Witchcrafty Review

Game: Witchcrafty
Genre: Action, Platformer
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on Steam (Windows), PS4 and PS Vita)
Developer|Publisher: Pigeon Dev Games | Sometimes You
Age Rating: EU 7+ | US Everyone
Price: US $9.99 | UK £8.99 | EU € 9,99
Release Date: October 13th, 2022

Review code provided with many thanks to Sometimes You.

A Bubbly Fairytale

Witchcrafty is a 2D action-adventure game with a fairy tale flavour. What immediately captured my attention was its beautiful pixelated art style. It feels like a lot of games have made use of this design over the years but something about this game is quite magical.

Sprites have detailed animations and have a sort of bubbly charm to them that one can’t help but admire. Even the enemies, such as mushrooms and goblins are carefully crafted and feel suited to the setting. However, sometimes looks can be deceiving. Witchcrafty has the looks and presentation but on Nintendo Switch the game’s overall experience is let down by bugs and glitches which makes this fairytale more grim than pleasant.

The story is that corruption has taken over the forest, bringing with it darkness and monsters to the land. As the good witch of the local village, it’s up to you to seek out the source of the corruption and bring peace and tranquillity to the land.

The story is presented in text boxes so parents, be prepared to put the funny voices on to bring the characters to life. You will encounter a diverse range of NPCs on your journey from talking cats to dwarves. Many of them will share some witty dialogue and general confusion as to what and where the corruption is. It is simple and to the point but absolutely suitable for all audiences. 

Spell Yeah

Witchcrafty follows a straightforward template for its gameplay very similar to other games in the genre. The first section of the game quickly gets you accustomed to the controls with conveniently placed signposts which introduce the initial move set followed by a chance to try out said move. Initially, you can jump, double jump, hit enemies with your wand and dodge out of the way of enemy attacks and projectiles.

The dodge can also be used mid-jump to traverse a larger area. Before you know it you will unlock magical spells such as fire and lightning which cost a bar of mana to use. These can be shot out as projectiles to use on enemies and used to get into previously inaccessible areas or unlock specific chests.

Fast-travel Broomstick

You’ll quickly notice early in the game there are areas you can’t access but you are able to backtrack to these later via a handy fast-travel broomstick, which feels quite fitting for the game’s setting. Save points are also dotted about each level which acts as checkpoints should you perish. Controls generally work but I did have a bit of trouble with the jumping which just didn’t feel as responsive as it should. Each new chapter or level provides a decent-sized area to explore.

Unlike a lot of adventure games, the map is available from the start allowing you to plan your route and get your bearings. But it does come with a few issues. In handheld mode, it’s a bit tricky to see exactly where you are on the map, particularly if you are revisiting the same areas. Any areas you have visited will turn slightly pale. There are also points of interest highlighted on the map, but these are really tough to identify in handheld mode. 

Health Hearts

Health is presented by a few hearts at the top of the screen. I kinda liked that to replenish your health you simply pick up herbs which are occasionally dotted about the level. Max health and your magic bar can be increased by collecting four heart or sphere pieces.

As I played through the game something just seemed off with the game’s difficulty. To begin a single hit from an enemy meant the loss of one heart. But then before I knew it some enemy attacks cost two hearts. The first boss fight always knocked off two hearts which meant you could only take two hits before perishing and having to start the battle again. This felt just a bit too harsh so early in the game. I couldn’t really tell if the inconsistent heart loss was due to a glitch or by design.

I won’t need my reading specs for this book

A Glitched Witch

It would be nice to think Witchcrafty was a pleasant gaming stroll in the woods. But on reviewing the game was plagued with bugs and glitches, some of which were pretty game-breaking for me. Sometimes my character just randomly disappeared, or they were just tired of me being so bad at the game. There were moments where my character would take random damage even though there were no enemies or hazards clearly on screen. This often happened when I was trying to race back to a save point.

On one occasion, when I was browsing the pause menu, the game would not let me select to return to the main menu and instead decided to overlay the game map and make the game unplayable. Then there were multiple instances where my character just stopped to just run on the spot, unable to be controlled further or even take damage. Only a restart would fix this. This just marred the experience making each restart feel like a tedious slog. This last glitch in particular is where I just had to throw in the towel. I’ll give the game some credit, I never experienced a crash to the menu. It is possible all of these issues can be fixed with patches post launch. 

Conclusion – Not Quite the Worst Witch

Witchcrafty has a great presentation but its gameplay keeps things just a little too straightforward to make it stand out from the crowd. It could have used just a few extra tricks to highlight it over the competition. In its current state, it’s very hard to recommend with some of its notable bugs, glitches and inconsistent difficulty. But if these get ironed out I can see this being a pretty satisfactory weekend game if you’re looking for something to pass the time or to share with the younglings. Witchcrafty drew me in with its art style but just left me disappointed for now.

Final Verdict: I’m Not sure