This October might be one of the spookiest on record thanks to both a Friday the 13th AND a solar eclipse, so I thought it might be fun to round up some of the witchiest games out there for anyone wanting to take advantage of the groovy magical vibes in the air right now!
Whirling Witchcraft
Publisher: AEG
MSRP:$39.99
An excellent choice for the party witches out there, Whirling Witchcraft is a fast paced game of potion brewing where players have to get the right ingredients to complete their plan before the others. But as you gain and pass along ingredients to fit your recipes, you have to be careful not to get too many and overload your cauldron. Despite the fast pace of the game, there’s a lot of depth and replayability to it and it was a big sleeper hit for AEG and debut designer Erik Sunden. Be sure to check out Brody’s full review linked above for more details!
Hocus Pocus: The Game
Publisher: Ravensburger
MSRP: $19.99
Another game of cauldrons, Hocus Pocus: The Game pits players against the villainous Sanderson Sisters as they work to finish their potion by sunrise. In order to defeat them, you need to stun the witches three times with a matching hand of all one color or object, which you gather simply by asking. So it’s basically like Go Fish with a spooky twist. But nobody said there’s anything wrong with simplicity! Add to that some fun cartoony artwork and little touches from the movie and you’ve got a classic for a Halloween family game night.
Septima
Publisher: Mindclash Games
MSRP: $65.00
At the other end of the weight scale is Septima, a semi-cooperative game where witches are battling to control their coven by gathering enough wisdom. You’ll use your witchy wiles to gain new followers and create powerful effects, but you need to keep an eye on how obvious you are lest the Hunters come for you. It’s a simultaneous action game with tons of options for ways you can work with or against your fellow witches. No two games will be the same no matter what!
Quacks of Quedlinberg
Publisher: Schmidt Spiele/CMYK Games (There’s a lot of them)
MSRP: $39.99
I was a little disappointed when I played this game since it wasn’t actually about ducks. But once I got over the disappointment, I realized it’s a quite fun little game of alchemical mischief. The titular quacks are not ducks but in fact quack doctors brewing up their snake oil and potions for the unsuspecting customers. Each turn you’ll draw chips of different kinds out of your bag, placing them in your cauldron as you brew. The higher the value on the chip the further it goes. But you gotta be careful not to get too greedy, since the wrong pull and wrong number of bombs could mean it all blows up in your face. Pushing your luck is at the center of the game but you also must be smart about what’s in your ingredient pouch and what values you’re trying to pull. There’s a reason this game has been a certified modern classic for years and that’s because it’s just plain amazing.
Sickest Witch
Publisher: Severed Books
Going a bit dark and different here with Sickest Witch, a semi-RPG I picked up last PAXU entirely on a whim. But ooh boy has that whim paid off. Unlike the other titles on this list this is something dark, gross, and grimy. You play as a coven of witches out to hunt for the organs of mortals. You cannot take damage and you cannot be stopped. All that matters is your thirst for carnage and a fat pile of organs. Use your unique abilities to kill, maim, and disembowel, roll dice to decide your outcome, and level up as you gain more power. When there’s no more mortals to harvest, the witch with the most body parts is declared THE SICKEST WITCH and, I assume, is allowed to start a Doom Metal band.
Images via Respective Owners
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