Would you battle fearsome monsters for a do-it-yourself strawberry pie? In that case, you’re in good firm. WitchSpring R is a whimsical, story-driven RPG that follows the story of Pieberry, a gifted younger witch who’s grown up within the woods by herself.
Because the identify would possibly counsel, Pieberry is a giant fan of pies. And strawberries. The story begins off calmly sufficient, with Pieberry trying to depart her magical forest house to trace down a strawberry pie just like the one she ate as a toddler, all whereas making an attempt to grasp 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 totally different chapters, with a number of issue choices on supply and the flexibility to create a New Sport 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 primary story.
The story is undoubtedly among the best issues about WitchSpring R. It dances between lightness and darkness completely, providing characters with loads of depth and a stable tempo that’ll maintain you hooked till the top. It’s just a little tacky at occasions but it surely’s a heartwarming story with characters which have loads of depth and objective behind them.
Except for the narrative, one of many instant strengths to spotlight is the satisfying sense of development. As you’d anticipate, Pieberry will get noticeably stronger as you make your means by the sport, with loads of alternatives to coach, strengthen expertise, and enhance her weapons.
The truth is, the sport punishes you considerably for not coaching and boosting Pieberry’s skills. It’s attainable to hurry by fights under-levelled, but it surely’s not advisable, particularly in case you’re newer to turn-based gameplay. The fight is immensely enjoyable and feels impactful, but it surely may also be difficult. Not increase Pieberry will result in some bitterly troublesome fight encounters, whereas having the precise construct, pets, and weapons could make it a stroll within the park. At a sure level, you achieve 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 precise critters by your aspect could make boss fights way more enjoyable, they usually can supply different perks like performing as a mount exterior of fight or restoring sources 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 recent 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 just a little overwhelming at first however straightforward when you familiarize yourself with it.
Small quality-of-life options are in place to assist make farming extra nice, too. It’s attainable 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 just’ve defeated earlier than.
Alongside crafting and farming, there’s a coaching system which helps Pieberry enhance her stats by 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 Change.
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 couple of additional minutes in a location may be extremely profitable.
Whereas this recreation supplied a fascinating world with loads of chew, there have been some points which are price going over. The efficiency was respectable sufficient for probably the most half, wanting high quality 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 just a little difficult. 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 may be disappointing and immersion-breaking.
Ignoring these graphical points and the vanishing primary character, this recreation may be very pleasing. The story is wealthy and immersive, the characters felt soulful, and the world itself is a delight to discover, with a stable mixture of gameplay types, starting from difficult battles and boss fights to intricate puzzles and light-hearted investigations.
Conclusion
In case you’re prepared to look previous a handful of typos and a few pretty vital visible points, WitchSpring R is a good instance of turn-based fight with a powerful story to again it up. It’s whimsical and enchanting, and also you received’t have the ability to predict the way it all ends. On prime of this, the NG+ possibility offers it an additional splash of replayability for gamers who like a problem. That being stated, the visible quirks do take a toll on the rating right here. Whereas they weren’t game-breaking, having the primary character come out of existence throughout essential cutscenes was irritating, and it did have an effect on our general expertise.