Ritual of Raven Review 

Magic, Memory, and the Power of Ritual

There’s something undeniably charming about stepping through a portal and landing in a world of witches, rituals, and talking birds. 

Ritual of Raven embraces this premise with open arms, delivering a narrative-driven farming sim where you’re less a farmer and more a magical conductor. This whimsical, witchy life sim blends cozy farming with puzzle mechanics, magical rituals, and heartfelt storytelling. 

It’s a game that asks you not just to plant herbs or fish through portals, but to build relationships and repair a broken world…one enchanted card at a time. 

If you want to know more about Ritual of Raven, check out their official website.

Gentle World Brimming with Charm

The world of Ritual of Raven captures your attention the moment you set foot in it. Its pixelated art style and soft color palette feel pulled straight out of a storybook. Whether you’re wandering through the sun-drenched village, the pink-hued Crystal Forest, or the haunting Swamp of Secrets, each area feels distinct and lovingly crafted.

The music is equally warm, with ambient tracks that never overstay their welcome. Voice acting is replaced by a mix of animal-like chirps and sounds that match the quirky cast of characters. Raven, your snarky familiar, plays the comic relief well, even if his usefulness is sometimes debatable.

Exploration is often rewarding, leading to paths locked behind Spell Jars that require a specific set of ingredients to unlock. Fast Travel can be accessed relatively early to make traversal easier and less tiresome. There are no time constraints, and you can explore everything at your own pace.

A Story With A Heart

While it may present itself as a farming sim at first glance, Ritual of Raven is much more about its story. The narrative unfolds through a series of multi-part quests that often involve rituals, missing people, lost memories, and emotional reconciliation. 

What makes the writing so effective is its tone. The world of Ritual of Raven has conflict, but no real malice. Even the so-called “antagonists” have sympathetic motivations. There’s a strong undertone of empathy running through the entire story, and its resolution comes more through understanding than confrontation. 

One standout storyline relatively early involves helping Dan and Pip, two siblings torn apart by fear and guilt. I won’t spoil anything, but watching the siblings slowly find a way back to each other felt surprisingly wholesome.

If there’s a catch, it’s that the heavy focus on story sometimes makes the gameplay feel like it’s taking a back seat. When most quests require you to grow certain herbs, forage in specific zones, or brew an exact potion, the tasks can start to feel repetitive. 

There certainly were times when I just wanted to move the plot along to see what happens to the characters involved, but the game had me farming up a dozen more Mugwort Roots for a ritual, which frankly felt a bit annoying. 

Enchantments and Automation

Credit where credit is due, Ritual of Raven does an outstanding job with its farming system. You can’t touch your crops directly. Instead, you assign tasks to your magical Arcana Constructs using Tarot cards.

Want to grow Butterfly Pansies? You’ll need to set up a command for your Construct to move to specific tiles, plow it, plant the seed, water it, and harvest it once the time is right. You also need to make sure you’re in the correct moon phase to grow the right ingredient.

It’s essentially programming disguised as magic. And for players with a bit of experience in logic puzzles or coding, it’s a delight. That said, it takes a while to click. For me, the enchantment interface felt fiddly at first. Mistakes are easy to make, and whenever I made a blunder, I had to reset the entire sequence from scratch. 

But once you pin down the system, it’s extremely rewarding. Watching the whole sequence play out in real time is satisfying and leaves you with a real sense of accomplishment. 

Puzzle-Solving and Magical Logic

The enchantment system doesn’t stop at farming. Many of the game’s puzzles also use your Arcana Constructs, requiring you to deliver objects, activate crystals, or move through a specific set of tiles in the correct order. These sections are smartly designed and give your cards an extra dimension of purpose.

These puzzles are light on hand-holding and rely on visual clues in the environment rather than lengthy explanations. Solving them often feels intuitive, and the sense of discovery is rewarding. If anything, the game could have used more of them. They’re a great way to break up the rhythm of farming and foraging, and they showcase the creative flexibility of the automation system.

A Cast You Care About

Another big win for Ritual of Raven is the cast of characters. From Bowie the musician to Pistachio, the secretly talented woodworker, I couldn’t help but start to care about every single character in the game. Each NPC also has their own little friendship quest that you can follow to progress their side stories. 

These side stories are light and often humorous, but they flesh out the world in meaningful ways. As you progress through the narrative, you start to feel like a part of the community, making an actual impact on the lives of these characters. 

The Verdict: A Warm and Fuzzy World Worth Exploring

Ritual of Raven is a magic-infused farming sim that wears its heart on its sleeve. With its charming art style, soothing sound design, and emotionally resonant storytelling, it’s easy to lose yourself in its gentle world. While the mechanics occasionally stumble, there’s enough creativity and warmth here to keep you coming back.

Yes, it takes time to find its rhythm, and the tasks can grow repetitive. But there’s something quietly satisfying about watching your Construct carry out an entire farming sequence under the perfect moonlight. If you’re after a cozy game that dares to do things a little differently and tells a heartfelt tale along the way, Ritual of Raven is well worth your time.

• Developer: Spellgarden Games
• Country of Origin: Germany
• Publisher: Team17
• Release Date: August 7, 2025 (PC, Nintendo Switch)

The PC version of the game was played for this review of Ritual of Raven. 

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