Little Witch in the Woods

After putting in over 200 hours of this game, figured it was time to leave a review. How have I gotten in 200 hours, you ask? Because I've been playing this game since the earliest of early access days. Every time there'd be a sizable enough of an update, I'd start a new game and see how it feels.
As someone who loves cozy games but is VERY tired of the farming genre, this is an incredible game. It still has that satisfying daily cycle, where there's plenty to do no matter what you decide. None of the quests are time sensitive (except for a few daily quests you can do for npcs to earn a bit of affection, but they're really not necessary). Completing the encyclopedia is very satisfying, which is really needed to prevent ingredient-collecting from getting too tedious. And I really enjoy getting to know all the npcs! Plus there's cats. SO many cats!! They're all adorable, and you can earn their trust to pet them and play with them!
There's 3 major areas to explore in the game. Each new area is more stunning than the last. I was extremely excited to play the 3rd area upon official release, and BOY it was not disappointing! Each area is full of adorable new creatures and cool plants to find. It's so easy to accidentally spend hours exploring a new area when you meant to put it down and go to bed ages ago.
Additional note, if you like decorating there's more furniture items than you can shake a stick at! And they just added more in a recent update, which I think is a good indicator that they'll continue adding more furniture in the future.
Now let's talk about the cons. Obviously the biggest con is the translation issues. Which is a shame, since clearly many english speakers want to play this game. The translation issues can make it difficult to know what the game wants from you for certain quests. It can also make the dialogue feel a little off or bloated from time to time, with characters repeating almost the exact same thing the other said in conversations. For me this hasn't been a huge issue, since looking up answers is pretty easy. And despite the dialogue being a little awkward, I still really enjoyed helping and getting to know the npcs.
My other major complaint has to do with the various encyclopedias. I know they recently did an update to make it easier to 100% some entries, but I think there's still tweaking to be done. For example, I'm not really sure why there's so many candy recipes to begin with since the only purpose is to sell them. So trying to 100% complete each candy entry is a pain. (Honestly I'm not even sure why there's candy making in this game..? I would've thought something like poultices, or just more potion recipes, would've been a better fit).
Then there's the fishing.. Again I thought this was an odd choice, as I wouldn't really associate a witch-themed game with fishing. The minigame itself is nothing to write home about, you just wait for it to bite and then mash a button. Really the only point to it is to have fish to feed the cats, or to sell them for a bit of extra cash. And trying to complete their entries 100% is way too grindy, even for me. Luckily other than catching some fish to feed the cats, you can pretty much ignore this feature.
Overall, clearly none of the negatives have prevented me from playing this game over and over again. I love the atmosphere, the gorgeous art, the characters, and the magical mystery! I look forward to the future updates, and will be playing this game for a long time to come.

Finally, a cozy game that isn’t just another farming sim. No dying crops or time pressure. I can take my time foraging, making potions, and doing side quests without worrying about missing the main story. Played on my ROG Xbox Ally X, and the controller navigation is smooth and comfortable. Only gripe is that Virgil and Ellie talk way too much sometimes, but honestly, this is the kind of cozy game I actually want to keep playing.

Little witch in the woods is a very charming game. It's a laid back enough that you don't feel incredibly rushed to finish quests! There's also no serious consequence for staying out past 2am.
With that said, there are a few things that i've found a little wonky
- Controls are honestly really frustrating. I'm hoping we can button map once full release is out - playing on p.c has been a challenge and not a fun one.
- My computer meets the recommended requirements but loading in takes almost 4 minutes at times. I'm not sure why, but hopefully that is fixed upon release!
- The dialog i've encountered so far is very charming/funny/rich. It's very read heavy, so if you don't like games like that you might not find that part of the game as fun. I personally enjoy it a lot!
- Inventory space: it is honestly really, really, REALLY tough. Stacks only go up to 20 and you quickly find yourself running out of space at home & while foraging. It's definitely a bummer, but i also see it as another fun challenge.
-User interface: Uh, i've got preferences and i'm not against theirs so to say, but definitely a learning curve at first. Perhaps that's the click happy in me. :D I WANNA PLAY - oh woops, i should have read that haha!
So far the story line progression feels pretty smooth, just a lot longer than i thought it would be, for the reasons above. I'm not holding any of the things i've said above against the dev's though, as i know they're about to release and that release will really be my make or break for the game once i've played a bit more.
But hey, about 9hrs in and i'm enjoying it so far.
7.5/10
**Edit to update since official launch** I've requested a refund - i'm actually really sad.
I can't say i'd recommend this game anymore sadly. Once it was launched i really dived into playing and added some more time into the game. Boy, that was a doozy. I expected some major improvements and got progress locked as well as losing a lot of progress due to reloading older saves. "Fine, i'll just wait for updates! after all it just launched there's bound to be some little bugs" i thought. Well yeah, there was. But then it went from 1 update, to 2, to sometimes even 3 in one day. Yeeeesh. So i decide to wait a week, let them work out the problems and come back to a gaming experience that'll hopefully run much smoother!
No.
-Now the game takes even longer to launch.
-UI for p.c playing has not changed. Playing with a remote barely works at times
- Stacks are still the same, storage is definitely still very challenging & buying storage is still quite expensive in game.
- Quest progression has now had some problems with identifying whether or not the quest was complete, locking your save and forcing a reload to an earlier save due to patches. Which means wasting time. :(
- Some quests need clear instructions, i've had to turn to reddit more times than i care to admit just to complete a few. Might be a translation problem & for that, i won't complain too much, they are trying, but it does take away from the game for me.
TLDR: Wait a little longer, and check back. They're trying to fix a lot of problems and it will absolutely make playing past the second act less fun, and more frustrating.

