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 title 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 dwelling 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 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 shortly.
WitchSpring R is split into seven completely different chapters, with a number of issue choices on provide and the power to create a New Recreation Plus save file after finishing the preliminary run. Our playthrough took roughly 22 hours total, though we skipped a number of further puzzles, unlockables, and pets, focusing purely on the principle 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 slightly tacky at instances however it’s a heartwarming story with characters which have loads of depth and goal behind them.
Other than the narrative, one of many fast strengths to spotlight is the satisfying sense of development. As you’d anticipate, Pieberry will get noticeably stronger as you make your means via the sport, with loads of alternatives to coach, strengthen abilities, and enhance her weapons.
In actual fact, the sport punishes you considerably for not coaching and boosting Pieberry’s talents. It’s potential to hurry via fights under-levelled, however it’s not really helpful, particularly in case you’re newer to turn-based gameplay. The fight is immensely enjoyable and feels impactful, however it can be difficult. Not increase Pieberry will result in some bitterly troublesome fight encounters, whereas having the proper construct, pets, and weapons could make it a stroll within the park. At a sure level, you achieve the power to summon missiles on prime of her opponents, because of an important ally.
Pets and summons are notably vital throughout fight. Pieberry has the power to mind-control creatures within the overworld, basically catching them like Pokémon. Having the proper critters by your facet could make boss fights far more enjoyable, and so they can provide different perks like appearing as a mount exterior of fight or restoring assets in a pinch.
Talking of bosses, enemy design felt extremely refreshing right here. Whereas there was customary fantasy fodder dotted all through the sport, there have been some genuinely hanging character designs that felt like recent takes for the style. Each enemy dropped gadgets that tied into its design and site, making every struggle 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 slightly 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 via minigames. There are a number of different minigames and puzzles all through the world alongside the coaching video games, and for essentially the most half, they’re enjoyable – the exception being Blacksmithing, which felt ridiculously clunky and misplaced on the Swap.
In the event 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 just a few further minutes in a location could be extremely profitable.
Whereas this sport provided a fascinating world with loads of chew, there have been some points which can be value going over. The efficiency was first rate sufficient for essentially the most half, wanting high-quality 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, however it made navigating slightly tough. This occurred a complete of 5 instances 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 obvious 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 essential character, this sport could be very pleasant. 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 kinds, starting from tough battles and boss fights to intricate puzzles and light-hearted investigations.
Conclusion
In the event you’re prepared to look previous a handful of typos and a few pretty important 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 gained’t be capable 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 stated, 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 total expertise.
