Veritas Tales: Witch of the Dark Castle Demo Appears at Steam Next Fest
The demo gives a first look at a handcrafted gamebook-style RPG from a veteran developer who spent six years working alone in rural Japan, with a full release coming in less than a month.
Reporting from 1 sources: Denfaminicogamer.
Developer Digitalis Publishing and publisher 15 Industry released a demo for the reading fantasy adventure Veritas Tales: Witch of the Dark Castle at Steam Next Fest starting June 16 Japan time. Players can play the first 30 minutes as warrior Havlock or magician Paneri. The full version is scheduled for July 9. The game was created by former Vanillaware developer Yoshio Nishimura over six years in the mountains of Nara, with all 300 illustrations hand-drawn and no generative AI used. Music is by Hitoshi Sakimoto.
Digitalis Publishing and 15 Industry made the demo for Veritas Tales: Witch of the Dark Castle available at Steam Next Fest starting June 16 Japan time. The demo covers the first 30 minutes of the story and lets players choose between two characters: the warrior Havlock or the magician Paneri. The full version is due July 9.
The game is a digital gamebook RPG with a scenario of about 300,000 characters. Players turn pages to advance the story, and dice rolls affect outcomes. Combat can be handled through brute force, negotiation, or avoidance. The developer, Yoshio Nishimura, previously worked on Odin Sphere and Dragon's Crown at Vanillaware. He spent six years in the mountains of Nara completing the game, drawing all 300 illustrations by hand with no generative AI. Hitoshi Sakimoto, known for Final Fantasy Tactics and 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, composed the music. The full version is expected to take over 20 hours and includes replay elements.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.