WITCHES' REVEL: A Newsletter.

1. Rigorously Reviewed Revelry

IN THIS ISSUE OF THE WITCHES' REVEL NEWSLETTER — What's this game and what's going on with it? • Giving You The Primer • Playtest: Available Now! • Wait, is this... an entirely NEW product announcement?! • Tariff News & Future Plans.

Hi! Aura here, designer & director of WITCHES’ REVEL. It’s been a frantic few months, from inception to where the game is right now, and things have finally started getting into gear for an eventual release this Fall!

The game is in pretty great shape! It’s deep into development, meaning that there may be changes to its structure but that, largely, the foundations of the game are set — and, if I can say so myself, they look pretty solid so far.

Finalizing the basics early has meant that graphic design and art delivery are now both in full swing, and there are some incredible pieces coming in from commissioned artists to grace these cards in the making. Check these out:

The witch Celosia, the littlest and most manic doll-witch this side of further-than-the-cosmos, is rendered beautifully by the three artists who contributed to the set: sukizuki, Collegeartist1 and Ray of Sand. If you like what you see… well, the set is full of this dork and her girlfriend-nemesis, the stoic and repressed Nymphaea, and you can play as either in the silliest bout between witches ever put to cardboard.

(If you look closely, you'll notice one of these cards is borderless… check out the news below!)

Sure, It Looks Good… But What Kind Of Game Is This?

WITCHES’ REVEL is an extendable 1v1 card game of trading spells back and forth to see whether your witch, or your opponent's, can come out on top! Its lane-based gameplay builds something unique out of inspirations like Marvel Snap, Flesh and Blood and .hack//ENEMY, while also being a homage to the relentless, to-the-last-frame danmaku fights that its aesthetic is inspired by.

In WITCHES’ REVEL, you’ll try to fill your side of the field with incredibly powerful spells, playing one per turn to overwhelm your opponent. Your opponent can do the same, and in fact spells that meet in the field can neutralize, stand off, and even overpower each other in an ever-shifting back and forth.

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You can find above both strike spells and shield spells, in a tense stand-off. Shields can stop strikes, but only strikes can win their lane… if their ▲ Power is enough to overcome their opposition!

Spells do not just push against each other: they also introduce powerful effects to the field that can help turn lost lanes into victories! And of course, the witch you choose to embody gives you a powerful Power to push the scale in your direction during play — and can also take a stance that can give you access to tremendous new effects and Powers… at a cost.

Your witch bases her magic on a Resource, a powerful magical principle that guides what the best spells at her disposal are: both witches currently in playtest are based on the Resource of Passion, the magical principle of impossibly strong emotion, intense confrontation and unwavering resolve!

Soon, the back and forth starts filling the available space on the field, ticking down to the end of the confrontation. A powerful witch can handle more than a few spells, but even the most skilled of witches can only sustain so many at the same time before their Stamina starts getting sapped. You will also need to sacrifice Stamina to fuel intense, advanced magical moves, like for example stitching two strike spells together into a single, bigger one: a last chance to turn the tide on clashes of spells that otherwise would be entirely lost in your opponent’s favor.

Spells overpowering and discarding each other can give you just enough space to respond for a little while, but, inevitably, the lanes become full, witches start getting tired and cornered, and their loss of Stamina finally ticks down to the Final Turn of the game, when the winner will be decided!

Be careful: an opponent that can conserve their Stamina and strength until the Final Turn will get to take just a very precious few extra actions before the game is over! That may just be enough to carefully dismantle the spells still hurtling toward them, and turn what looks like an unrestrained victory into a sudden defeat at the very last second.

Oh, Wow, Cool! Can I Play This?

Good news: YES! You can play the in-development version of WITCHES’ REVEL right now!

I’m happy to announce that public playtest is now available for everyone to participate in, and will update regularly as feedback shapes the game! You can:

• Play in your browser…
• … or play using an online tabletop app, like Tabletop Playground or Tabletop Simulator…
• … or even print & play! All you need besides cards are just a few dice or tokens to use as counters.

