Bruce Straley Reveals Coven of the Chicken Foot Concept Dates Back to the Beginning of Jak and Daxter

During the 2025 Game Awards, Bruce Straley—the visionary co-creator of The Last of Us—unveiled his highly anticipated return to game development with Coven of the Chicken Foot. This inaugural project from Wildflower Interactive, the studio Straley established in 2022, is described as a “witchy” post-apocalyptic odyssey. Players step into the shoes of an elderly woman navigating a fantasy realm that has already been “beaten”—a world where the dungeons are gutted, the monsters are vanquished, and the treasures have long since been claimed.

The journey isn’t a solitary one; the protagonist is joined by a peculiar, autonomous companion. This partner is designed to assist with environmental puzzles and traversal mechanics dynamically, rather than through scripted triggers. In a recent appearance on Kinda Funny Games Daily, Straley shared with host Greg Miller that the seeds for this concept were sown decades ago.

Straley revealed that the core idea has haunted him since the early development days of Jak and Daxter at Naughty Dog. “It’s an idea that’s been lingering for years,” he remarked, noting that early sketches of the concept can even be found in 2014’s The Art of Naughty Dog book. After departing the AAA space in 2017 to recharge, Straley realized he wanted to tackle a specific creative challenge: telling stories through interaction rather than exposition.

“I wanted to create a spiritual successor to Ellie,” Straley explained. While Ellie’s combat reactions were revolutionary, her emotional beats were largely dictated by scripted cutscenes. With Coven of the Chicken Foot, Straley is striving to make those character moments emergent. He wants the relationship between the player and their companion to evolve organically based on gameplay, letting the player drive the emotional narrative through action rather than watching it unfold in a cinematic.

Following a year of intense prototyping with a skeleton crew, the project gained momentum. “The game eventually told me it wanted to be made,” Straley said. He also cited literary heavyweights as primary influences for the game’s atmosphere and themes, specifically pointing to Madeline Miller’s Circe and Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant.

While a definitive release window remains elusive, Coven of the Chicken Foot is currently in active production for PC. Wildflower Interactive aims to deliver a focused, intimate experience that challenges traditional notions of how characters and players coexist in a digital space.

Does Bruce Straley’s shift toward emergent storytelling pique your interest? Share your thoughts on Coven of the Chicken Foot in the comments!

Source