The Knight Witch is a deceptively challenging bullet hell/deck-building/Metroidvania hybrid from developer Super Mega Team. It lures players in with its charming art style and mechanics, only to punish them for making the smallest mistake. It toes the line between feeling challenging and unfair, and while it often dips into the latter, the overall experience is a positive and rewarding one.
The world of The Knight Witch is one reeling from a devastating war between science and magic. The survivors of the war fled underground to the city of Dungeonidas due to the surface being rendered uninhabitable. Here, players take control of Rayne, an aspiring Knight Witch who is forced to step up when a threat previously thought defeated returns and overwhelms the kingdom.
The core of The Knight Witch's gameplay is balancing traditional shooting and card-based magic. Much like other deck-builders such as Slay the Spire, The Knight Witch allows players to build a deck from over thirty cards, the order or which is randomized whenever a card is used. Rather than serve as an RPG element, the cards act more like special abilities that require a certain amount of energy to use. While some feel less effective than others, the sheer variety and creativity of the cards allows players a ton of flexibility.
On the other hand, the traditional shooting mechanics are more frustrating than rewarding. Players can manually aim their fire, but the aiming cursor is small and easily lost while dodging fire; a task made difficult by Rayne's speed which is nice for traversal but makes precise movement difficult. The result of this is a manual aiming system that is overwhelmingly inaccurate. There is an auto-aim mechanic present that remedies this problem, but result is less engagement with the gameplay.
The Knight Witch's biggest flaw are that boss fights feel unfair more often than they feel challenging. The very first moments of the game have players controlling the most powerful Knight Witch in her battle with the previous war's bad guy, meant to give players a taste of how powerful they can become. However, this power fantasy is dashed to ribbons when the sheer amount of screen space dominated by projectiles often makes it impossible to dodge without the right card.
That said, Rayne will ultimately overcome them and be greeted by a lovable cast of characters. Rayne's power increases over time by helping these characters who will then form a link to her, each one bringing her closer to her highest level and mon. It's a charming mechanic that fits into this world perfectly and adds a little extra investment into the inhabitants of this world. Overall, The Knight Witch is a charming and well-balanced experience that occasionally dips into unfair territory, but ultimately leaves players invested in the home they are fighting for.
The Knight Witch is available on November 29, 2022 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Screen Rant was provided with a PlayStation 5 digital for the purpose of this review.
The Knight Witch
- Released
- November 29, 2022
