The Witches' Tea Party
is the 2016 prequel to Trick & Treat, both RPGs made by Rabbiton.
The young witch Charlotte (when she was even younger) went to a tea party with her grandmother Marilyn. There she met all the other witches in the world for the first time. However, the party was not going on very well... Would Charlotte enjoy herself and make some new friends, or would the tea party be a real mess?
The demo can be downloaded on RPGMaker.net or itch.io, while the full game can be purchased from itch.io, or Steam.
The Witches' Tea Party contains examples of:
- Arc Villain: Each chapter has one:
- The prologue has Renee turn the house into a creepy maze.
- Chapter 1 has Stephanie steal Renee’s soul to get back at her for this.
- Chapter 2 has Sealed Renee attempt to trick Charlotte into freeing her.
- Chapter 3 has Mirabell attempt to kill Charlotte.
- Chapter 4 has Evangeline nearly decide to destroy the world. Being the last chapter, Evangeline serves as the Final Boss.
- And I Must Scream: At the beginning of the story, Charlotte and Vanessa find an unconscious Renee. Turns out her soul was taken and if they don't find her on time, she'll continue to sleep forever. And that's what happens in Bad End 1.
- After Charlotte confronts Mirabell about her Dark and Troubled Past about being used by her fiancee and family, Mirabell is so broken about it that she says she wants to die. Instead, Charlotte decides to curse Mirabell into a Deep Sleep to prevent her from killing herself and hoping that her heart will be healed over time.
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: Bad End 1 ends with Charlotte not being able to find the one who sealed Renee (it was actually Stephanie, who sealed her for Andrea's sake). And Renee is kept sleeping forever. While Charlotte is upset about it, it's stated it's for the best, since Renee was an unpredictable Person of Mass Destruction. In Chapter 4, when Renee encourages Evangeline to Kill All Humans, Charlotte ends up believing The Extremist Was Right.
- Big Bad: Renee; both her current and sealed versions are responsible for the game’s major conflicts.
- Big Good: Andrea tries to be this to the witch community and spread order. Too bad most of them have Blue-and-Orange Morality, consider her a nuisance for her efforts, and want to maintain the status quo.
- Block Puzzle: In Library-A, there's some boxes blocking the path to the hat needed to complete the Witch's Hat quest, so Charlotte has to push them out of the way so they don't block her path further.
- But Thou Must!: When talking to Stephanie to end the "Silent Stephanie" quest, every option at first set of choices moves the conversation forward. [You should...!], [Be brave! And...!], [Challenge it!!]
- Butt-Monkey: Poor Vanessa suffers this treatment from almost everyone. Renee trashes her room, Charlotte looks down on her, and even Marilyn admits that Vanessa is always being tricked.
- Call-Back: To events from the previously published game, Trick & Treat:
- Charlotte's hatred for tomatoes.
- Also, it's not the first time a Sheltered Aristocrat loses their humanity because of love.
- Curse: "A witch's life is a cursed one" as Marilyn says in Chapter 2. Sort of literally, such as Stephanie's being of silence.
- A Day in the Limelight: The story is a prequel centered on Charlotte.
- Deep Sleep: Charlotte applied one on Mirabell, to prevent her from killing herself and hoping that her heart will be healed over time.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: The True Ending, achieved if Charlotte manages to befriend all the witches. Charlotte succesfully manages to gain Andrea's respect and befriends Evangeline, convincing her to leave her hatred of humans. The Bonus Room shows the witches in the modern era, spending time with Amelia from Trick & Treat and an awakened Mirabell.
- Fantastic Racism: The witches towards humans. Somehow justified, since the witches are almost near extinction because of the humans constantly hunting them. Evangeline takes this to an extreme by talking about how Humans Are the Real Monsters, nonchalantly talking about burning human villages and antagonizing Xaviera, who's an ally of humans herself.
- Flavor Text: For most items, and presented from Charlotte's point of view. For example:
- Tomato: Sweet and sour. I hate it.
- Tomato Juice: An unpleasant red drink.
- Recipe 1: Passion Tomato: "The recipe for passion fruit tomato. ...No way. I won't make it."
- Recipe 8: The Tomato-Potatoes Compromise: "The recipe for borscht...I won't let it happen.
- Oil Painting Piece: What are they? I won't know until all the pieces are collected.
- Food as Bribe: Evangeline accuses Xaviera of using her cookies as that:Evangeline: What are you doing...! Bribed by some crazy cookies from a weirdo that you've never met?!
- Foreshadowing: When Renee's soul is taken, Mirabell is panicked and believes she was killed at first, seemingly forgetting that witches can't be killed easily. This is because she didn't know due to being a human turned into witch.
- Funny Animal: Andrea's cat servants, Cathy and Polly.
- Flying Broomstick: Used in Andrea's library to cross gaps in the floor.
- Happily Ever After: The current state of the world, as Andrea hopes for, as said by ???? at the end of Chapter 2, when talking about the death of witches:Dullness, boredom, mediocrity...
driving away their desires and dreams...
She will die, when she is...simply alive.
Andrea called it "peace",
and hoped everyone could "live happily ever after". - Hidden Depths: Occurs a couple of times when getting to know some of the witches.
- Idea Bulb: Pictorial Speech-Bubble animation of a lightbulb lighting up is used by Charlotte when she remembers something, like when remembering that Evangeline met Xaviera before.
- Kid Detective: Charlotte becomes this temporarily after Renee's soul is taken. She keeps acting the part in order to find out more about her fellow witches and befriend them.
- Loss of Identity: After Renee is saved in Chapter 1, she tells Charlotte that she has been sealed in the past due to her problematic behavior. Ever time she gets released, she loses some of her past memories but doesn't care about it. Considering that her true form is an Ax-Crazy lanky woman with disheveled hair who wants to kill and/or subjugate all humans and is a Person of Mass Destruction, it's better for Renee not to remember her real identity.
