Momoko wanted passive income. Instead, she ended up with a mountain of debt and a factory that needs to start making money very, very quickly.
Lazy Witch’s Factory enters Steam Early Access today, giving you just 30 minutes to build a functioning production line, make as much money as possible, and somehow dig its unfortunate witch owner out of the financial hole she’s landed herself in. Developed by MELTCLOCK.Inc and published by Phoenixx Inc., it’s a roguelite factory automation game where efficiency matters, shortcuts are encouraged, and making deals with demons can turn an ordinary production line into something considerably more powerful.
It has already made a strong impression ahead of launch too. The free Steam demo currently has a Very Positive rating, with 100% of its 106 user reviews giving it a thumbs up, while the game was nominated for the “One More Try” award at Tokyo Indie Games Summit 2026.
Now Momoko just needs to turn all that positive attention into enough money to pay her debts.
30 Minutes to Pay Off an Impossible Debt
You play as Momoko, a witch who signed up for the promise of “passive income” and instead found herself buried under an enormous amount of debt.
Getting out of it means building a factory, mining resources, turning those resources into products, and selling everything you can before your 30-minute shift comes to an end. Unfortunately, simply running an efficient factory isn’t going to cut it.
Lazy Witch’s Factory actively encourages you to find increasingly questionable solutions to your problems. Production lines don’t need to look pretty, temporary fixes are perfectly acceptable, and if your carefully planned factory eventually resembles a plate of spaghetti, that’s fine too. The only thing that really matters is making enough money before time runs out.
When normal factory management isn’t enough, you can always make a deal with a demon.
Who Needs Rules When You Have Contracts?
Demonic Contracts allow you to start bending the rules of production in your favor. Running short on the materials needed for a recipe? Rewrite it. Sitting on more iron ore than you know what to do with? Turn it into gems. Desperately need some extra cash? There are ways around that problem too.
Choosing the right Contracts and finding combinations that work together becomes increasingly important as the clock ticks down. When your shift eventually ends, the factory resets, sending you back to start another run armed with something considerably more useful than machinery: knowledge.
The more you play, the better you’ll understand which Contracts complement each other and how to squeeze ridiculous amounts of production out of the limited time you’re given.
Middle Management Really Is Hell
Of course, no factory can operate without employees, and Momoko hasn’t exactly been given the workforce of her dreams.
Your familiars have their own personalities and ideas about how work should be done. Salamanders apparently consider blacksmithing part of their workout routine, while Slimes enjoy the pain involved in distillation enough that they’d prefer the process to take longer.
Managing them effectively is another part of keeping production moving, while powerful arch-demons can also lend a hand in exchange for consequences that probably wouldn’t survive a normal workplace risk assessment.
Leviathan can dramatically improve productivity through experimentation, although contaminating Hell’s entire water supply is a possible side effect. Mammon, meanwhile, can help solve your cash-flow problems. Where the money actually comes from is apparently better left unanswered.
Even eternal life has been turned into a corporate benefit. What began as punishment for sinners quickly became management’s solution to the inconvenience of employees eventually dying from too much overtime.
Hell, it turns out, has excellent middle management.
Clock In and Hope for the Best
The Early Access release already offers dozens of hours of gameplay, with five different sponsor companies available and players choosing three for each run. Every sponsor has more than 20 Contracts and at least three unique objects, creating plenty of possible combinations to experiment with.
MELTCLOCK currently expects Early Access to last at least six months, with additional sponsors, familiars, features, balance changes, and UI improvements planned as development continues.
Lazy Witch’s Factory enters Steam Early Access today for Windows. If you’ve ever complained that your workplace feels like Hell, Momoko might be about to make your Monday morning look surprisingly reasonable.