Adorably arcane life sim Little Witch in the Woods is in early access

destructoid.com:

The games industry is flooding with cozy, impossibly cute life simulators right now, and as a massive fan of the genre, I personally could not be happier. Titles like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing have left an obvious mark on the market, proving time and time again that gamers are craving a simpler, sweeter life. Next up in the long list of simulators is Little Witch in the Woods, and it’s looking like a real contender to stand out among the competition and be one of my favorite games of recent memory.

Little Witch in the Woods may have just entered early access, but it’s already been garnering a lot of attention on Steam and Xbox (it’s also playable with Game Pass).

Players take on the role of Ellie, a young witch who takes it upon herself to collect items in the forest and help out her neighbors. Ellie also teams up with a sentient witch hat named Virgil, and works to hone her craft as an apprentice witch, an element reminiscent of Kiki’s Delivery Service (which is unsurprisingly one of my favorite movies, go figure).

Early reviews say it’s very similar to Stardew by way of gameplay, just with a witchy theme about it, and there’s not much else you could say that would make me want to play this game more.

The developer of Little Witch in the Woods, Sunny Side Up, is reportedly very pleased with the response to the game so far, and are continued to update players. They say that the plan is for the game to get a full launch in 2023, and to add two more story chapters and an ending in addition to the prologue and first chapter that are currently available to play.

It sounds like they have a lot more game to make, but knowing that fans are already falling in love with the project so far has to be an amazing motivator.