Game Pass First Impressions: Little Witch in the Woods

Had your eye on charming indie life sim Little Witch in the Woods? It's out via Game Preview on Xbox Game Pass now — have a look at what we thought after a few hours with it!

As the long-suffering news team of TrueAchievements can attest, I love wholesome games. Little Witch in the Woods is one I’ve been looking forward to for some time, so as soon as we heard it was launching into Game Preview this week, I ~~insisted~~ volunteered to try it out, and dove headfirst into life as a little witch in the woods. So, first thing to bear in mind is that this is the Game Preview version of Little Witch in the Woods, not the full game — the full launch has been pushed back to 2023. As it’s the Game Preview version, achievements aren’t supported, there’s a limit to the content available, and, as the warning screen points out, some game features might not work properly. That being said, let’s begin!

Little Witch in the Woods trailer

You can tell how much heart there is behind Little Witch in the Woods. The pixel art style and gorgeous character designs really do a lot to showcase the game’s charm, and, just from a few hours of playtime, it already seems to be packed full of secrets. Little Witch in the Woods comes from Korean indie developer SUNNY SIDE UP — there’s quite a bit of dialogue, which, aside from a slightly random start to the story and the odd repetition or translation hiccup, serves well to depict the mischievous nature of our character, Ellie. She tends to indulge in a bit of banter with her hat, Virgil, who seems to have been round the witchy block a few times, and helps us out when we’re stuck. Ellie was meant to be setting off to a nearby town to begin her apprenticeship, but when her train has an unexpected stop, she becomes bored and wanders off — soon deciding that she’d much rather begin her apprenticeship at the Witch’s House and village she’s stumbled across instead.

If you love charm and cosiness, this’ll be one for you. Ellie comes armed with a quill and encyclopedia, and can study the creatures and plants she comes across by drawing them. Once drawn, the corresponding page in the encyclopedia fills out with all sorts of details such as the time you can find the materials, or how they might interact with different potions. It’s got that irresistible hook of starting from scratch — Ellie has to tidy up the abandoned Witch’s house, acquire tools, and, soon, help in recovering the nearby village. Just in the Game Preview version alone, there are all sorts of plants and animals to chase and draw, and the surrounding land feels full of possibility, with different plants emerging at night or during the day. Despite her impish nature, Ellie readily volunteers to help all those she comes across — we soon begin to sell and deliver potions, and this leads us into the core gameplay of Little Witch in the Woods: exploring, compiling the encyclopedia, gathering resources, processing them, and brewing potions. For instance, once you’ve studied the creature known as a Squishychub (less giggling, please) you can gather its fur, which you can then put through the extractor to make it into Squishychub Fur extract. This is then a viable ingredient for several potions, and all you need to do is gather the other ingredients, choose the strength of the fire and the direction you’ll stir the potion, and you’re off. The Witch’s House has been abandoned so long that some of its processing machines are broken, meaning you’ll be off to recover parts while on your adventure if you want to make more complicated potions. This is alongside investigating the strange prickly vines that have grown up to destroy the village and obstruct parts of the forest, and studying how to remove them.

Some ingredients can only be found at particular times, and you might have to wait until the next day for them to regrow, resulting in a certain amount of backtracking. This is by no means a bad thing when you take into account how lovely the world of Little Witch in the Woods is — the rustling of weeds as you run through the forest, or the bell-like chimes of moonlike flowers — but we might have to wait for the full game to see if this backtracking will become an annoyance. Ellie’s walking speed is a little slow, and although you can sprint, you use up stamina quickly, especially if you’re also using it for other activities. Later on in the story I unlocked a broom, which is a little faster, but it seems that (at least at the beginning) you’ll need to keep maintaining it for it to be useful. Again, this is a minor annoyance in an otherwise charming game, so we’ll have to wait and see what it’s like when the full game launches.

Summary

The world of Little Witch in the Woods is full of kindly characters, such as a dragon chef, an otter train guard, and a tiny mischievous fox, and SUNNY SIDE UP says we’ll see more villagers and creatures as the game continues to be developed. Even now, however, you can tell that Little Witch in the Woods is all about a lovely message of happiness and helpfulness, from the cheerfully smiling cloud of steam that rises after making a potion, to the work you do to aid the characters of the world with their troubles. In short, Little Witch in the Woods already seems to be as charming as its trailers suggested. It’s a relaxed, low-key game about bettering the world around you, and there’s quite a chunk of content to play through already. In other words, it’s a Free Pass from us! If it turns out potion-making is your thing, don’t forget to check out the upcoming pixel sim RPG Potion Permit. If it’s more magic you’re after, take a look through some more magical Xbox games to see if anything takes your fancy! Will you be trying out Little Witch in the Woods? Let us know in the comments!

Heidi spent a few hours playing Little Witch in the Woods (Game Preview) through Xbox Game Pass.

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Written by Heidi Nicholas

Heidi tends to lean towards indie games, RPGs, and open-world games on Xbox, and when not playing Disney Dreamlight Valley, happily installs every new wholesome game that appears on Xbox Game Pass, before diving back into favorites like The Witcher 3. She's looking forward to Age of Mythology Retold, Everwild, Fable, and Avowed on the Xbox horizon. Heidi graduated with an MA in English Literature before joining the TrueAchievements team.