Veritas Tales: Witch of the Dark Castle

Once you open this book, you are no longer just a reader.

As you turn the pages, you’ll make choices, face down enemies, and grow. You can charge in with a sword in hand, talk your way out of danger, or simply ignore it and keep walking.

Every choice you make and every roll of the dice changes the way the world responds to you.

Six years in the making. Three hundred illustrations. All drawn by a single hand.

Yoshio Nishimura, a 30-year veteran of the games industry from Vanillaware (Odin Sphere, Dragon’s Crown, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim), spent six years in a remote Japanese mountain village crafting this game on his own.

Every single one of the 300+ illustrations was drawn by his own hand. No generative AI was used at any stage. This game has a soul that can only be found in something truly handmade.

A return to the roots of fantasy, waiting to be rediscovered.

Elden Ring, Baldur’s Gate 3, Dungeon Meshi — Beneath the fantasy worlds we celebrate today lie the gamebooks and tabletop RPGs that first gave them form.

Veritas Tales returns to that moment — to the true weight and texture of swords, sorcery, and rolls of the dice. Savor once again what we first called fantasy, on pages that remember how it all began.

About the Developer

Yoshio Nishimura:

Founder of Digitalis Publishing. A 30-year veteran of the games industry. As Chief of Background Art, he contributed to the original Monster Hunter at Capcom, and to Odin Sphere, Dragon’s Crown, and 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim at Vanillaware. After leaving Vanillaware, he settled in a small mountain village in rural Japan. There, he tends his fields and crafts games.

Additional Data

• Text volume: About 150K+ words of story and text

• Estimated playtime: 20+ hours

• Replayability: Branching second playthroughs with new outcomes

• Playstyle: Combat, negotiation, or evasion — all routes are viable

• Music: Hitoshi Sakimoto / Basiscape (Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim)

• Inspirations: GrailQuest, Sorcery!, Fighting Fantasy