Cosy farming sims are everywhere, which is why the first thing I asked Spellgarden Games about its upcoming game, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Ritual of Raven, is what s⛦ets it apart from everything else we’ve already played🌜 in the genre.

​​​​​​​In response, Kathrin Radtke𒁏, Spellgarden co-founder and Ritual of Raven programmer says, “While it has the charm and comfort of a cozy farming sim, it's also deeply story-driven, with characters who havꦗe rich backstories and personal growth arcs.”​​​​​​​

Alongside the heav​​​​​​​y focus on characters​​​​​​​, Ritual♏ of Raven transforms farming mechanics as we knoꦉw them. Instead of picking up a trusty shovel, witchcraf🌼t-inspired tarot decks do your farm work for you and arcane portals provide a sense of mystery and intrigue. I sat down with Radtke to find out what ingredients she’s used to brew this particular potion and what magical properties it will 🎃bestow on such a saturated genre.

A Magically Rich World

In Ritual of Raven, your aim is to grow a herb garden using witchcraft and magical skills. Along the way, you also get to know the local community who help you by providing valuable ingredients and a healthy dose of friendshi☂p. Radtke tells me more about🎃 these characters and how they bring the distinctive world of Ritual of Raven to life.

“A lot of the NPCs in Ritual of Raven came into this world through mysterious portals, which gave us the opportunity to create a really diverse cast. [...] We gave each one three optional friendship quests, which reveal more about their backgrounds, personalities and how they’re adjusting to life here. Characters also develop relationship🍸s with each other as the story progresses, so it feels like a living community. It’s not just you connecting with them; they’re connecting with each other, too.”

Radtke explains the team’s writers, Michelle Clough and To𝄹iya Finley, also added little details to the characters, despite limitations with voice acting: “They gave each character a unique personality and helped develop the deeper lore of the game. While the characters aren't fully voice-acted, we added express👍ive vocalizations. Things like ‘Huh,’ ‘Aha,’ or little laughs and sighs, so you can still hear their personalities come through as you talk to them.”​​​​​​​

It’s clear that Ritual of Raven is taking inspiration from 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:titans of the farming sim genre. The likes of Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons, and Rune Factory all made their mark by simi🌃larly developing fully-fledged townsfolk and immersing you into their communities, but Ritual of Raven has a spooky twist up its sleeve to help it stand out.

Cozy Farming, But Not As We Know It

💖When you play a farming sim, you typically know what to expect: plant your seed and water it, rinse and repeat until it bears fruit (or vegetable) in a few in-game days’ time. Ritual of Raven, however, takes a different approach. Everything is automated through Arcana Constructs - a deck of cards that does the hard work of farming for you.

Radtke tells me more about Ritual of Raven’s new method of farming: “Players create small magical routines by placing cards on a spread that define how their constructs behave. Constructs can be instructed to move around, sow and care for the pl𝓰ants, extract crystals from the ground and fuse items together to create seeds for different plants and higher value crystals. This way, players can fully automate their farm.”

While there’s certainly a lot of magic at play in the game and in the way you farm, Radtke says it’s less traditional fantasy magic, and instead draws more fr𒊎om modern witchcraft, with a bit of Stardew Valley in there too. “Rituals [are] performed with specific ingredients, rather than flashy 💛spell casting. The ritual mechanic is inspired in part by the community center bundles in Stardew Valley. We love how satisfying it is to collect all the different items to complete these collections!”

Radtke explains that there’s a touch more to it than just gaining new items though, and that the team developed the idea beyond its Stardew Valley inspiration. “Each completed ritualꦡ doesn’t just reward you with items; it pushes the story forward, unlocking new areas, characters, and myst🐻eries to uncover.” Mastering this synergy between gameplay and narrative will be crucial to Ritual of Raven’s success.

Ritual Of Raven Might Even Teach You How To Code

On top of its unique approach to farming and vibrant cast of NPCs, Ritual of Raven has 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:another secret bubbl🎐ing beneath the♋ surface: subtly teaching you the basics of coding.

Radtke and the rest of the team at Spellgarden understand that coding isn’t exactly an easy hobby to get i♓nto, but they’ve somehow managed to incorporate it into their cosy, witchy farming game. “Many people find coding pretty scary. But in Ritual of Raven it feels more like laying out a tarot spread than writing code, even though underneath, it mirrors real programming logic. Players use the cards to define conditions and actions, like ‘if the field is dry, water it,’ or ‘loop through this field.’”

It’s all layered underneath the Arcana Constructs mechanic, which allows you to instruct the Constructs similar to how you would write a code. There are 22 Constructs to use, so it lays some fo🀅undational understanding of the concept while encouraging you to experiment with your tools and simply have fun as you create the most effective way to automate your farm.

Radtke tells me more about this mechanic and why the team decided to include it. “There’s this amazing ‘aha!’ moment when your setup finally clicks and works exactly as intended, something program♓mers will know well. We wanted to give players that joy, without needing to know any code. The main path keeps things light and accessible, but there are optional puzzles for players who want to unlock more Arcana Constructs and really dive in.”

Ritual of Raven is due to launch in 2025, so we’ll get the chanceꩵ to try our hand at the Arcana Constructs and live out our witchy, farming dreams soon.