Before even installing the game, little witch nobeta really caught my attention. How could an action shooter of separated souls featuring a cute animated girl and her cat mate not be like this? I’m glad you did too, because as weird as a combination sounds, it works here. The game is pretty short, but there’s more than enough here to keep things entertaining without feeling drained.
First of all, little witch nobeta it is an action shooting game. Players run around the castle in the game and use Nobeta’s Staff to cast spells on enemies. There are four unlockable and upgradable attack types that can be swapped out effortlessly. Although they all work the same way, there are differences between them. Arcane, for example, is a medium-range single-hit spell, while Fire is a short-range multi-hit spell. Certain areas of the castle lend themselves better to certain types of spells, but you can use any type of spell you prefer at almost any time. The only exception is that there are a handful of puzzles that require you to solve certain spells. These are good enough both to make the different types useful and to teach you how to use them, but there aren’t many of them. Adding a few more puzzles built around using one type or another could have helped liven things up.
Where spell types differ the most is in their charge attacks. Each spell type has a unique charge shot, like Ice’s ice shard rain that locks onto enemies, or Thunder’s AOE beam that lets players choose where to hit. These attacks are the main reason to switch between spell types, and they’re a lot of fun to play. More often than not, I found myself using them on even the easiest enemies just because I could.
There are also physical staff attacks, but these are usually only used when you’re low on MP. Physical attacks are very similar to Dodge in that successful ones regenerate mana, but using them costs stamina, so it’s important to make sure they don’t drop too low either. Running out of energy, Nobeta will fall, leaving her completely vulnerable. After all, the game is like a soul, and opening yourself up like this can easily mean your death.
Speaking of soul-like objects, little witch nobeta there are plenty of them, and they make the game a lot of fun. Players must pray at shrines to set checkpoints in case they die, and these shrines also allow things like upgrades. Nobeta’s HP, MP, and spell damage, among other things, can be upgraded, and it’s a good way to give some extra power on top of learning and leveling (via a separate system ) spells. It’s also important to buy upgrades whenever possible, because another similar thing to Souls is that the enemies in the game, especially their bosses, can pose a threat.
As I mentioned in my overview of little witch nobeta, many of your non-boss enemies can feel more like pesky obstacles than challenges to overcome. After spending more time with the game, I think I can chalk it up to the shooting elements. Most retaliating enemies don’t deal much damage and are easy to dispatch, while most close-range enemies are fairly easy to dodge and then kill when they recover from their attack and prepare to try again. . Playing on the higher of the game’s two difficulty settings helps with this, as enemies deal more damage and take longer to kill, but it often feels like a chore. Larger areas with multiple enemies of different types were designed for fun battles, but I found they didn’t happen as often as I would have liked. A few more sections like this would have been a welcome addition.
Boss fights, on the other hand, were incredibly amusing. They deal quite a bit of damage and also take a long time to kill, so they really test your usability. little witch nobetaThe combat system of . I found myself dying against multiple bosses trying to figure out their attacks on the easiest difficulty, let alone what happened on the hardest. The magic system that allows you to easily switch spell types helps make these fights even more fun by allowing you to quickly change tactics if you find that the one you’re using isn’t working as well as you’d like. Bosses are where this game is at its best, and for a game as short as little witch nobeta, there are quite a few of them, which is fantastic. I could spend hours going through a boss race mode if there was one.
Another thing I mentioned in my preview was that I wish the world of little witch nobeta be a bit more open, and I’m happy to report that it seems to open up a bit more as you progress through the game. You get to earlier areas of the castle as you progress, and it There’s even an unlockable teleport ability to help you get around even faster. It’s a big help in finding treasure chests you missed or getting back to puzzles you couldn’t solve before. Personally, I would have liked it to be a little more open via more interconnected passageways, but you can eventually get back to any part of the castle relatively easily, so that’s not really an issue. Unlocking the teleport further speeds up the return process, making it even harder to complain.
For a game that would make most people gasp due to its blend of anime art style, action shooter genre, and soul-like gameplay, little witch nobeta It goes very well overall. Shooting components are fun to play and offer enough diversity to give you multiple combat options. Soullike pieces add fun and difficulty, as well as a small strategic element in the leveling system. And while the story isn’t grand or deep, with most of the world building in the form of stories attached to items found throughout the castle, there’s enough to push the game forward, which suits me. It’s not perfect, but the game is nothing if not fun, and I’ll definitely be back to play some more.
little witch nobeta released for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 on March 7, 2023. It’s available now for PC via Steam.