What if the people we’ve lost could come back for one more conversation? That question is the premise of Spirit Talk, developer Tortita Studio‘s cozy visual novel about a witch who can summon the recently departed to speak with their loved ones.

Spirit Talk has a demo out now and was part of Steam Next Fest: February 2026, so I grabbed my tea and my blanket and dove into the opening of this charming story. Beware spoilers ahead for the story (so far) and some of the demo’s customer interactions.

Welcome to Spirit Town

The story opens with Julia stepping into her mother’s shop, a cozy little setting full of plants, books, and a crooked broomstick leaning against the wall. Within seconds, you’ll realize that Julia’s mother is dead, accidentally summoning her ghost, and inherit the responsibility of running her business and helping the citizens of Spirit Town talk with their dearly departed.

After a tutorial with Cynthia, your loving, playful, and ghostly mother, the next morning comes and it’s time to run the shop for the first time. The day begins with one of my favorite moments from the demo: a walk through Spirit Town, where you get to check out the other stores on the street, meet your fellow shopkeepers, and experience the warm, charming spirit of the community.

It’s a strong way to introduce what is sure to be a lovely setting for the story. Everyone you meet is excited and supportive about your grand re-opening, and every conversation serves to both establish the sweet characters you meet and set up the lovely, small-town vibe of Spirit Town.

Witchcraft and Therapy

The majority of the demo takes place during your first day in the shop. As customers come one by one to re-connect with their loved ones, Julia summons spirits and crafts spells to help make every interaction with these beloved spirits meaningful. The spell mechanic is particularly creative, requiring you to decipher coded recipes by matching keywords to their ingredients. It’s a simple enough task, but it adds a bit of flair to your witchcraft that I certainly enjoyed.

Witchcraft is only half the job. As customers come in and ask to connect with their loved ones one more time, Julia’s work extends beyond just summoning spirits and into facilitating conversations through grief, hope, loss, and love.

Sometimes, it’s easy. Your first customer is Edmund, an older man who asks to speak with his late wife so she can tell him how to keep her beloved flower from wilting. Though there is certainly a bittersweet ache behind their conversation, both characters are clearly at the point in life (or afterlife) where they can accept their grief.

Other times, there are lessons to be learned. Like many of us, some of the customers you meet are lost in their grief. These conversations are harder, and the story becomes richer for it as the characters have to face hard truths, come to terms with loss, and work through the messy, painful, meandering experience that is losing a loved one.

An Early Draft Story

There are many aspects of the demo that hold a lot of promise for the full game. The setting is delightfully cozy, the design is gorgeous, and the characters are intriguing—and every customer interaction leaves off with the promise of seeing them again. However, the writing itself falls short in places, leaving me wanting more out of this story.

Some of it is a simple lack of polish: a few instances of rough translations, or Cynthia being spelled as Cintia a couple of times. Other times, though, the writing comes off as surface-level when the story offers the potential to dive so much deeper.

A Perfect Protagonist

Much of it has to do with Julia herself. Our young, witchy protagonist is sweet, kind, and funny, but she’s also something of a blank slate. Like her customers, she’s working through a recent loss. Though she can talk to her mother’s ghost, she’s still balancing this new job as well as her father’s closed-off approach to his grief.

Despite this, Julia remains practically flawless. She might be a bit nervous at times, but she never gets overwhelmed, she doesn’t make mistakes (unless you the player botch a spell or two), and, most jarringly, she speaks concisely and openly about her grief and inner feelings with absolute strangers.

It’s not that she’s unlikable, but without any flaws or emotional low points, her story remains somewhat bland.

This is made even more obvious by characters like Lucy, a little girl who is having a hard time after losing her grandmother. She’s angry that her mother isn’t there for her the way Grandma was, and when her grandmother suggests that her mother is having a hard time, too, Lucy gets upset and runs out of the shop.

It’s these hard moments when Spirit Talk shows its full potential. After all, this is a story about how we deal with grief and how the people in our lives deal with grief. Julia’s father avoids the shop along with any discussions of her mother. Edmund’s granddaughter doesn’t really understand why her grandmother is gone. Lucy runs away when faced with the idea that her mother is hurting and needs help, too.

So it feels odd when our player character, who is surrounded by both her own grief and the grief of all her customers, seems unfazed by all of it.

When it’s Good, it’s Really Good

Of course, the story is just beginning. Who knows what the rest of the game will bring? There are certainly enough plot threads to deliver on the emotionally rich storytelling I’m craving from this tale. And there are moments even in the demo where the writing hits the spot. Some conversations deliver little nuggets of sweetly worded wisdom, perfect for creating a touching moment while also keeping with the cozy, wholesome atmosphere of the game. I was also particularly fond of a couple of the spell recipes.

Tortita Studio shows off its writing in these moments; I only hope they continue to do so and deliver a game that goes beyond a cute aesthetic to deliver a meaningful story that stays with you—and maybe even offers some comfort through your own experiences with death, grief, and love.

See the beginning of Julia’s story for yourself. The demo for Spirit Talk was part of Steam Next Fest: February 2026. It is still available as of this publication. The game has a possible release date of Q2 2026.

Read all of our coverage in our Steam Next Fest February 2026 page.