Encouraging children to read is a task that has only gotten tougher over time, with more bombastic and flashy options of entertainment distracting little minds with ease. I imagine it makes parenting a nightmare, but thankfully not all of us have to worry about that. Back when I was younger there were plenty of attempts to make reading more exciting for children and teens, like choose your own adventure books. These paper versions of RPGs let you live out fantasy adventures, all while fooling others into thinking you’re an intellectual. Over the years I played dozens of these, including one which featured Mario checking the credentials of a duck doctor. A throwback to this simpler time in entertainment, Veritas Tales: Witch of the Dark Castle is a digital book that brings nostalgia and fun throughout.
When the game starts you’re greeted by a wizard who looks like he was imagined up by your grandad, with old fashioned robes and a great big bushy beard. He tells you that there’s a story to read here, and passes you the book you’ll be playing. From there you’ll need to pick from a mage or warrior, and then the page turning adventure can officially begin.
The actual story of the book is fairly simple and tropey, but most of these books were. There’s a town that’s now made up of zombies because of an evil witch, who unsurprisingly is up in the Dark Castle. You’ve been sent in to find an ally who went missing, and end up being swept up in a plot to take down the witch and save many lives from being lost to her nasty spells. Along the way you’ll meet a variety of different allies, like the bard turned thief with a glass eye, and the leader of the military who doesn’t open up to you unless you talk about loving books. On charm alone it’s a fun tale, with plenty of choices to make along the way.
Despite being a digital book, choices you make still feature pages to turn to in a wonderful nostalgic manner. As you progress this means you’ll recognise some as leading to certain doom, which is a nice touch. The options are almost always pretty simple too, like make a noise to attract a guard or sneak past him. Naturally you’ll end up choosing the wrong option pretty regularly as it’s not always an obvious choice, but when this happens you can always rewind time just like when you held onto the page before committing as a kid.
As well as featuring choices and fantasy wonder, Veritas Tale: Witch of the Dark Castle also has combat. With a very simple equivalent of a D&D character sheet, your stats are added to a roll of two standard six sided dice and measured against the roll of a skeleton or giant rat. If you win you’ll deal some damage and if you don’t you’ll take some, with a nice amount of risk and reward to think about with each swing of your weapon of choice.
There are other ways to approach combat too, with spells you can cast prior to attacking to weaken foes ahead of time. You can also use items in your inventory to gain the upper hand in battle, although these admittedly have a more limited use and this needs to be managed effectively. It’s a nice extra layer of depth that these paper based games struggled with a little, made easier by the digital format.
While I went into Veritas Tales: Witch of the Dark Castle expecting all this, I wasn’t prepared for the more open areas you can explore. Every so often you’ll reach a larger settlement, and will have a list of places you can investigate. Often this will include shops, as well as more dangerous locations that lead to battles that are unnecessary but grant you more loot. You’d need a much bigger book to make this work in a physical medium, so it’s a nice inclusion here.
Perhaps the most charming aspect of Veritas Tales though are the drawings, which were handcrafted by Yoshio Nishimura – thirty year industry veteran best known for his work on loads of gorgeous Vanillaware games. The drawings of characters ooze nostalgic charm, feeling almost old fashioned. Some may find the still images a little lacking in 2026, but if this was a book then this is all you’d get too.
Veritas Tales: Witch of the Dark Castle is an engaging and endearing experience, but it’s also not suited for everyone. Things like the lack of complexity in combat make battles feel more luck based which can be frustrating, and while the story is functional it’s not going to win any awards. Despite featuring so many hand drawn illustrations it also feels like there are too many blank screens with no accompanying picture, which especially in more tense or tragic moments detracts from the experience.
I felt like a kid again playing Veritas Tales: Witch of the Dark Castle, and although it’s not going to compete with any AAA action adventures, it does provide something truly unique. If you’re nostalgic for page turning and dice rolling then you’ll have a good time fighting for the Dark Castle, just don’t go in expecting much more than a fun throwback with an average story.