Garden Witch Life Preview

Garden Witch Life is one of the games showcased during this year's Wholesome Direct! In it, we got to see a sneak peek at this adorable upcoming magical farming sim, where after losing your job, you'll settle into a cute little town that you'll explore to discover its secrets! 

FreetimeStudio — the developer of the game — did a great job at making the farming sim part of Garden Witch Life not feel as taxing or slow as it does in some other titles of the genre. This is mostly thanks to the way the farming system works, as there's no digging holes and you can water as you walk. These two simple changes made an enormous difference, as it didn't feel like I spent most of my day just tending to the crops, and I was able to go out and explore guilt-free.

In Garden Witch Life, you’ll be able to experience the adventure through the main quest line! In it, you have to save the world from water and area pollution, with an interlinked story with all of the townsfolk — which I loved, because they have a nice variety of personalities! Due to this, you spend a lot of your time going out and exploring the world, giving you more of a reason to look around; I’ve liked the approach that the developer has taken thus far, and I hope it continues down this route.

The quests themselves might need some more work, as currently, they feel a bit confusing, and they lack information. That said, however, I had fun with the ones I got to do due to their approach to the characters’ personalities. So far, the town feels more alive in the game than in other life simulators, so I hope for these to become a bit more informative in the coming updates. I enjoy the way we can pay back tools or have other forms of “humanity” that add a sense of community and trust, but mechanically, they still need a bit of work.

Speaking of finances, in Garden Witch Life, there are two ways to earn money: you either put your items in the MagiBuy box, which sells the items to other places outside of the town, or in the community box, where the people you interact with get them. The difference is that if you sell your stuff through the former, you'll get money instantaneously but lose some profit, whereas the townsfolk will buy everything at a fair price but can take a few days to empty it.

One thing I did quite appreciate is that the player character is very much their own person: they speak for themselves and have a backstory. In part, this is the reason why the quests feel more important, as the protagonist can have more interactions with the NPC cast without having to resort to not “breaking” the immersion. The way they interact helped make sure that the missions feel less like a fetch quest and more like an actual narrative unfolding.

When you're not farming, selling stuff, or having interactions with the NPCs, you can either spend your time uncovering the multiple areas around your home for clues to the town's mystery or decorating the inside and outside of your house. Much like watering crops, Garden Witch Life lets you place items without a grid, making it quite easy and comfortable to jazz up the place! 

So far, adventuring is my favourite aspect: not only can you pet all sorts of animals (including frogs!), but you'll find tons of cleverly hidden chests around the world that contain a variety of items, from seeds to decor. And thanks to the large inventory space available, it's easy to get lost foraging all sorts of items in the numerous areas to explore.

Overall, Garden Witch Life is off to a great start. With a lot to do, tons of folks to meet, and an intuitive placement system, I couldn't recommend more that everyone who likes farming/life sims keep an eye out for this wholesome title!