- The Many Deaths of You: Like Trick & Treat before, there are many dead ends with unique animations.
- Morality Kitchen Sink: There's only one truly evil character in the cast, Sealed Renee, but there's a lot of witches who are dangerous to the world but usually have sympathetic reasons for being so, and other witches who want to protect the world from them by killing or imprisoning them. And then there's Charlotte, who wants to make friends, and whose kind heart can save the other witches without resorting to drastic measures.
- Multiple Endings: There are many dead ends, but the story as a whole had nine endings:
- Bad Ending 1 - Sleep: If Charlotte finds the wrong suspect regarding Renee's disappeared soul, the witches decide to call the whole thing off and leave Renee to sleep forever. Charlotte is feeling guilty that she couldn't save her fellow witch, but the other witches are secretly relieved that Renee is gone for the time being.
- Bad Ending 2 - Freedom: If Charlotte says the wrong thing to Andrea in the library, the Sealed Renee takes advantage and tries to eat Charlotte. Andrea protects Charlotte, but at the cost of her life. With Andrea gone, Sealed Renee is freed once again, regaining her body and possibly forcing humanity to a Fate Worse than Death.
- Bad Ending 3 - Devil and Devil: If Charlotte went to Mirabell's room alone and says the wrong thing in her wedding realm, Charlotte doesn't know what to say and escapes her room. On the way, they bump into Renee, who encourages Mirabell to let her anger loose on the world. Saying that if she can't find love, nobody will, Mirabell runs out of Andrea's house with the intent to exterminate all happy couples in the world.
- Bad Ending 4 - Where Are You?: If Charlotte says the wrong thing to Mirabell in her wedding realm, Evangeline gets tired of Charlotte's meddling and tries to convince Mirabell to exterminate all humans. Charlotte leaves the room to get Andrea to help, but when they return, Evangeline and Mirabell are gone.
- Bad Ending 5 - Hero: If Charlotte tells Xaviera she doesn't know where Evangeline is after talking to Andrea about the later, they hear noises coming from the garden and arrive to see Andrea and Evangeline fighting in front of the other witches. Andrea has had enough of Evangeline's behavior and also scolds Charlotte's attempt to help, saying she is too young. Evangeline disappears and never comes back with Andrea promising to kill her if she returns to disrupt the peace.
- Bad Ending 6 - Peace: If Charlotte chooses not to challenge Evangeline when all the witches are gathered in the garden, Andrea will make good on the promise she made in the "Hero" ending and kill Evangeline. With Evangeline dead, peace is ensured for the future of witches and humankind.
- Bad Ending 7 - The End of the World: If Charlotte says the wrong thing to Evangeline and didn't find enough about her background, Evangeline lashes out at Charlotte, causing her anger to reach dangerous levels and her seal to be broken. With her magic unsealed and her power incontinence, Evangeline proceeds to burn everything in sight. As Charlotte dies, she realizes that Evangeline will annihilate humanity and the world.
- Normal Ending: If Charlotte manages to calm down Evangeline but didn't find enough about her background (and didn't meet Sniechek), Evangeline decides that she won't destroy the world, but doesn't want to form part of the witches' alliance. The final shot of the game shows the rest of the witches enjoying the tea party.
- True Ending: If Charlotte manages to calm down Evangeline, find everything about her background, and meet Sniechek, Evangeline realizes that humans can coexist with monsters after all. She decides to form part of the witches' alliance. The final shot of the game shows all the witches enjoying the tea party. The Stinger shows all the witches as good friends in the modern era, and Mirabell has woke up from her slumber.
- My Name Is ???: ???? is near the end of Chapter 2.
- New Game Plus: Requires multiple playthroughs to be able to unlock everything.
- No Social Skills: Charlotte has a very difficult time making friends. The game is dedicated to her making new friends with her fellow witches.
- The Ophelia: Poor Mirabell…
- Older Than They Look: All the other witches are over 100 — well, except for Stephanie, who's only 50 — and look like young women. Evangeline even teases Charlotte for it, seeing that she's 17 and basically an infant for the witch community.
- Our Gods Are Different: The artbook says that gods exist. Or at least they did.
- Our Witches Are Different: An in-game book states that monsters such as witches are defined as such by having curses. Witches, because of their human appearance and ability to breed with them, are basically a Human Subspecies that's immortal, magical, female, and cursed.
- Pimped-Out Dress: All the witches wear beautiful and fancy clothing.
- Post Endgame Content: In the Demo, the Extra Room is unlocked after the game is finished.
- Reality Warper: Most of the witches can use this ability to some degree. Like Renee changing Andrea's house into a maze at the beginning of the story, or Charlotte magically changing the decoration of her guest room.
- Save Point: How the saves in the final game work, where saving is allowed upon activating a sparkly floating piece of paper with a quill.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: Renee's soul is stolen at the beginning of the story. Seen as how she was a Cute and Psycho witch with Orange And Blue Morality, the witches suspect she was taken down because she was too pesky. Turns out they were right.
- Technicolor Magic: Charlotte and Marilyn are witches and dress in purple colors.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Turns out that Stephanie was the one who took Renee's soul. Since Andrea wanted to maintain order between the witches and Renee was the most troublesome one due to her Cute and Psycho tendencies, Stephanie decided to take her soul so she won't cause more damage. Fortunately, it was just temporary, and Renee is back to normal at the end of the episode.
- Younger Than They Look: It's revealed that Stephanie is a witch apprentice living with Andrea, and she's older than Charlotte, but younger than the rest of the witches. Even Evangeline is surprised.
