Little Witch Nobeta Review: A Magical Corridor Shooter Soulslike
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Two genres I love to see combined- a corrdior shooter and a soulslike - make a potent brew in Little Witch Nobeta. a fast-paced independent adventure from Taiwan-based studio Pupuya Games that’s essentially a Soulslike magical shooter that makes the most of its flexible engine, combat and movement options, and castle-fortress setting. Though it has been a Steam Early Access game, with its first 40% or so playable for around two years, I only just recently stumbled upon some footage of this game in action and immediately knew that I had to try it out when the final release dropped for multiple systems in early October.
Little Witch Nobeta’s obscure narrative takes anywhere from twelve to twenty hours to complete (depending on how much exploring you want to do) and involves a quest for a mythic throne deep within a treacherous castle. With a nagging but powerful magical cat as your guide, a tiny witch named Nobeta, who obviously has history with the place, will face off against magical shades, ghostlike entities, and victims of cruel experiments - “crafted souls'' that possess various dolls or shells, driven desperate by ambitions, delusions, and/or unfinished business.
To this end, Nobeta will need to solve environmental puzzles, explore dark corridors, and navigate sometimes-tricky platforming sections, all while fighting off both melee and ranged foes. While Nobeta does have a weak melee combo, for the most part, you’ll be rolling, leaping, or dashing out of the way and punishing from a distance. You can double-jump, or jump and dash, or do an attack combo mid-air to push Nobeta forward. Charging spells can be canceled by dodging. Your movement speed and options strike a happy balance, and your Stamina can be upgraded to allow you to pull off more moves before needing to rest.
Sometimes You Need to Spell It Out
You’ll acquire four different elemental spells that can be fired off like typical shooter weapons or charged up and cast, granting Nobeta additional positive effects that last until you either unleash the offensive spells or run out of time.
Arcane is the basic medium-ranged missile, and its charged shot lets you shoot a long-ranged piercing shot to hit multiple foes. Ice shoots out rapid-fire missiles, but while charged, your defenses will be bolstered, and you can lock onto multiple targets to rain down an icicle shower. Fire functions like a Super Shotgun, specializing in close-ranged stuns and splash damage. When the spell is charged, Fire bolsters your melee hits, and unleashes a deadly explosion. Thunder is easily the best spell in its base form, as it does tons of damage and can be used to snipe faraway foes, though it uses up a lot of Mana. Charged up, it grants added speed to Nobeta, and delivers a powerful lightning strike that’s a little tough to aim.
In addition to the four basic elemental spells, you’ll unlock spells that grant additional movement options. Upgrades to the basic spells can be found in chests, and some of them are quite hidden - this is a game that highly encourages exploration, and at 12-15 hours long on an initial playthrough, completionists will enjoy peeking into every nook and cranny for the over 120 hidden items.
Hogwarts, Eat Your Heart Out
Visually, there’s no getting around the fact that not everyone will be a fan of Little Witch Nobeta’s “loli” aesthetic, or the preponderance of, say, cute but delusional female bosses and other assorted fan servicey elements. It’s not like you’ll get in trouble if Mom walks in, but if the developers had put in a little less pantsu, they might have appealed to a broader slice of the Western market. With that said, they’ve clearly put a lot of effort into the game’s visual style, from the costumes, to the animations, to the lighting effects.
Aurally, the music hits the right notes, although some tracks will play for a tad too long, especially if you get lost. The Japanese voice acting is decent, but at times the English translation lacks flair, which had me feeling that some of the characters’ motivations and quirks were getting shortchanged.
What surprised me was the castle itself, which not only plays host to many secret passageways, mindscapes, vertical caves, and even dark sections where you’ll need to use a magical light orb to progress, but at times features gorgeous views that I didn’t expect to encounter in an indie game.
The levels also provide a plethora of platforming challenges. Sometimes you’ll stop, look around at your environment, and think, “hey, I bet I can charge up my Thunder, run, double-jump, then spam the attack button to get over to that ledge”, or “I wonder if there’s something around this blind corner that I can access by jumping between the narrow ledges?” Sometimes a dead-end is just a dead-end, but other times you’ll find a number of hidden collectible treasures and one of 45 chests. In true Dark Souls fashion, the in-menu descriptions of items help fill out the lore of the game.
If you’re anything like me, you may end up stuck at multiple points, retracing your steps due to the game’s total lack of any kind of map or compass. Yes, your sense of direction will be tested, but mostly in the darker and more claustrophobic first half of the game.
Well-realized Boss Encounters
Most if not all of the major boss enemies tested my mastery of the game’s spells and defensive mechanics, and they’re the highlight of the game. Nobeta’s diminutive size actually fits the physics perfectly. She can’t tank hits at all and offen gets knocked around like a ragdoll if you mistime a dodge. Even regular enemies can easily catch you off-guard by appearing suddenly from the shadows or sniping you with a hard-hitting magic spell. I really enjoyed the challenge provided before I accidentally over-leveled in my first playthrough. Advance difficulty is recommended for veteran action gamers, and if you like your skills to be tempered, I would recommend taking care to not over-level Nobeta and blunt the challenge.
If I had to list the negatives, the performance did dip at times whenever a lot was going on at once, but I can’t say it messed me up all that much. Even so, I would have preferred to play this on my PC, but it’s having problems at the moment. The aiming system is also wonky at times. In some vertical fights, I was trying to cycle through targets or locking onto a different target and found it impossible without breaking lock-on and trying to manually sight my target by zooming in. It seems like a minor glitch that will hopefully be addressed someday, and one that would not be a problem for keyboard and mouse users on PC.
The story is also rather opaque. Though characters spill their guts regarding their motivations in true anime fashion, it is confusing, and one gets the sense that more of this world and its characters could have been explored. After beating the game, there’s a New Game + with tougher enemies, and a video gallery with some promotional animation shorts. I commend Little Witch Nobeta for offering a good amount of options for adjusting the visuals, camera, and controls, but they really should have included an optional map or compass for folks with a bad sense of direction, especially in some of the earlier levels, and the pitch-black ones.
A Solid Experience For Action Game Fans
Overall, I’m very happy that I gave this title a chance. Though it’s heavily inspired by other games in its genre, it fills a niche with yet untapped potential - this is a third-person action title with a nimble mage that focuses on precision movements and timing, as well as using your wits to not get trapped by hard-hitting foes. It accomplishes its goal with aplomb. I look forward to finishing my second playthrough and I hope to see more titles like it in the future.
Buy (8/10)
PROS
Combat is fun and often tactical, requiring dodging and hot-switching spells
Atmospheric, exciting, and even suspenseful level design
Well-designed boss battles that keep you on your toes
CONS
Short length and opaque story
Minor glitches and frame drops on Switch
What I Played
Played for 18.5 hours and beat the game on Normal, 5 hours into Advance difficulty
Collected 123 items
Unlocked all costumes
Discovered 37/45 chest
*This review is based on the Asia version of Little Witch Nobeta in the Nintendo Switch, which has english translation
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