In my WitchSpring R review, I discuss what I like about the game, how it looks on the Switch, and whether I think it’s a strong RPG or not!
Check out WitchSpring R by visiting the game’s official Steam page. If you’re a fan of cosy JRPGs, with magic, gathering and crafting, and an engaging story, this game is the one for you!
Witchspring R Review
What do I think about the witchy RPG that follows Pieberry as she embarks on a new adventure?
Intuitive Combat
The curse of turn-based combat is that it can sometimes feel dull. Luckily, that isn’t the case with WitchSpring R, as there are plenty of things to take into consideration per battle. Firstly, you have to worry about your MP, whilst ensuring that you’re dealing maximum damage. You’re allowed to start a battle with a potion too, for example, to enhance your strength or power!
You can collect pets, which help you in battle. Each pet has a different unique ability, such as the Seed Spirit, which helps to replenish your MP upon striking the enemy. The pet you choose to fight alongside you all depends on the type of support you want.
Depending on the weapon you use, you also unlock special skills for Pieberry, like Life Seed. You upgrade your staff by Evolving and Nourishing it with selected ingredients, which goes on to grant you access to even more skills tied to that staff type.
Engaging in combat is completely up to you as well. You aren’t ambushed by oncoming enemies, and instead, you get to approach a group of them yourself. Check their stats beforehand to make sure you can take them on, and select ‘Start Combat’.
Scrumptious Visuals and Sound
The graphics and art for WitchSpring R are what initially caught my eye, as I’m always weak to a cute anime style! The animations and character models are impressively high quality for the Nintendo Switch, and the portraits of the important members of the cast are expressive and colourful. The game holds up incredibly well on a console that’s well overdue an upgrade.
The environments are quite simplistic, but it works for WitchSpring R. If the map was overly busy, it would make it hard to navigate the different areas with Pieberry, especially with the fixed position of the camera, which is slightly top-down.
Sound effects during battles, and while exploring the various locations, are top-notch quality. I can’t talk about the audio without mentioning the great voice acting too. The entire VA cast did an amazing job at bringing the characters to life and making them authentic.
Crafting
I’m a little disappointed with how the crafting mechanic is very hands-off. I was hoping it would be something like the Atelier series, where I have to place the ingredients down myself. However, it’s short and snappy, as you select the recipe you want, and the ingredients you have, and Pieberry stirs her cauldron and ta-da! I don’t mind this, but I do love a good interactive crafting feature in games.
Speaking of ingredients, you collect them whilst exploring the world, but you can also get materials when defeating enemies. Every time you pick up an ingredient from the ground, or you beat a group of opponents, a little pop-up appears, which lets you know how long is left until they respawn. I’m a big fan of this addition as it makes it much easier to keep track of when I plan on stocking up on ingredients.
Progression
The progression system is one of the best I’ve seen in recent times. There’s also a bunch of new recipes to learn, and new spells to craft, so you can customise how you fight in combat throughout the game.
On the topic of increasing your stats, there’s also the Training mode, which is where you can select from a range of activities. Each training session is a short minigame, while RNG chooses which one you’ll play of those you selected. You have to choose the session wisely, depending on the stats you want to work on! If you don’t feel like playing the minigame, you can auto-skip it too.
Opening the map, you’re met with a beautiful and clear layout of each location. It’s easy to move around thanks to the teleportation mechanic, which requires you to interact with waypoints while exploring. With the need to go back to previous areas when farming materials, this is a much-appreciated feature.
With the ability to upgrade your weapons, collect pets, and increase your stats, there’s a constant sense of progression in WitchSpring R. It’s one of the best things about it, and makes it an essential purchase for RPG fans.
The good
- Gorgeous visuals, even on the Nintendo Switch
- Intuitive and customisable combat
- An easy-to-follow progression system
- Engaging story
- Collect and train pets to help you in battle
- Great voice acting
The bad
- Open-world environments are a little simplistic at times
- During larger battles, like boss fights, I noticed a little bit of lag