Ritual of Raven Preview: Bet Your Plants Can’t Do This
What’s the opposite of a green thumb? Because that’s what I’ve got. I kill plants faster than the average human, it’s actually pretty impressive if I do say so myself. But things would probably be a lot different for me if I had magical constructs to do the gardening work for me. Much like the constructs in Ritual of Raven from developer Spellgarden Games.
Ritual of Raven is an upcoming cozy farming sim where you play as a young witch who has found themselves transported to a magical world full of strange creatures, people, constructs and much more. Your ultimate goal is to stabilize the portals that are causing trouble for the village, but getting to that point might be a little complicated.
The demo for the game, which is available on Steam right now is pretty hefty and gives players a HUGE look at what to expect from the full game. You’ll start out by meeting Sage, a witch who has recently lost her familiar. Witches in this town are happy to share their tips and tricks with strangers, so Sage is quick to begin teaching you how to do certain things.
The first thing you’ll learn how to do is enchant constructs to help you grow plants that you need in order to perform spells. In order to do this, you’ll have to submit a variety of actions for the construct to complete. For example, if you’d like the construct to harvest a 3x3 grid, you’ll have to go into the enchanting menu and use tarot cards with instructions to tell it to do so. In this case, you would use the “harvest” card and then use the directional cards to tell your construct to move across and harvest all plants in the 3x3 grid. It’s an interesting way to do things and is something that definitely has a learning curve. I can imagine things will get much more complicated in the main game as you enchant multiple constructs at one time. It feels a bit like learning code and strategizing the most efficient way to have your constructs operate.
While Sage teaches you a handful of helpful tips for using magic in this new quirky world, she soon leaves you in search of her lost familiar and instructs you to get your own familiar. That’s where your silly raven comes in. Once you summon your raven, it acts as your guide to the world of magic - though between you and me, he doesn’t seem to actually know all that much. And from there, you’re free to explore the world.
During the demo you’ll meet a handful of townsfolk with different requests and you’ll have to work out the best way to fulfill them. One character, for example, is asking for a spotlight, but it’s very expensive at the town’s shop. So you’ll have to find a way to earn money in order to snag it. Another townsfolk is angry that Sage up and left him with no crops, so you can help him out too.
You’ll start with just one construct at the very beginning of the demo, but as you explore you’ll grab more tarot cards that open up more constructs for you to utilize. Each one will require you to solve a small puzzle, for example, command the construct to harvest a 3x3 grid in one go without stopping, but once you do, you’ll have that construct to command as you see fit.
I played over an hour of the Ritual of Raven demo and I can’t wait to dive back and see what other secrets I can find and what other tasks I can get my constructs to help me with. This is a beautifully animated game with adorable characters and an intriguing game mechanic and, if the demo is any indication, the full game will be heaps and heaps of fun.
Ritual of Raven is set to launch on August 7th, 2025. Be sure to wishlist the game to stay up to date on future news.