Veritas Tales: Witch of the Dark Castle

Veritas Tales: Witch of the Dark Castle

Released Jul 2026

A dice-driven dark fantasy RPG inspired by solo tabletop adventures. Charge in sword in hand, talk your way out of danger, or ignore it all and keep walking. Every roll, every choice has a price. Handcrafted over six years by a 30-year Vanillaware veteran.

85% positive · 250 reviews
Done
All announced content has been released
High confidence
Done
All announced content has been released
High confidence

Where to buy

Steam $16.99
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Evaluation

Veritas Tales: Witch of the Dark Castle launched on July 8, 2026, as the culmination of over six years of solo development by Yoshio Nishimura, a 30-year industry veteran from Vanillaware. The game was conceived and built as a complete, self-contained work — 300+ hand-drawn illustrations and a 150,000-word script — with no DLC, season pass, or post-launch content roadmap announced at any point. The clearest signal that development is now finished came on July 17, 2026, when the developer published the final installment of their production column series (explicitly titled "Final Installment"), closing out the pre-launch behind-the-scenes diary and thanking readers for following along. This is a direct developer statement marking the end of the project's development communication cycle. Post-launch activity has been limited to routine housekeeping: Steam Cloud save support was added on July 10, 2026, and a full-screen launch default was configured on July 13, 2026. Neither indicates plans for new content — both are the kind of polish patches typical of a freshly shipped indie title. There are no unreleased DLC listings, no announced expansions, and no indication from the developer that further content is planned. The game was presented throughout its development as a finished, handmade passion project, and the developer's final column post reinforces that this chapter is complete.
Evidence
Developer published 'Production Column #12 (Final Installment)', explicitly marking the end of their behind-the-scenes development diary and thanking readers for following along. This is a direct statement that the development communication for this project is concluded.
news post · Jul 17, 2026 source development ending
high
Full version launch announced: 300+ illustrations and a 150,000-word script, the product of more than six years of development. No mention of post-launch content, DLC, or expansions.
news post · Jul 9, 2026 source content shipped
high

Media

Details

Publisher
15 Industry
Achievements
—
Platform
Windows
Controller
—
Steam Deck
Playable
Players
Single-player

About this game

Veritas Tales: Witch of the Dark Castle is a dice-driven dark fantasy RPG, inspired by solo tabletop adventures.

You play alone. There is no party and no game master — you decide what to do, you roll the dice, and you live with the result. The dark castle remembers everything you do, and the world responds differently depending on what you choose.

The witch they once called a hero.

Ingeborg, the witch from the old fairy tales, was welcomed to the capital of Elising as its court magician — and the people rejoiced. Then a plague came, and dark whispers spread with it: the witch will be the ruin of us all. Now two travelers are walking toward that city, and you choose which one to play. The warrior was raised by the witch herself. The mage has lost her memory, and her missing teacher was last seen answering the witch's summons. Both of their roads lead to the dark castle.

Fight, talk, or walk away.

You can charge in with your sword. You can talk your way out. Or you can look the other way and keep walking. How you carry yourself through this world is up to you, and the path you choose shapes who you become.

Combat is turn-based, quick, and simple by design. This is not a game about complex builds and stat sheets. It is a game about judgment, nerves, and dice.

Every choice has a price.

You are walking into places where no sensible person would go. One bad judgment can be your last, and a single roll of the dice can kill you. Death is not there to make the game feel hard — it is simply what dark places do to careless travelers. The cautious think before they act. The bold save often.

Your pack is small, and the road is long. Deciding what to carry — and what to leave behind — is one more judgment you must make.

The ending you reach is the sum of everything you dared, or refused, to do. When one journey ends, you can walk the road again as the other traveler. It is the same story, seen from the other side, and it holds truths the first journey could not show you.

Every illustration was drawn by one hand.

Yoshio Nishimura is a 30-year veteran of the games industry. At Capcom, he contributed to the original Monster Hunter as lead background artist. At Vanillaware, he worked on Odin Sphere, Dragon's Crown, and 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. He then moved to a small mountain village in rural Japan, where he still tends his fields — and where he spent six years crafting this game alone. All 300+ illustrations were drawn by his own hand. No generative AI was used at any stage.

The music is by Hitoshi Sakimoto.

The score was composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto and his studio Basiscape — the sound of Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story, and 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim.

Key Details

  • Story and text: 150,000+ words

  • One playthrough: 6–8 hours

  • Full completion (both travelers, all endings, all secrets): about 10 hours

  • Playstyles: combat, negotiation, or evasion — all routes are viable

  • Inspirations: GrailQuest, Sorcery!, Fighting Fantasy

Streaming & Video Policy

  • Streaming and video content are all welcome.

  • Monetization is allowed, for both individuals and companies.

  • We'd appreciate a link to the store page in your video description.

Last evaluated Jul 21, 2026
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