{"id":94139,"date":"2026-10-19T06:29:03","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T22:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=94139"},"modified":"2026-10-19T06:29:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T22:29:03","slug":"new-steam-game-is-basically-kikis-delivery-service-in-video-game-form","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=94139","title":{"rendered":"New Steam Game is Basically Kiki\u2019s Delivery Service in Video Game Form"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Sharing food with others begets a certain type of magic. That goes double for baked goods and desserts. In The Witch\u2019s Bakery<\/em>, that magic is literal. It\u2019s a charming, cozy, and heartfelt adventure that goes heavy on the Studio Ghibli vibes.<\/p>\n

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In Sunny Lab\u2019s debut game, you play as the heart witch Lunne who moves to Paris and sets up a magical bake shop, along with her pink, cat-like companion Orio. Monday through Saturday, her days are consumed by work. Prepare dough, infuse it with magic, and have Orio bake it with their elemental magic. Tend to customers and rake in that dough. Er, dough being money, in this case.<\/p>\n

Some customers are indecisive, while others are impatient. Anyone who\u2019s worked in food service or retail will, unfortunately, not be surprised by the annoyances of those customers. Where Lune\u2019s magic comes into play is for customers haunted by regrets that manifest as cute creatures floating around them, which only the magically inclined can see.<\/p>\n

Serving these customers offers some enjoyable variety to workdays. Instead of handing them a croissant and calling it a day, Lunne will dive into their hearts to heal them, freeing the customer of their past heartache. Lunne navigates a mini-maze to find the regret and remove it while contending with emotion-specific obstacles, like literal waves of sadness pushing her back or fiery plumes of anger barring her way. Just like in last year\u2019s Tiny Bookshop<\/em>, it\u2019s very easy to fall into a relaxing rhythm doing basic shopkeeping duties.<\/p>\n

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Outside of Lunne\u2019s bakeshop is where The Witch\u2019s Bakery<\/em> starts to open up as you explore the beautiful streets and views of Paris via 2D side-scrolling locales. Lunne quickly makes friends throughout town, like her cinema-owning neighbor or a young witch still finding her way. You can invite them for dinner or to see a play, or just spend an evening with a new book while enjoying dessert (that someone else made) at a cafe. The world is your beignet.<\/p>\n

Early in The Witch\u2019s Bakery<\/em> you meet Estelle, who has a ginormous regret hanging over her. Lunne spends time at Estelle\u2019s office and even her home. Her intentions are twofold \u2014 Estelle is an accountant, and Lunne is much better with bread than she is with numbers. But Lunne also wants to free Estelle of that regret, even if she helps accidentally.<\/p>\n

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Lunne gets pulled into Estelle\u2019s Heart Palace, which is much more imposing than the simple mazes she navigates in other people\u2019s hearts. Playing with the idea of sadness as an ocean, Estelle\u2019s Heart Palace is like an underwater ruin. It’s filled with puzzles that involve connecting points via arrangeable cubes; they\u2019re never too difficult, but do offer a fun challenge at times and a way to mix up the gameplay. There are even sections where Lunne must avoid a monster lurking in the Heart Palace called a Torment. Spooky!<\/p>\n

Estelle\u2019s story is quite blue, requiring multiple dives into her Heart Palace to get at the root of her problems. And that\u2019s the heart of The Witch\u2019s Bakery<\/em>; while cute and cozy, it\u2019s really about disentangling those big emotions that are sometimes too scary to face outright. In many ways, it\u2019s a Studio Ghibli film in video game form; any comparison to Kiki\u2019s Delivery Service<\/em> is obvious and earned.<\/p>\n

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The Witch\u2019s Bakery<\/em> actually has some real Ghibli bona fides to it, too. When I first heard its opening song, I thought it\u2019d fit in well alongside the studio\u2019s movies. Turns out C\u00e9cile Corbel is behind that song \u2014 she composed the soundtrack to the underrated The Secret World of Arrietty<\/em>. So many games get compared to Ghibli\u2019s work, but very rarely do you have one that features talent behind your favorite movies.<\/p>\n

Take that Ghibli magic, a relaxing gameplay loop, emotional stories, and some charming character designs \u2014 Lunne\u2019s braid looks like plaited bread \u2014 and you have a winning recipe. Any gamer looking for their next cozy treat will want to check out The Witch\u2019s Bakery<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n

The Witch\u2019s Bakery is now available on Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.<\/em><\/p>\n