Would you battle fearsome monsters for a home made 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 recommend, Pieberry is an enormous fan of pies. And strawberries. The story begins off calmly sufficient, with Pieberry trying to go away her magical forest dwelling to trace down a strawberry pie just like the one she ate as a toddler, all whereas attempting to know why she was seemingly deserted by her dad and mom. 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 issue choices on supply 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 further puzzles, unlockables, and pets, focusing purely on the primary story.
The story is undoubtedly among the finest issues about WitchSpring R. It dances between lightness and darkness completely, providing characters with loads of depth and a stable tempo that’ll hold you hooked till the top. It’s a little bit tacky at occasions but it surely’s a heartwarming story with characters which have loads of depth and objective behind them.
Other than the narrative, one of many quick strengths to focus on is the satisfying sense of development. As you’d anticipate, Pieberry will get noticeably stronger as you make your method by way of the sport, with loads of alternatives to coach, strengthen expertise, and enhance her weapons.
Actually, the sport punishes you considerably for not coaching and boosting Pieberry’s talents. It’s potential to hurry by way of fights under-levelled, but it surely’s not beneficial, particularly in case you’re newer to turn-based gameplay. The fight is immensely enjoyable and feels impactful, but it surely can be difficult. Not build up Pieberry will result in some bitterly tough 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 high of her opponents, due to an important ally.
Pets and summons are notably essential throughout fight. Pieberry has the flexibility to mind-control creatures within the overworld, basically catching them like Pokémon. Having the precise critters by your aspect could make boss fights rather more enjoyable, they usually can supply 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 placing character designs that felt like recent takes for the style. Each enemy dropped gadgets that tied into its design and site, making every combat 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 easy and environment friendly, with an interface that’s a little bit overwhelming at first however simple when you become familiar with it.
Small quality-of-life options are in place to assist make farming extra nice, too. It’s potential to stroll round fights you don’t need to have interaction with, and also you’ll be capable 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 way 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 Change.
For those who’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, that means that spending just a few further minutes in a location could be extremely profitable.
Whereas this sport 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, trying wonderful in each handheld and docked mode, however there have been minor graphical quirks and glitches. One notably 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 could repair itself after going to a different zone, but it surely made navigating a little bit tough. This occurred a complete of 5 occasions throughout our 22-hour playthrough.
On high of this, we noticed some texture points and lighting quirks, together with a piece of typos and grammar errors. These points weren’t obtrusive by any means, however typos in an emotional monologue or fierce confrontation could be disappointing and immersion-breaking.
Ignoring these graphical points and the vanishing foremost character, this sport 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 tough battles and boss fights to intricate puzzles and light-hearted investigations.
Conclusion
For those who’re prepared 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 robust story to again it up. It’s whimsical and enchanting, and also you gained’t be capable to predict the way it all ends. On high of this, the NG+ possibility provides 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 primary character come out of existence throughout essential cutscenes was irritating, and it did have an effect on our general expertise.
