Seven years after its original announcement, the cozy game Witchbrook has just shifted its official release window. Up until this point, it’s been an exciting year for Witchbrook, with new trailers and the announcement of a Winter 2025 release window providing a lot to look forward to. The newest dev blog, however, comes with some bad news.

Witchbrook has now been delayed until 2026, as shared in the official Witchbrook dev blog. This decision comes despite “great development progress this year,” and the blog post reasserts that the game is “taking shape exactly as [Chucklefish] hoped.” No details are given as to the reason for the delay, but the blog post notes that it will allow for a few new opportunities, like “additional platforms and language support.”

Witchbrook’s 2026 Delay Extends The Waiting Period

What’s One More Year?

Chucklefish

As of now, no details have been provided as to when Witchbrook might launch in 2026. It’s possible that it could still be coming early in the year, but if Witchbrook‘s development cycle to date is any proof, getting your hopes up for an imminent release is probably a mistake.

For now, Chucklefish shared an interactive map of Witchbrook‘s Mossport, with key locations like Witchbrook College and Parasol Sands tagged. The blog post promises an update on character customization in the next several weeks, along with a new issue of the fictional newspaper The Witchbrook Oracle coming soon.

Witchbrook Will Have High Expectations To Meet In 2026

The Long Wait Needs To Pay Off

Witchbrook player riding a broom down the street.

Like Hollow Knight: Silksong, the extended development cycle of Witchbrook has placed additional pressure on the game to be worth the wait. Everything shown off so far certainly looks good, and fans of games like Stardew Valley will likely leap at the chance to try it out in 2026. There’s still room, however, for Witchbrook to fall short of its lofty goals.

I was never quite convinced that Witchbrook would actually come out this year, so I’m content to wait a little longer. I’ve been excited about the game since it was announced, and I’ll still be eager to pick it up on release day. At this point, I’m glad that it’s happening at all, as Chucklefish’s silence was becoming concerning before this year’s updates.

For now, there’s no shortage of other cozy games to fill the gap, with the recent release of Little Witch in the Woods offering a particularly relevant alternative. The market has continued to grow during the cycle of Witchbrook‘s development, but if the game can deliver everything it promises, it should still have no trouble standing out from the crowd.