GamingPCCoven of the Chicken Foot is the debut game from Naughty Dog alum Bruce Straley's indie studioWildflower Interactive's first game is a fantastical single-player adventure starring an unlikely duo.Jessica CondittSenior EditorFri, December 12, 2025 at 1:40 AM UTC has a lot of things going for it already, in my book.It stars a hero rarely seen in video games, an elderly woman, and it has gorgeous storybook-style art in a lush fantasy setting.It’s a single-player puzzle platformer, it relies on wordless storytelling and the woman, a witch named Gertie, travels with a creepy-cute companion.
Plus, Gertie has chicken feet.I love her little chicken feet.is the first game from Wildflower Interactive, the independent studio founded by Naughty Dog veteran Bruce Straley.The game is coming to Steam and it’s available to wishlist now, though there’s no firm release date.
The first trailer for premiered at The Game Awards 2025, showing Gertie and her friend traveling together through caves, forests and temples.Gertie is on a quest to prove herself to the local coven by standing up to the self-appointed, prideful heroes of the land.She doesn’t have a sword or a dodgeroll, and instead has to figure out how to work with her strange friend to survive.Her companion develops unique behaviors based on individual play styles, shaping how Gertie gets around.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementStraley left Naughty Dog in 2017 after almost 20 years with the studio, where he directed and .
He announced Wildflower Interactive in July 2022 with a brief YouTube message, saying, “In 2017 I left the industry not sure if I wanted to make games anymore.But the longer I was away, I kept thinking about this medium, and everything yet to be done and everything I wanted to do still.And this idea kept following me.
So I grabbed some friends and we started prototyping.”This naturally led to the formation of a studio, Straley explained.“We have to do it the right way,” he said in the video.“It has to be inclusive, equitable and collaborative, full of big-hearted people that want to grow both professionally and personally.The culture needs to be as iterative as the way we make games.”Today Wildflower Interactive has 16 employees from AAA and smaller-scale backgrounds, according to its website.
Its mission statement reads as follows:AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“We’re making ‘small-ish,’ creatively-charged, uniquely-stylized games that explore the possibilities of our medium.And we’re building a small, open-hearted team of creators that want to improve their skills and still lead a good life outside of work.People that want to hone their craft, have a say in the process, feel respected for their contributions, and be a part of the evolution of this awesome medium.”I’m not going to say the studio’s direct and repeated emphasis on work-life balance, diversity and compassion is a response to the soulless capitalistic grind built into the AAA development complex, but I’m not going to say that, either.
