The Knight Witch
When The Knight Witch is firing on all cylinders, the screen is a flurry of brightly colored bullets and monstrous mechs, with Rayne at the heart of it all, sending out death spirals, dropping bombs, and calling down lightning. Tricky environmental puzzles break the fast-twitch tension between these sequences, allowing players to figure out how to maneuver homing mines to weakened walls, or to juggle a sequence of switches in order to bypass a warren of locked doors.
The Knight Witch
In some ways, I'm shocked no one's made a Metroid-like twinstick bullet-hell shooter with witches before now (and if you have, apologies, please tell me about your game immediately). Putting you in the flying magic boots of a witch capable of shooting spells from their hands is such a great fit for fending off waves of orbs, spells and other beam-like nasties, and marrying it all to beautifully crafted Metroid-like environments is just the icing on an already satisfying cake. Did I mention your spells are also represented by a randomised deck of cards as well? Oh yes. The Knight Witch is something special all right, so strap in and let me tell you about it.
The Knight Witch was developed by Glitch Factory and published by Ysbryd Games. Our review is based on the PC version. It is also available for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, Xbox Series XS, and Xbox One.
Marcus is a small town gamer from Tennessee who loves turning gaming topics into meaningful discussions. He has always been enthralled with the stories told by single-player titles such as Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy, with his most recent passion project being Destiny 2. More importantly, he believes in the social power and change that can come from gaming relationships and interactions. You can find him pretty regularly on Twitch under his gaming alias GingerThrust. Outside of gaming, Marcus has varied hobbies including reading, exploring new bars and restaurants and attempting to make the perfect cocktail. He even skydived, once and only once.
Once upon a time in the world of The Knight Witch there was a big war. Long story short, a couple of rich people almost destroyed the world in an attempt to get even richer. But luckily, the four knight witches, a group of fighters that get stronger the more people believe in them, were there to protect everyone and managed to defeat the threat. In the process, the surface world became uninhabitable, but during the final battle, a hole into the surface of the planet was created that revealed an underground world where people can now live in peace.
Ten years prior to the events of the game, there was a civil war that left the surface of the planet permanently destroyed. the war was won by the knight witches: beings who gain their power by forming emotional links with the people they're defending. Players step into the boots of Rayne, a knight witch trainee who did not participate in the great war. But when an uprising happens during the anniversary of the final battle, it's up to her to figure out what's going on and learn some very painful history about the people she's fighting for and against.
Just as they did with Rise & Shine, Super Mega Team builds around some deeper themes in the game. In this one, it's the potential addiction and toxicity of fame. With the knight witch powers coming directly from the people trusting her, Rayne, and by extension, the player, will have to decide how to respond at certain points -- do you tell a lie to keep people happy, or tell a depressing or dark truth? The price of fame and power weighs heavily on the various main characters that you run across. As you rescue people and give interviews, your "link level" will grow. At every level up, you can decide to upgrade either your shooting or magic powers (more on that in a second).
The game starts off with an admittedly preachy plotline about how Earth is on the brink of destruction because of the irresponsible existence of the Daigadai empire in exploiting resources. As such, citizens begin to rebel against them in an effort to preserve nature, which is futile until the knight witches come in to save the day.
The Knight Witch comes out on November 29, 2022 for across Windows PC (via Steam), Xbox One, Xbox Series XS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. You can check out the same playable demo which is available until October 10th, over on its Steam page.Super Awesome Hyper Dimensional Mega Team, Team17, The Knight WitchAbout bigbear51Got into gaming thanks to a nice old lady who lived across the street. Enjoy most genres of games.
A critical issue has surfaced on the console versions of The Knight Witch, which results in unprecedented increase of gameplay speed in the game. This unfortunately affects several other gameplay mechanics which doesn't reflect the original version of the game the developers had intended to produce. A patch is coming to address this issue but a delay has been placed on the console versions of the game due to this bug. The Nintendo Switch, Steam and GOG version of the game are unaffected and will launch as planned originally.
The graphics are charming. The combat is challenging. And the variety and creativity of the cards you collect, as well as the ability to switch between auto and manual aim in your shooting, allow for diverse gameplay scenarios and a customized playstyle that is fun and engaging.
Graphically, The Knight Witch is stunning. It is a beautiful American anime style, and all of the characters look fantastic, both in their text image and gameplay. Rayne is absolutely adorable, and her mannerisms are so wonderfully painted throughout the game, like her fear, anger, and joy. Some of the comedy is also portrayed wonderfully, too, and the game just genuinely looks amazing throughout. The only issue here is that loading between areas is pretty long on the Nintendo Switch, which really takes the gas out.
Let's talk Gameplay then. As mentioned earlier, The Knight Witch is a shoot-'em-up Metroidvania which means you'll have to navigate through complex corridors that spawl out in every direction. Since you can fly freely you can dodge pretty much everything by just getting out of the way while shooting. Yes, despite being a knight you actually shoot things with handy magic bullets that reach about half your screen.
By the way, you can only cast those spells by using up the amount of mana required for them. Mana is dropped by enemies after death or receiving a certain amount of damage, which is why you always want to keep shooting and keep close. And there are some really disgusting ability combos. Going from a feeble witch in training to obliterating some enemies in just a few seconds is amazing. The Knight Witch in that way really rewards having a sense of mastery over its systems. Especially in the late game when you get the option to master earlier encounters for special rewards.
Now I have gushed about the game intensively and I will continue to do so in a bit. But there are some problems and complaints, even if they are rather minor. One is that the enemy variety seems to fall off a bit after the midway point. Instead, you just get stronger versions of older enemies with a few extra gimmicks and there is even a lore reason for it. But a bit of the magic is a little lost here after a while. The game makes definitely up for it, though, by just combining certain enemy types to offer fresh challenges while also switching up the environments.
It's probably because the world of Dungeonidas managed to feel like a mythic, magical place that I wanted to protect and see thrive again. So if you're looking for a game you can explore to your heart's content or just something that takes you on an endearing journey with lots of heartfelt touches, please buy this game. The Knight Witch will be available for Nintendo Switch and PC on November 29, 2022. The Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 versions have been delayed until December 2nd due to technical issues. 041b061a72