Currently on early access on Steam Little Witch in the Woods charmed me with its style and music. So, I wanted to pick it up and check out what is there. That being said, it is in early access so there is still work to be done. Right now, it is very short. My first impression was that it was a chill game just to unwind from stress and I wasn’t disappointed.
From gathering ingredients to helping people, the game provides a calming atmosphere where exploration and discovery are emphasized. The art and music work together to create an environment that is soothing, yet mysterious. There’s a great foundation here, and Little Witch in the Woods knows exactly what it is.
Everything is Animated and it’s Beyond Cute.
From the main character Ellie to all of the people and creatures you interact with, everything is adorable. My favorites are the blue bubble lizards. In order to get the bubbles they produce you have to rub their bellies when they roll over, which is absolutely adorable!
One of the game’s main goals is rebuilding a run-down village. It brings a sense of progression to the game and allows you to interact with more villagers. But the best part about this is how it breathes life into the environment. Every villager is out and about performing different tasks depending on the time of day. From gathering resources themselves to smithing a blade in their yard. The village never feels stagnant.
Brewing, Exploration and Quests
One of the main game loops revolves around brewing potions and candies in your cauldron with ingredients that you find while exploring. The system is intuitive and easy, and each recipe is different, which keeps things from feeling repetitive. You have to set the temperature and the direction you stir. Then the raw ingredients you use are processed in different ways, depending on the material. This doesn’t add any difficulty, but it does add to the feeling that you are actually working on potions and not just pressing buttons in a menu. These potions can be used to solve quests, interact with the world, or earn currency.
The other game loop involves exploring and interacting with the world, with puzzles baked into your progression. Sometimes you need to brew a potion to kill weeds so that you can create a path; other times you need a potion to grow a plant to create a bridge. I would love to see more of this in the game, and maybe puzzles that require more than one potion for a solution.
It is Early Access so it Feels like There’s a Lot Missing
From broken bridges, hidden unused areas, a dark mysterious cave and a sealed temple, there are still a lot of gaps. There is a lot going on that you have no way to interact with yet. This is not unusual, however, when playing an early access game and honestly, even though this sounds like a negative comment, it isn’t. The amount of potential already built into the game is immense. You can feel the developers carefully planning through every little bit of detail that you find.
Little Witch in the Woods has a great foundation. But as it currently stands there are only about 4 hours of gameplay and there’s a lot missing. We only get the very beginning of the story, though what’s there is, is interesting. The main character’s personality helps carry what little story there is; she’s honestly a breath of fresh air compared to a lot of characters in other games. The developers are currently working on adding new ways to interact with the environment; for example, fishing and digging are being added. I enjoyed every hour of gameplay, and I will definitely be revisiting this game when it launches fully.
Little Witch in the Woods is available in Early Access now. If you want to support a work in progress and have a relaxing time check it out.
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