WitchSpring R Review – Review

I love a good magic based game. There’s something appealing about being to explore a world and systems that could never exist, but do. However, one thing I’ve always kept an eye out for were games that had a similar appeal to either a Sailor Moon or Kiki’s Delivery Service, two things I grew up with and longed to explore those worlds. So whenever a game features a magical girl, I’m already intrigued. WitchSpring R does this and does it well.

WitchSpring R is an RPG set in a world of turmoil for witches. In an engaging introduction, we find out that the previous gods of the world were overtaken by humanity and are now considered demons, and witches, who are the offspring of these former gods, are being hunted for this. After this intense and epic introduction, the tone rapidly shifts when we’re introduced to our protagonist, Pieberry, a young witch who named herself after her two favorite things- pie and strawberries. At first, Pieberry is just seeking out the best pie she can eat, some she remembers from earlier in her childhood, but then more and more of the world and the witch hunts of humanity encroach on her small life in the forest she has established for herself.

This leads to a largely linear story where Pieberry gets involved in more of this conflict between witches and humans, meeting a large cast of characters with various allegiances, interactions, and personality. This cast and Pieberry herself are some of my favorite parts of WitchSpring R – everyone was so likable. The writing and character designs are excellent, but the voice acting in particular shone. The game defaulted to the Japanese voice actors, who were phenomenal, but there is voice acting in both Japanese and Korean (where the developer is from). I ended up surprised by how much I was moved by the story, particularly with Pieberry’s storyline. Early on a bird named Black Joe becomes a companion and I ended up surprised by just how much I loved their relationship as it developed.

This is all bolstered by engaging gameplay that involves both crafting and turn based combat. This reminded me a lot of the core gameplay loop of the Atelier series, which is one of my favorite game series. You gather items, craft them into items, and then use the crafting to bolster your combat abilities. You can upgrade your magic skills through crafting magic circles to make stronger abilities, make healing items, or even make consumables with permanent stat increases. The crafting system is a bit simple and straightforward – if you have the right ingredients you can make the item, but I do love this gameplay loop. It leads to a lot of satisfying moments where you get the right ingredients to improve your fire magic spell, for instance.

There are a variety of other systems at play as well. Throughout WitchSpring R you’ll be able to recruit a large number of pets to join you in battle, each with different abilities and powers. Some even help with traversal, which leads to more options. You can improve Pieberry’s stats through training, as well, which has a number of well designed mini games that reward you with extra stat points if you do particularly well. I liked this change of pace, and that these extra systems lead to a good reward with additional summons or higher stats. This also makes Pieberry’s build pretty customizable, furthered by upgrades you can make to your magic staff.

My biggest gripe with these systems and WitchSpring R as a whole is that I wish there was more depth to some of these systems, particularly with crafting and battle. At a certain point, battle tactics became mostly about getting out the same powerful moves over and over without real strategy. I wish there was more to the crafting and the combat because these are fun, but more often than not I just defaulted to making and using whatever would have the highest power. There’s also so many little systems in place that it feels like the focus was on having a variety of shallow experiences over depth to one or two core systems. Did we really need a specific aiming mechanic to shoot a bow and arrow to harvest materials from animals? Did we need the blacksmithing mechanic that I used only once? I liked all these mechanics just fine, but my biggest issue was wanting more.

That all being said, WitchSpring R is an achievement. Coming from a two person development team, this is a labor of love that remade the first game in a mobile gaming series into a hidden gem of an RPG that is well worth your time. I enjoyed every moment I had with WitchSpring R and I’ll be keeping an eye out for any other games from Kiwiwalks. This is a really great concept and I hope to see a lot more from this series and this game.