Stardew Valley Publisher Gives Update on New Witchbrook Game

Back in March 2018, Chucklefish Games -- the company best known as the publisher of Stardew Valley -- announced Witchbrook, a magical school and town life simulator inspired by Stardew Valley. Unlike Stardew Valley though, it's not being made by Eric Barone, aka ConcernedApe, who is working on Haunted Chocolatier. Rather, Chucklefish is making this game internally. After announcing it in 2018, those looking forward to it had to wait until 2020 to see the game again. And then the next update didn't come until 2021, when a Steam page was launched alongside the release of the new screenshots. 

That said, there hasn't been an appreciable new look at the game since 2020 and there's still no word of a release date five years after its announcement. Unfortunately, there still isn't either of these things, but there is a new update from the game's Twitter account. According to this update, the game is still just working through the stages of development. Further, the update notes the team is avoiding crunch, which is to say, the team is not working above and beyond the normal requirement in order to maintain a healthy and well-rested team. Obviously, though, this means the game's development is going to take longer. 

"Hello, upcoming Students of Witchbrook College. It's been a while since we announced our upcoming game Witchbrook, and just wanted to let you know that we're still developing, full steam ahead," reads the update. "We also wanted to thank you all for the kind words, support and patience whilst we're making Witchbrook the best it can be. Our in-house development team are still working full-time, and love weaving this charming world for you all. It's very exciting to be a part of this. Chucklefish are proud to be a zero-crunch studio. This does mean that development will take longer, but we truly believe that developers who are healthy and well-rested make better games! Can't wait to welcome you to Witchbrook College!"

Unfortunately, this is the extent of the update, which makes no mention of even a release window, let alone a release date, nor when it will resurface with a new trailer.