Witchcrafty | PS4 Review

Heroes. What defines a hero? That's what SometimesYou's game, "Witchcrafty", aims to answer in a roundabout way. In a modern fairytale that's not quite all that it seems we find a nameless forest witch on mission to find out about a corruption that has swept the lands, and pitted once known allies against each other. After having awoken from a drunken slumber caused by a night of partying with the local satyrs our witch heroine in the making finds that the village has been attacked by disgruntled Goblins. Seemingly for unknown reasons. Seeking the advice of the village elder the witch embarks on a journey of discovery in order to get to the root of the problem. 

Armed with the ability to cast magic of five varieties, dodge, air dash, and brutally beat foes into a flurry of crystals with her wand the unnamed witch of the tale is set to brave several environmentally different biomes that are home to enemies, merchants, secrets, and the answers to the questions she seeks. Guided by a mysterious cat, and learning of key characters via giant storybook pages that are scattered about this potential heroine of the tale being told has to find her way through hazard and danger filled mazes as she utilizes found magic abilities to gain access to newer areas.

Against the witch's intended progress are death dealing pitfalls, hazards of varying types, and enemies of the lesser and greater sort. Dealing with those threats is but part of the challenge though. As the witch the player will need to utilize magic spells of elemental alignment to break through barriers, and open up special chests. Spells that can be swapped between on the fly. In addition to dealing with the obvious obstacles the witch must also be guided with at least one of four hearts of health intact to collect crystal currency, and hidden upgrade fragments in the forms of a witch's soul and a witch's heart. The latter of which upgrades the amount of spells that can be used, and the amount of hearts that the witch has when enough of each are found. Something that will become necessary as she makes her way into more difficult to navigate locations. 

The world the witch lives in, itself, is placed on a couple of islands which are interconnected, and traversable through both basic travel and a broom flight vendor that will allow for backtracking if/when you have discovered and unlocked new spells. Sometimes you'll also run into key characters that further the conversation via contextual dialogue as well as a dwarven merchant that sells heart and soul fragments for the crystals that are collected. While all of this together is fairly simple, and straightforward navigating the dangers, and dealing with constantly respawning enemies as well as bigger bosses with unique attack patterns is a worthy enough challenge for those looking to take it on. Thankfully there are save shrines placed here, there, and yonder for reducing the frustration of having to start completely over.

In the visual, and audio department "Witchcrafty" shines as a pixel perfect creation complete with a CRT screen filter toggle at the main menu. Allowing the player to play it with more modern pixel graphics or a retro visualization. When it comes to the soundtrack it is a magical symphony of sorts fitting of the magical nature of this curious fairytale adventure. A bit whimsical, and a bit seasonal. Matching the graphic design, and as well as the interestingly contrasting cartoon character avatars that show up when the conversation picks up. 

The Verdict ...

For a Metroidvania style indie game "Witchcrafty" looks, and plays good, for the most part on modern consoles. If I'm not mistaken I think I've read that this is actually a port of an older PS Vita game. Something That SometimesYou published for the PS4, and Nintendo Switch. That having been said there are some glaring flaws plaguing the port. There are instances where the witch you are in control of will freeze in place, and glitch into the environments/ledges. There's also a slight delay in button presses that can lead to some cheap deaths from time to time. That as well as some unresponsive button presses. 

Mechanically, it is kind of basic and the gameplay itself fairly to the point. It's not profoundly intricate by design, and the only thing really carrying it is the pixel graphic design, the cartoon character animations, the soundtrack, and the story. That and the actual level design. It's an interesting game that I feel could have gone much bigger, but the developer chose a minimalist approach. Something that still earns it's ten dollar price tag, but to a fault. I guess with it being a port there's not much a publisher can do to change any of that though.