satisfying sound effects. Hopefully, this signifies more good things to expect sound-wise in the full game.
Final Thoughts
Control clash aside, Ritual of Raven is easily one of the most enjoyable demo experiences so far this year. With an engrossing core mechanic, a warm reverence for the arcane, and a generous amount of play time of 1–3 hours, it’s a colourful experience that will keep your cosy quota well topped up. My little pagan heart is very full. Blessed be and bring on the whole thing!
The demo is available to play HERE, and the game is scheduled for release on 7th August 2025 on Steam and Nintendo Switch.
Cards on the table, who’s putting this on their wishlist? Let us know in the comments!
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this preview.
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