To get started, all you need is here:
​WITCHES’ REVEL Playtest page ›.

All versions of the above also include a full ‘Get Started!’ manual to walk you through learning the game. If you feel inclined, grab a friend, try it out, and reply to this email (or write to hello@witches-revel.games) to let me know what you think!

All this said, this version of the game is still in development and subject to change any time between here and the final release. Feedback truly matters a lot, and the game will shift from here to release to — hopefully — become more readable, more understandable and more fun.

Okay, Cool! But When Is It Going To Be Finished?

Oh, thanks for asking 😉 let’s talk future plans for a little bit. Note though that everything in this email is provisional & subject to change as the game gets closer to its final form, and as market conditions allow!

The current hope, as of me writing this, is to have the game be ready for a release early this Fall. It may take the form of a crowdfunding campaign or a rolling preorder, so stay tuned for that!

I hope also to provide you with a full range of versions of the game, so that you can find the one that’s just for you. In fact, you may have noticed two different kinds of design in the cards above, and different names at the bottom… if you did, yep! The plan as of this writing is to make two different products!

WITCHES REVEL in ETERNAL RHAPSODY is a set of two preconstructed decks that contain playsets of every single card in this release! Play as is, or take them apart and build your own take — up to you!

The plan is to make multiple versions of this product:

• a 2-Player Ready-to-Play Kit, with a Quickstart manual and punch-out tracking tokens in the box;
• a Deck Set, available through print on demand providers, containing just the cards and a card version of the manual — and with a much lower price point, if you’d rather have that!
• And, most importantly: a set of Print & Play files and online play mods, available in a “pay what you want” fashion, much like the ones on the Playtest page above!

The variety is there because, if you think this game could be fun to play, I want you to be able to play it. Perhaps you just want to try it out, and printing the cards at home makes more sense for you — or perhaps you enjoy good craft in your games, and the Ready-to-Play Kit box and accessories can truly shine in your card game or board game collection! The true hope is that these options can give you what you want without breaking the bank.

One important thing is that there is no randomness in WITCHES’ REVEL products: they all contain the same cards, so you know exactly what you get when you get it.

… but: I do understand the impulse to find and collect beautiful cards, and to that end, I’ve cooked up a little bit of a surprise that I’m announcing right now, in this newsletter:

The plan for WITCHES’ REVEL in PRISMATIC REFLECTION OF PASSION is to be a collector’s booster pack, containing at least several of the cards from ETERNAL RHAPSODY as reversible foil cards, with a foil borderless treatment for the front that maximizes the illustration’s space, and a full-art illustration with no game text on the back. Each of the artists that is featured in the main set will have their illustrations featured in the pack.

Just like the main product, the pack is not going to be randomized. You will get full, 1-deck playsets of each card that is in the pack, so you can just swap and upgrade — or put these in your collection and preserve their stunning artwork. The premium product will also be a way to fund and support current and future development of WITCHES’ REVEL if you would like to see it continue!

All these plans are tentative and subject to change, especially given how wild and unpredictable the political situation in the U.S. and the tariffs currently are. The hope is to figure out a good mix of fulfillment partners in different locations, so that there is always at least one version of the game that is at an acceptable price point to you.

Toward The Future, With Unrestrained Passion.

That is all for this first, very meaty WITCHES’ REVEL newsletter. There is still much to be done, but I am so eager: it is incredible to see something you nurture every day become more vibrant and wonderful, and I cannot wait to — hoppefully — share that wonder with you in the next few months.

If you’re interested, keep an eye out for future issues of the newsletter. They will be infrequent, but they’re the best way to know in advance when and how you’ll be able to get your hands on physical product. And perhaps, who knows, there may even be an announcement at some point about playtesting cards for products after the two above. I have an idea or three, and they’re taking shape every day with care and work.

Until then, though, may your Final Turn catch you with full Stamina, and may your turns be filled with passion and glee. Thank you for reading, and catch you sometime before June!

With gratitude,
— Aura ✾ V, director & designer on WITCHES’ REVEL.