Witch Rise - An Indie Cartoony Shooter

Witch Rise is a game set in a magical kingdom, a once well-respected witch has became obsessed with the pursuit of knowledge and power. At the same time, a young girl started learning about magic. As is typical in fantasy lore, the witch wasn't thrilled about this budding magician. She cast a spell that turned the girl into a little piglet. After casting her spell, the witch taunted the pig-child, proudly proclaiming that the only way to become worthy again was to collect four magical staffs hidden around the world and to defeat her in battle. Determined to regain her human form, the young girl accepted the challenge and embarked on an epic adventure to find the staffs and ultimately confront the witch.

The game is a traditional Doom-like first person shooter. Think Doom 1993, not Doom 2016. However, where the original Doom games are hardcore, fast-paced, gore-y action shooters, Witch Rise goes for a much more slower-paced, fantasy themed game. While the game is much slower that Doom, Witch Rise still has the occasional challenge. Some of these challenges include regions teeming with a variety of unique monsters, boss battles that trap you in the room until the boss is defeated, and doors that can only be unlocked by activating a switch or lever.

As you venture through the magical kingdom, you'll run through four unique biomes: a wooded forest, an icy wilderness, an underground sewer, and a boiling lava landscape. Throughout the game, you'll find areas that you cannot immediately progress through. Luckily though, this was intentional by the developer, as there are multiple branching paths throughout the individual rooms in Witch Rise. Sometimes the reason you cannot get through an area is because you are missing an item or an upgrade that is purchasable at one of the shops scattered around the game world.

While I think most of the game is incredible, there are a couple of things I feel could be improved on. The most important thing that should be improved on is the map. In Witch Rise, you do not start off with a map. The map is one of the purchasable items that can be found in the shops. Once you purchase the map, you'll see that it is just simply boxes connected to one another. While the game does have a compass to tell you the direction you are headed, it still is not a very good system. I believe that a simple dot indicating the player's location in the room would be a great improvement.

The other major downside of Witch Rise is the length of the game. I was able to beat the game in around two hours, and I'm sure it could be completed even quicker if you aren't trying to look around for every secret. I would love to see additional biomes, monsters, and bosses added to the game.

The game is usually priced at $4.99, but I've often seen it go on sale for even less.

Final thoughts: Don't go into Witch Rise expecting it to change your life. It's a fun little pixelated first person shooter that's light on challenge and short of total game time. Overall, I give Witch Rise a rating of 4/5.

Disclosure: I received a free review copy for this game. No developer, publisher, or anyone else associated with the game had any input on my review.

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