I'm not sure what it could be. As long as you are running the WartribeAcademy.exe file it should work. It sounds like you might be using the Itch App. If that's the case, try switching to running it directly from the folder it's in. Or if you aren't using the Itch App try using that.
The same thing happened to me. I downloaded it from the Itch app and when I pressed launch it didn't work. I launched the files directly without the app and it worked fine. It seems like it doesn't launch with the Itch app?
That is particularly strange. It works for me when I tried it. Maybe it was a developer thing? I'll see what I can find out about it. Hopefully other people can find this solution here. Thank you guys.