Review: WitchSpring R (Nintendo Switch)
A reimagining of 2015’s WitchSpring, WitchSpring R is a cute, story-driven RPG that does an equally impressive job at reviving the original world and introducing new players to it. The game begins in a forest, where a little witch called Pieberry lives dreaming of delicious pies. You begin by exploring the forest, gathering ingredients for potions by collecting leaves and hunting rabbits and pudding monsters.
The action ramps up when the peace of your home in the forest is shattered by the intrusion of armed knights on a witch hunt. As you battle them and gain your familiar, Black Joe, you learn about the world around you, ravaged by a war between gods and humans who continue to hunt and capture magical beings—including witches. Motivated by both self-preservation and Pieberry’s quest to find delicious pies, you develop your magical combat skills and venture out into the world beyond the forest.
WitchSpring R has a relatively small map, but an excellent story that takes you back through various areas as you build a community with the characters you meet. As much as the game begins with a cutesy, playful style, it eases you into a revolutionary plot to overthrow the tyrannical Pope and restore a peaceful harmony between humans and deities to the world. You travel through the map collecting blessings from the old deities, ramping up your power to take on the biggest boss battles.
The storyline is both profound and wholesome. On your journey, you tangle with a team of loveable bandits, navigate multiple heart-wrenching searches for children separated from their parents during the war, and never giving up on your quest for pie. The side characters are wonderfully written, with full personalities and their own distinct narratives—not all of which end happily. Throughout, the narrative manages to balance the cute design style with a playful sense of humour and moments of rich solemnity that examine the impact of conflict.
Along the way, you encounter new enemies, from pudding monster royalty to almighty dragons that take a lot of strategy to beat. You also make new friends, both within the story and magical creatures you can encounter in the wild and mind-control into becoming your familiars, who will join you in battle and which you can ride to access secret areas. With each new place, you find new ingredients to make into new potions that boost your stats or can be used in combat, along with new spell books and recipes.
As a remake, WitchSpring R adds to the world of the original in a way that makes it worth revisiting if you’re already familiar with the series and feels fresh and unique to anyone new to the story. The compelling story winds cleverly through the map in a way that makes revisiting areas interesting, with new gems to find and respawning enemies to loot. The beautifully designed world is filled with plenty to do outside the plot to make it well worth exploring to its fullest.
