Kingsisle Entertainment has announced its first single-player game, Ravenwood Academy: A Wizard101 Story. The game will include some memorable Wizard101 characters and serve as a single player prequel to the MMORPG.
The team describes Ravenwood Academy (which Wizard101 fans will recognize as the name of the school in that game) as a narrative life sim, RPG, and visual novel. You are a student at the school working to balance your class schedule and outside activities, something most of us have experienced, but not with magic.
In a place like this, those extracurricular activities are things like investigating magical mysteries, getting to know your fellow students and some of your teachers, and playing through minigames. Since this game serves as a single player prequel, a number of the characters you meet will be past versions of characters you'll find in Wizard101.
While the experience will be different if you’re already a Wizard101 fan, Ravenwood Academy is a standalone game, so you won’t have to have stepped into the school’s halls before picking it up. Player choices, intrigue, and classed await. Decide how to balance your schedule and what activities mean the most, so maybe you'll have an opportunity to go to a school dance or something might pop up that compels you to investigate an ongoing mystery at the same time.
There is a main narrative here, and you’ll have to learn to investigate, solve problems, get answers, and ultimately, make a series of choices that will impact what ending you can receive. You'll build relationships as a core goal and get to know the students, friends, and teachers and make decisions that will carry over. Sometimes clues reveal difficulty truths and sometimes friends become rivals.
The team teases intrigue, clues, the possibility of faculty trials or the need to plead a case during a disciplinary hearing, or even a chance to save a friend who is accused of doing something wrong or keep info to yourself. On the other hand, a close enough friendship might even turn into a romance. Kingsisle is clearly saying that your choices will matter.
Ravenwood Academy: A Wizard101 Story will release on PC via Steam.
