Little Witch in the Woods Review
Witches in Sitches
Ellie Blueriver, poster child for hyperfixation and poor impulse control, has recently graduated magna cum laude from the School for Witches in spite of herself, and now she is on the train to the city of Highlion. Once she arrives, she needs to introduce herself to one of the city's Witch Houses and be accepted for a few years of apprenticeship. She is not looking forward to this. She is, in fact, struggling with the need to stay put on a nice bench on the train and do nothing for the three-day trip. So the moment the train makes an unscheduled stop one evening, she's off to investigate this cool-looking tree she saw from the window. And then the train leaves without her, and she is a Little Witch in the Woods .
As far as Ellie is concerned, this is the Best Thing Ever. She finds a dilapidated Witch House to serve as home base as she explores the area and finds ways of helping the nearby village of Wisteria. Many years ago, strangling thorn vines destroyed most of the houses and drove off all but a few inhabitants. Ellie takes it upon herself to find the source of the thorn vines, eliminate them, and bring back as many former and new residents as possible. In part because witches are supposed to help people, but mostly because it's an excuse to run around, explore, see new things, and also help people. Her constant companion is Virgil: talking hat, family heirloom, voice of reason and conscience, and also occasional co-conspirator to commit identity fraud so that the witches' administration doesn't realize that Ellie is flying solo on this one.
Little Witch in the Woods is a cozy little adventure that hits some satisfying beats both in its main quest and the side stories of the various villagers. Some of the backstory revealed goes hard, and the localization from Korean is at its best where it counts the most. Unfortunately, the quality of localization lags more in the less central aspects, especially in things like greetings, salutations, and verbal recognition of others in a conversation, much of which forget that people do not usually address others directly in the third person in English. Further, a few items suffer name changes depending on where in the nested menus or dialogue boxes they are seen, and one backstory NPC gets two wholly different versions of his name in the same conversation. These issues stand out all the more in contrast to how well the core story is done, but as this game is still seeing fixes and updates for minor bugs, this may see some improvement in the future.
[caption id="attachment_183467" align="aligncenter" width="627"] That's a fair assessment, if not a nice one.[/caption]
To prove herself as an up-and-coming witch, not to mention earning spare cash, Ellie produces potions and magic candies. The candies are mainly for sale and certain quest criteria, but the potions are indispensable for excursions into the deeper forest, the clouded valley, or the mysterious star-studded cavern beneath the mountain. In order to produce anything, however, she must manage a mini-game to control the temperature of the fire, the direction of the stirring, and the order of ingredients.
Also, she needs to get the ingredients first, and quite often these ingredients do not wish to be got. In lieu of combat, this game makes item gathering an active experience. Some critters are more approachable than others, and even some of the plants have quirks that make them difficult to harvest. The player must learn through Ellie's observations, actively jotted down in her witch's encyclopedia, and use that knowledge to figure out how to proceed. Some can be approached with care for hugs and fur harvesting, while others require sneaky steps and bug nets. There are creatures that burrow and others that hide, and some are only available at night. As well, there are several that are much easier to manage with the appropriate potion. The game will even reward Ellie for certain actions that result in no item, but which are cute in their own right, such as petting giant mud puppy salamanders till they fall asleep.
[caption id="attachment_183468" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Catching li'l puppies, all plush with fluff[/caption]
While some creatures are easily caught and squeezed for their fluff, while others require more creative methods. Aside from her own two hands and an assortment of potions, there are three gathering tools available: a bug net, a pickax, and a shovel. In addition, Ellie arrives with a magic quill for taking notes, gets a fishing rod later, and eventually receives a cat toy with which to entertain any of the village's two dozen resident felines.
Filling it out and completing the encyclopedia's assigned challenges, even the ones without direct reward, is important, as it provides benefits such as better yields when harvesting, increased likelihood of special creature forms appearing, and permanent boosts to stamina and energy at major benchmarks. On the production side, as Ellie sells more candies, she gains access to better versions of workshop equipment as well as incubators, which can be used to produce more usable ingredients from fewer base materials. There is a steady advancement of her ability to explore, gather, and produce that works quite well.
[caption id="attachment_183469" align="aligncenter" width="640"] It won't be the last![/caption]
The spritework in this game is excellent for conveying the feel of cozy, colorful adventure, with dozens of adorable critters, pretty plants, memorable characters, and the aforementioned felines. Ellie's encyclopedia and personal notes provide more visual detail in portraiture. The little witch herself is highly animated, both in personality and in graphics, and the action is fluid whether she's walking, running, swimming, swooping on her broom, or using any of her various tools to relieve critters of their useful bits. As a further plus, the game has a robust system for expanding and decorating the Witch House. While I did not personally delve too deep into the possibilities, I did enjoy arranging stuffed plushies of all the local critters. Others of my acquaintance would likely love the opportunity to arrange the house to their whims.
In keeping with the low-key vibes, the game's soundtrack is calmly instrumental, with different tracks for the different areas and some environmental sound effects. Also, there's an event halfway through the game where the villagers hold an amateur parade, and it is adorably dissonant. Even so, this is not a standout soundtrack, but rather a supplemental element to the overall experience which does its job admirably.
For RPGamers who like cuteness and low-stakes adventure, there is much to enjoy here. Each of the main areas of the game provides its own puzzles and mysteries to figure out, and discovering how best to approach the various creatures provides for fun adventures. The characters and story are strong points, and the decoration aspect is not to be ignored. Little Witch in the Woods is a game that knows its niche and fills it well.
Disclosure: This review is based on a free copy of the game provided by the publisher.
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