When humans have all but doomed the planet… it’s time for the magical creatures to come out of hiding and save the Earth. Whose side will you be on?

 

THE PREMISE

 

In the not so distant peri-apocalyptic future, catastrophic mass extinctions come to a climax with the eradication of honey bees, an event many scientists have predicted would lead to a cataclysmic ripple effect. But it doesn’t… because pixies have stepped up to do the job the bees once did of pollinating plants and keeping the ecosystem buzzing. Once the pixies are found out by science, it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the magical creatures come out of hiding as well and the world is thrown into chaos.

 

Now savage sirens roam the seas, destroying whaling ships… and passenger ships and cruise ships as their bloodlust leads them to attack humans indiscriminately. Unicorns help regrow rainforests, or else gore poachers as mercenaries with the anti-human Neo-Retro-Gaiaists. For good or for evil, the Sylvans have come out of the woods, and humanity must decide how to respond. Will they rise to the challenge and make the Earth habitable for all species, endangered, threatened, and mythological? Or will they attempt to restore things to the status quo by wiping out magical creatures completely, even if they take the rest of the world with them?

 

You play as a member of the Cross-Street Coven, a group of thirteen witches who now must choose which side to take, caught between humanity and magic as they try to change the fate of the world. You can go on quests with your fellow coven members that take you on locations as near and dear as your cute little witch’s cottage to far-off struggling rainforests… desolate futuristic wastelands… and even alternate universes…  

 

GAMEPLAY

 

Witch of the Wilderness plays like a traditional visual novel/dating sim, with choices of which witch you want to spend your time on any given day and opportunities to unlock secret plotlines based on how close you get to your fellow coven members and the choices that you make. You have the option of choosing to pursue them romantically, or just focusing on saving the world. There will also be mini-games, the complexity and variety of which will be determined by the Kickstarter, centered around the practice of magic to allow you to feel like you are part of the witch world in ways that are both entertaining and story-driven.

 

WITCH OF THE WILDERNESS IS…

 

• INCLUSIVE. With a core coven of thirteen witches and many other people and creatures filling out the rest of the world, the art and writing of WITCH OF THE WILDERNESS strives to reflect the diversity of the real world within our fantasy. Characters come in a range of DIVERSE BODY TYPES, DIFFERENT RACIAL BACKGROUNDS, across the GENDER SPECTRUM, and at times DIFFERENTLY ABLED… much like people in life! 

 

• ENGAGING AND STORY-DRIVEN. Although we are passionate about drawing attention to the pressing issues facing our planet and its inhabitants, the purpose of the game is to first and foremost entertain. The game will be funny, witty, heartfelt, sincere, compassionate, sarcastic, sexy, and scary at turns, with rich characters and world-building to keep you fully invested in whichever path you choose to take within the story.

 

• ROMANTIC (OR NOT). If you wish to pursue your fellow Coven members romantically, you are welcome to do so - the player character gets to choose their own pronouns (HE/SHE/THEY) and you are free to romance your MALE, FEMALE, and NON-BINARY coven members to your heart’s content - the gender you pick for your PC will not affect which characters you can pursue or not. However, if you want to ignore all that and focus exclusively on improving your magic and saving the world… hey, you’re a busy witch! That’s your prerogative, and we aren’t going to make you smooch any of your coven members if you don’t want to (or stop you from smooching anyone you do).

 

• FACT-BASED FANTASY. Unfortunately, the peri-apocalyptic world of 2040 is drawn from the headlines of today, using articles from scientific publications to project a worst-case scenario look at where our planet is heading. (Sorry to be a bummer! But it does make for a very realistic jumping-off-point for world-building, which is always a good thing! Like, in this case it’s because of a bad thing? But it’ll still make the story better).