This is one of those cozy games about making potions and helping the town that have exploded in recent years, but I believe this one is done right. Haven't gotten too far into the game yet, but there seems to be so much more to do and explore. It feels like what Potion permit wanted to be and fell short.

My current, biggest complaint? The game is not very well translated, the English is understandable enough 70% of the time. The other times? I feel like I need to decode what they tried to say, sometimes they contradict themselves. It has "Translated with google translate" Written all over it, and It really takes from the experience. I am BEGGING for an updated script.

I've played the heck out of this game and I love it - and because I love it, I'm at a point where I need to drop it. Here's why:
Like others have said, the English translation for this game is clunky, confusing, and sometimes way too literal (I'm paraphrasing the best I can remember it, but a line was, "although she can't tell salty from sweet, she's good with her hands and has been a big help" - WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?? Are her taste buds broken?? XD).
I didn't mind it at first - it still makes sense, especially if you're familiar with eastern culture - but after a certain point the relationship system really opens up and the game gives you a ton of opportunities to bond with every villager. It's amazingly well-done, and I genuinely love each of these characters. They're all written with love and have interesting backstories that you slowly discover as you help them solve their problems.
But that's the issue, isn't it? Because this is such a central part of the gameplay, you want to spend time on it and discover everyone's story. That's really hard to do when they speak in such weird and uncomfortable sentences you need to skim through the dialogue just to get through it. You have to fill in a lot of the blanks because there's hardly any subtext, unique character mannerisms struggle to come through, and the comedic moments land so flat you're probably more confused than amused.
To the developers, I really hope now that the game has launched, you find the time to get proper English localization. For just a two-person team, what you've launched is amazing. It hits all the right cozy notes and manages to balance exploration, foraging, crafting, and character-building in a way that never feels like a grind and is genuinely a delight. I just wish us English-speaking folks could experience the characters and writing the way it was meant to be experienced T_T
Until then, I'm tucking this one into my back pocket and hoping I can come back to it again soon.

Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble…
I love me a good witchy game!! This is one of those games that I have a love/hate relationship with. It is brimming with so much potential. It genuinely has some enjoyable and unique gameplay aspects that make it shine.
You play as a witch apprentice foraging items to craft potions for quests and objectives. This game does a great job at elevating the foraging experience. In addition to just collecting items, you also have to research them and build on your encyclopedia. This not only gives you handy information (such as what is needed to collect that item or where you can harvest it) but there are little perks to unlock by completing research objectives. It’s a similar concept also found in ‘Research Story’ but it adds a rarely seen layer of complexity to break up the sometimes monotonous nature of simply collecting and crafting.
Unfortunately if you are not in the right mood or mind set, the lengthy (often unrequired and filler like) dialogues can interrupt the flow of things. While I appreciated the tutorial, you sometimes feel like you are just reading and clicking through so much text that it becomes disruptive.
The controls seem to run smooth on the steam deck for the most part but the potion making can be a bit uncomfortable and janky until you get the hang of it. Took me lots of failed potions and trial and error to get it to work. Once you figure it out, it’s relatively smooth sailing but I had to visit the forums for help because the tutorial was lacking in this one aspect.
The art style and vibrant colour palate is my favourite thing about this game. The characters seem cute and endearing. Story is nothing mind blowing but I’m still excited to see where it goes. Seems very simple in nature yet cozy.
If you have the patience to make it through the intro, I feel like this game has promise and offers variance for the price tag.

Good that it's finally released. A charming cozy game for a good price.
There are still some lingering Quality of Life issues.
1. Save files menu is still difficult to navigate and makes keeping multiple different saves for "guest" players like younger relatives annoying to juggle.
2. No auto-text advance. This is kinda unacceptable for how long EA ran. Having to mash buttons to advance is bad UX that needs to be resolved. A minimum "hold to advance at end of line", needs to be implemented. I'm still having to use Steam's external binding options to make a Turbo button that does my repeated button clicks.
3. Performance issues on Steam Deck. It needs the following settings: Windowed, 1024x576, Pixel Perfect. Otherwise the frame rate drops well below 60, and it doesn't look "crisp". Can still chug unnecessarily in places.