Would you battle fearsome monsters for a selfmade strawberry pie? If that’s the case, you’re in good firm. WitchSpring R is a whimsical, story-driven RPG that follows the story of Pieberry, a proficient younger witch who’s grown up within the woods by herself.
Because the identify may recommend, Pieberry is an enormous fan of pies. And strawberries. The story begins off calmly sufficient, with Pieberry making an attempt to depart her magical forest dwelling to trace down a strawberry pie just like the one she ate as a toddler, all whereas making an attempt to know why she was seemingly deserted by her mother and father. It spirals from there, with an enormous world and vibrant roster of characters, starting from pudding monsters and lightning lions to witch hunters and celestial beings. It’s a narrative-driven expertise, however the gameplay switches from turn-based fight to enjoyable puzzles rapidly.
WitchSpring R is split into seven completely different chapters, with a number of problem choices on provide and the flexibility to create a New Recreation Plus save file after finishing the preliminary run. Our playthrough took roughly 22 hours general, though we skipped a number of additional puzzles, unlockables, and pets, focusing purely on the principle story.
The story is undoubtedly top-of-the-line issues about WitchSpring R. It dances between lightness and darkness completely, providing characters with loads of depth and a strong tempo that’ll preserve you hooked till the tip. It’s slightly tacky at occasions but it surely’s a heartwarming story with characters which have loads of depth and goal behind them.
Other than the narrative, one of many quick strengths to spotlight is the satisfying sense of development. As you’d anticipate, Pieberry will get noticeably stronger as you make your means by means of the sport, with loads of alternatives to coach, strengthen abilities, and enhance her weapons.
The truth is, the sport punishes you considerably for not coaching and boosting Pieberry’s skills. It’s doable to hurry by means of fights under-levelled, but it surely’s not beneficial, particularly if you happen to’re newer to turn-based gameplay. The fight is immensely enjoyable and feels impactful, but it surely can be difficult. Not increase Pieberry will result in some bitterly tough fight encounters, whereas having the fitting construct, pets, and weapons could make it a stroll within the park. At a sure level, you acquire the flexibility to summon missiles on prime of her opponents, due to an important ally.
Pets and summons are significantly necessary throughout fight. Pieberry has the flexibility to mind-control creatures within the overworld, primarily catching them like Pokémon. Having the fitting critters by your facet could make boss fights far more enjoyable, and so they can provide different perks like appearing as a mount outdoors of fight or restoring assets in a pinch.
Talking of bosses, enemy design felt extremely refreshing right here. Whereas there was commonplace fantasy fodder dotted all through the sport, there have been some genuinely putting character designs that felt like contemporary takes for the style. Each enemy dropped gadgets that tied into its design and placement, making every battle really feel well-planned and considerate.
You’ll be doing a good quantity of useful resource farming throughout your time with WitchSpring R, as there’s a huge crafting system which lets you improve weapons, make consumables, and construct battle equipment. Crafting feels clean and environment friendly, with an interface that’s slightly overwhelming at first however simple when you familiarize yourself with it.
Small quality-of-life options are in place to assist make farming extra nice, too. It’s doable to stroll round fights you don’t wish to interact with, and also you’ll have the ability to auto-battle any critters in low-level areas that you simply’ve defeated earlier than.
Alongside crafting and farming, there’s a coaching system which helps Pieberry enhance her stats by means of minigames. There are a number of different minigames and puzzles all through the world alongside the coaching video games, and for probably the most half, they’re enjoyable – the exception being Blacksmithing, which felt ridiculously clunky and misplaced on the Swap.
In case you’re a fan of secret-hunting and exploration, you’ll be rewarded for doing so right here. There are a number of missable gadgets, weapons, and pets all through the world, which means that spending a number of additional minutes in a location might be extremely profitable.
Whereas this recreation supplied a fascinating world with loads of chunk, there have been some points which are price going over. The efficiency was respectable sufficient for probably the most half, wanting advantageous in each handheld and docked mode, however there have been minor graphical quirks and glitches. One significantly prevalent one was Pieberry coming out of existence after teleporting. Her weapon would stay in body, however she’d be gone from sight – even in cutscenes. This may repair itself after going to a different zone, but it surely made navigating slightly tough. This occurred a complete of 5 occasions throughout our 22-hour playthrough.
On prime of this, we noticed some texture points and lighting quirks, together with a bit of typos and grammar errors. These points weren’t evident by any means, however typos in an emotional monologue or fierce confrontation might be disappointing and immersion-breaking.
Ignoring these graphical points and the vanishing fundamental character, this recreation could be very fulfilling. The story is wealthy and immersive, the characters felt soulful, and the world itself is a delight to discover, with a strong mixture of gameplay types, starting from tough battles and boss fights to intricate puzzles and light-hearted investigations.
Conclusion
In case you’re keen to look previous a handful of typos and a few pretty important visible points, WitchSpring R is a superb instance of turn-based fight with a powerful story to again it up. It’s whimsical and enchanting, and also you gained’t have the ability to predict the way it all ends. On prime of this, the NG+ choice offers it an additional splash of replayability for gamers who like a problem. That being mentioned, the visible quirks do take a toll on the rating right here. Whereas they weren’t game-breaking, having the principle character come out of existence throughout essential cutscenes was irritating, and it did have an effect on our general expertise.