Story and dialogue choices in The Witch's Bakery (or The Witchs Bakery) operate primarily within a linear narrative framework rather than a branching, multi-ending structure. While major plot beats follow a set path, your daily decisions dictate character bond progression, romantic availability, cosmetic unlocks, and specific Steam achievements. Most importantly, certain dialogue options are tied to known progression bugs that can permanently lock you out of key relationships if picked incorrectly.
Do Story Choices Matter in The Witch's Bakery?
Narrative choices in The Witch's Bakery rarely alter the overarching plot, but they significantly govern character relationships and personal milestones. Playthroughs and reviews note that the game behaves more like a character-focused visual novel combined with light simulation than an open-ended role-playing game.
Most conversation options offer slight flavor text variations or determine which companion gains affinity. However, dialogue choices during character events and your management of daily time slots determine whether you successfully unlock romance routes, level up NPC hearts, or acquire rare baking recipes.
Major Dialogue Choices and Their Outcomes
Throughout Lunne's journey across Paris, several distinct dialogue checks present tangible gameplay consequences.
| Decision Point | Available Options | Direct Consequence |
|---|---|---|
| First Day Pastry Naming (Hervé Martin) | "Pain au chocolat" vs. "Chocolatine" | Unlocks a separate Steam achievement based on the regional French term chosen; sets dialogue flavor. |
| Estelle's Theater Outing (Heart Level 2) | Go immediately vs. Wait until later | Going immediately initiates the theater scene where the Art preference branch triggers. |
| Estelle's Theater Critique | "You've always struck me as a poet" (Top) vs. "Humbling" response (Bottom) | Selecting the top option successfully progresses Estelle's romance. Selecting the bottom option triggers a bug that permanently locks her second heart level. |
| Best's Taster Request | Accept taster vs. Decline taster | Players on the Steam community forums report that declining Best's request can bug his presence, preventing him from reappearing at the bakery to provide recipes. |
The Pain au Chocolat vs. Chocolatine Choice
On your first evening after unpacking and serving Monsieur Hervé Martin a baguette, he mentions looking forward to trying your pastries next time. This triggers a lighthearted debate between Lunne and Oreo over whether to use the Parisian term "pain au chocolat" or the southwestern French regional term "chocolatine."
Your choice here does not break or lock quests, but it grants a specific Steam achievement reflecting the terminology you decide to adopt for your bakery display.
Crucial Choice: Estelle's Romance Branch and Lockout Warning
Estelle Bersier, the accountant at Brilliance Consulting, is one of the central romantic interests available to Lunne. However, progressing her relationship requires making the correct dialogue choice during her second heart event.
Developer Sunny Lab issued an official notice warning players about an unintended lockout tied to a specific dialogue tree.
How to Navigate the Theater Choice Correctly
- Raise Estelle's bond until her second heart is completely filled.
- When Estelle messages or invites you to visit the theater, agree to go with her.
- Once inside the theater, dialogue regarding Estelle's art preferences will begin, leading to a two-choice prompt.
- Always select the top dialogue branch: "You've always struck me as a poet".
- Do not select the bottom "humbling" branch. In unpatched builds, choosing the bottom response permanently freezes Estelle's relationship progression at two hearts, barring you from advancing her romance across Chapters 3 through 5.
Developer PC Save File Workaround
If you previously selected the bottom option and found Estelle's bond frozen, developer Sunny Lab confirmed a manual save edit can repair the state on Windows:
- Navigate to: C:\Users[YourUsername]\AppData\LocalLow\Sunny Lab\The Witch's Bakery\GameFiles\Slot_0
- Create a duplicate copy of Save.lunne for safety.
- Open Save.lunne with a standard text editor.
- Search for the unique string ID: effc1d56-d2a3-4fe5-bcb2-933781bdf8b5
- Locate the parameter relationshipLevelsLocked and switch its value from "true" to "false".
- Save the file. While the skipped theater scene will not replay, subsequent bond events will unlock normally.
Daily Schedule and Activity Choices
Each in-game day is split into three phases: Morning/Daytime, Evening, and Night. Because your free time each evening is strictly limited, choosing how you spend those hours directly influences Lunne's capabilities and relationships.
Daytime Bakery Choices
During the day, Lunne runs Le Croissant de Lune alongside Oreo. Your choices here involve operational priorities:
- Dough Preparation: Managing puff pastry dough versus bread dough balances before customer rushes hit.
- Customer Prioritization: Serving impatient customers first prevents lost sales, while greeting customers directly restores a small amount of patience.
- Heart Dives: Certain customers carry emotional spirits called Regrets (manifesting as sadness, fear, or anger). Choosing to enter their Heart Palaces requires navigating personified labyrinths to guide emotions back to their cradle.
Evening Exploration Choices
Once the shop closes at 6:00 PM, you have limited time and a finite energy pool. You can browse district shops freely, but you can only complete one major leisure activity per evening:
- Dining at Restaurants: Costs money and consumes energy, but raises relationship points with invited companions (such as taking Mirembe to Le Confort Gourmet).
- Going to the Cinema: Costs euros and consumes 20 energy, but awards elemental emotion experience (for example, watching Quiet Hill awards Fear points).
- Resting at the Park: Free to access and restores 200 energy, protecting you from exhaustion penalties.
Night Rooftop Choices
At night on the rooftop, you can inspect Lunne's Heart Palace skill tree, admire the Parisian skyline, read purchased lore books, or practice in the atelier. Baking items in the atelier at night permanently levels up recipes (reducing preparation time and increasing sale prices), but spending too much energy without resting causes Lunne to begin the following workday with an energy deficit or forces a mandatory rest day.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you change your mind on story choices later?
No. Reversing an earlier choice requires either manual save manipulation on PC or restarting the playthrough.
Does declining an NPC request lock you out of content?
Community reports on the Steam forums indicate that declining requests—such as turning down Best when he asks for a food taster—can cause the NPC to stop appearing at normal locations, preventing you from receiving their specific baking recipes. It is recommended to accept character tasting requests whenever they appear.
How do you unlock spells in the Heart Palace?
Spells are tied to the elemental branches of emotion: Sadness, Fear, and Anger. You accumulate experience points in each category through evening leisure activities (such as watching films at the cinema) or successfully resolving customer heart dives in the bakery.
Does The Witch's Bakery have multiple endings?
The overarching storyline follows a fixed narrative path toward Lunne's establishment in Paris. However, your dialogue choices, gift-giving, and hangout investments determine which character relationships reach their final tier and whether romance epilogues unlock.
