Ritual of Ravencaught my eye in theGamescomlineup this year, which is no small feat for a game entering the crowdedcosy farming simulator genre. I may not be as enthusiastic about these kinds of games as some are, but who can resist witches and pixel art?
Ritual of Raven is proud of what sets it apart from other farming sims. Here, the big selling point is that you don’t do any of the farming yourself. Instead, as a trainee witch, you get Constructs to do the manual labour for you, using different tarot cards to dish out commands to your creations.
Unfortunately, it’s this setup that ground the game to an often frustrating halt. You can’t pick anything up yourself, you need to summon creatures to do that for you. And the creatures you summon need to be given exact instructions, as you tell them to move - and by how many steps - and what to do once they’ve reached their new destination.
The presentation is great, with lots of love put into the summon and tarot card mechanics. But no matter how it was put in front of me, nothing could rid me of the urge to just go in and do the work myself - it would have been much easier.
Mercifully, you can stack instructions up. In my case, I queued up a couple of cards, telling the creature to take two steps up, and then harvest the plant I’d been growing. You can also dish out commands to multiple Constructs at a time, so once your farm grows, I imagine this set-up lets you accomplish far more than you ever could with your own two hands.
The Visuals Of Ritual Of Raven
But still, this convenience wasn’t enough to get rid of my impulse to just go up to the plant and pick it myself. I get it - that isn’t what this game is about. It’s built around these tarot cards and commanding summons to do your bidding, and perhaps as you get more cards, this can feel quite satisfying. But in my half an hour with Ritual of Raven, it was the farming simulation elements that were my least favourite part.
The other feature that helps Ritual of Raven stand out from the crowd — which I actually did really like — is its story. I didn’t see too much of it, but during the demo, I was introduced to the world of magic, with another witch taking me under her wing. After being shown the ropes of gathering materials for rituals, I was given a familiar and left to my own devices.
The story is cutesy, and often quite funny, with wonderfully written dialogue and some great character designs. There was a lot of it too, breaking up the time spent growing and harvesting crops, and was able to put a smile on my face even with the frustration.
All in all, I can recommend Ritual of Raven if you want to pretend to be a pixelated cottagecore witch for a little bit, and either don’t mind or thrive on micromanagement. However, if the idea of having to give precise orders to a farm full of summons - and running the risk of messing up your orders and having to start over again - sounds frustrating, it will only be more frustrating in practice. I do hope that the final game has a way to speed this process up and make it more intuitive, otherwise, I’ll just keep trying to pick the plants myself.
Ritual of Raven
WHERE TO PLAY
Ritual of Raven is a cozy, story-based farming sim - but you don’t do the farming yourself! Instead you collect and enchant Arcana Constructs to grow your magical herb garden.In a world where different traditions of magic live side by side, ambitious plans were made to open portals between worlds, but the ritual went terribly wrong. Those involved each lost something most precious to them and the portals became unstable, randomly spitting out new arrivals into the world.After falling through one of these mysterious portals yourself, you encounter the local witch Sage, who decides you’re the best person to help her in her quest. Taken under her wing as an apprentice, you’ll be able to help search for her missing Familiar, Flufferstoop.With your cheeky Familiar Raven by your side, you’ll gather the knowledge and ingredients to perform powerful rituals. Fill your Book of Shadows and find the Portal Keepers to bring stability to the portals that have been causing trouble for the village.ENCHANTING ARCANA CONSTRUCTSDid you know, harvesting lavender with your hands completely destroys its magical properties? Fear not, that’s why Arcana Constructs are there to do all your magical gardening for you! Using a mystical deck of cards, you’ll be able to enchant them to plow, sow seeds, water and harvest them for you. Collect all 22 Constructs and create a thriving herb garden.MEET YOUR NEW NEIGHBORSMake friends with the quirky community of outcasts and help them grow closer to each other. Get to know their unique backstories and trade with them for valuable ingredients.MOON… MAGICLearn how your harvest changes in each moon phase and use the moons power to charge your crystals. Discover how to command the moon phases to suit your needs at the moon shrine. There’s a lot more to the moon than meets the eye.DECORATE YOUR WORLDAfter finding yourself in a brand-new land, it’s important to make it feel as homely as possible. Take a trip to Pistachio’s and get creative with their stock of out-of-this-world furniture to decorate the village and your farm.COMPLETE YOUR COLLECTIONSLet your Construct extract and fuse lots of different crystals, fill the library and throw your fishing claw into the portals to pull out artifacts from different worlds!From the developers who brought you Sticky Business!
