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The Knight Witch – Review

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Dungeonidas is under attack, and with the 4 Knight Witches nowhere to be found, it comes to Rayne to fight off the invading Golems, is Rayne merely an innocent bystander or is there a secret power hidden deep inside?

From the start, you take control of Robyn, the leader of the Knight Witches and you’re swiftly reminded not to let the cute graphics fool you, with a short side-scrolling prelude to a boss battle that feels impossible at first glance, bullets everywhere, and little hand-holding, I lost track of how many times, I died before discovering I had to pick up the blue mana orbs and then use their power to unleash spell cards. After this, I made swift work of the oversized enemy, but it was a trial by fire.

After this tough introduction, you take control of Robyn and things calm down a little, there’s a chance to practice moving around the screen which remains smooth and fluent at all times, as well as firing back with RB to automatically aim at the closest target, you can also use the right stick for manual aim and both methods work incredibly well.
As well as the quality shooting mechanics, there’s a deck-building element as you build a selection of spell cards, you get to choose a selection of all unlocked cards to add to your deck, with 3 randomly appearing in the bottom right, to be activated with X, Y and B.
As explained above, these cards make a massive difference, especially when fighting some of the tougher boss battles but it’s up to you what loadout you go for, will you go for all-out attacks, such as a weapon that will seek the nearest enemy, even through walls and lightning that strikes enemies above or below you or maybe more defensive with a circle of rocks that will absorb incoming bullets.

There’s a decent range of spells, and your preferred loadout will mostly depend on whether you prefer to stay at range picking off enemies or head into the mix with a shield, with around 30-40 cards in total, and a deck of 7, there are not too many that it becomes a complicated deck-building exercise, but there’s more than enough to warrant heading to the practice arena to test out a few spells before returning to battle to put them to use.

As the story progresses, we learn that Rayne is indeed a Knight Witch, but unproven and unknown she’s weak and inexperienced. The Knight Witches gain power the more people trust and believe in them, so thanks to a newfound PR friend, you’ll take part in a press conference after each level, which will give you two options between honesty and prioritising popularity.
Do you level up quicker, or take the long route and remain honest with your followers?

As you venture through Dungeonidas, you’ll meet a variety of characters, from the muffin-loving Skeletons working for the Underbaker, to civilians often found trapped in a cage waiting to be rescued, with each introduction, you’ll be a little better known and your link as a Knight Witch (and your level) will slowly increase.

You’ll also unlock new skills, such as a short dash that allows you to pass through certain structures, or a special weapon that binds to RT that opens certain blocked passages to explore previously inaccessible areas.

The first half of the game mostly centralises around the Castle of Dungeonidas, reinforcing your defences against the invasion. There are plenty of storylines, between Rayne and her missing husband Akai, as well as the other Knight Witches and various key characters.
Later on, things move more towards the battle against the invading army, compiled with a new threat and with well over 10-12 hours of gameplay, there’s enough continuous progression that it never feels stale and more than enough to keep you entertained throughout.

The Knight Witch mostly remains fairly linear in progress with pretty defined “tasks” on what you need to do. You can press the “view” button to bring up an indicator of where to go next, it works most of the time, but I still found myself getting a little lost occasionally as the entirety of the level is accessible and you can easily end up heading back where you came from, thankfully there’s a map in the pause menu, which helps clear things up, but I would have loved to see the direction assistance point to the right door, not just the vague direction, as pausing, to tab over to the map multiple times can be a little frustrating.

The gameplay loop is a little samey at times, for the first half of the game, you’re heading to a location to be ambushed by a screen full of enemies, who drop “required item” once cleared. You then head off to the next inevitable ambush to acquire the next item, rinse and repeat until there’s a boss battle and then that mission is finished.
Thankfully, with constantly unlocking new spells and abilities and gradually stronger and more varied enemies, there’s enough to avoid it feeling like too much of a chore, but with no real collectables, there’s little reason to explore other than to head from A to B.

There’s some great writing and a few funny lines and while the actual storyline isn’t going to win any Oscars, combined with the fluid combat, it all compiles to form an impressive package, the only downfall in presentation is the audio, it’s perfectly fine in combat, but with some lengthy conversations, fully voiced lines would have been perfect also adding more personality to the characters, but with no voice acting, the audio isn’t up to the same standard as the lovely visuals.

You can see how good The Knight Witch looks from the screenshots, and rest assured it’s lovely and smooth throughout, even with dozens of enemies around, I never lost track of Rayne which makes avoiding the screen full of bullets far easier than some similar games.
I did encounter a little lost fluency on menus and conversations when pressing A wasn’t quite as responsive as I’d like, but in combat, where it really counts, it’s floorless.

It’s also worth mentioning that at times, The Knight Witch can be tough, really tough, but there’s a selection of cheats, which allow you to balance the game regardless of your skill level.

Deck building, the various moves and the storyline remain involving without ever becoming overwhelming. Sure enough, The Knight Witch isn’t going to appeal to everyone, but if you’re a fan of shooters, you’re in for a treat.
Beyond the visuals, It’s hard to pick any specific stand-out area because there’s such a high level of quality throughout.

EDIT: On the day this review went live (24 hours before planned release), we have been informed that The Knight Witch has been delayed from Tuesday 29th November until Friday the 2nd December, due to a glitch causing the Windows store, Xbox and Playstation versions to play slightly quicker than the desired speed.

After reviewing this information we have decided to stick with our initial review assessment. If the speed was increased during our playthrough, we don’t feel it made a significant impact on our enjoyment of the game.

The Knight Witch

Review by Lee Palmer

Gameplay
85%
Engagement
80%
Graphics
90%
Sound
80%
Value
80%

Summary

Beyond the visuals, It’s hard to pick any specific stand-out area because there’s such a high level of quality throughout.

83%

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