Yoshio Nishimura, an artist and developer known for his work with Vanillaware, has emerged from a six-year period of creative isolation in the mountains to release Veritas Tales: Witch of the Dark Castle. This new title is a heartfelt homage to the fantasy "gamebooks" that influenced his previous works like Dragon's Crown and Odin Sphere.
Veritas Tales plunges players into a world where divine magicians once ruled but are now threatened. As a kingdom's magical lineage wanes, the help of the famed witch Ingeborg is sought. However, the capital is overrun with monsters, forcing players to choose between a barbarian or an apprentice witch, both with unique connections to Ingeborg, to uncover the truth and halt the encroaching blight.
The game adopts the structure of classic adventure gamebooks, such as J. H. Brennan’s Grailquest and Ian Livingstone’s Deathtrap Dungeon. Gameplay combines stat checks, card draws, and dice rolls for combat against creatures like ghouls and golems, but the core of the experience lies in choose-your-own-adventure style questing. Players make critical decisions that determine allies and enemies, navigating the narrative by flipping to corresponding pages. A guiding wizard character narrates the adventure, often using items from his pockets to influence events, encouraging players to flip coins, jot down notes, and race against a timer.
Nishimura's self-imposed solitude in the countryside appears to have significantly shaped the game's aesthetic. Veritas Tales is replete with lavish original character art, animations, and maps that evoke the tactile feel of paper and pencil. The developer emphasized his commitment to a handcrafted approach, stating on Steam that the game "has a soul that can only be found in something truly handmade" and explicitly rejecting the use of AI for its creation. This dedication to manual artistry is evident in every detail, from the shimmering strands of a character's beard to the coarse texture of rustic paper.
Described as a sprightly, unusual, and gorgeous tribute to pen-and-paper gaming, Veritas Tales successfully conveys Nishimura's personal memories and passion to the player. The game occasionally offers additional gamebooks, encouraging players to continue their own journey of adventure creation.