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Sacred Reviews: Witchworks

Introduction

Witchworks was an entry in the 2014 Indie Game Maker contest and stands in contrast to many of the entries due to it being a 2D horizontal sidescroller. Though the most astounding aspect of this project is that work on it began only a few days before the submission deadline. As you can imagine this means the game is rather brief and only contains a small handful of levels, but the quality of a game shouldn't be determined by its length but by how fun it is to play. So, the real question is will you have fun playing Witchworks for the short time it takes to complete? And, I'd have to say that you will.

Story

The game is built around a rather simple story about a witch animating all of the objects in your house and your quest to put everything right. Sadly, this is only explained on the game's summary page and not within the game itself. While, I don't expect a project like this to have an epic story it would have been nice if the game at least included a brief text crawl explaining the setup before the start of the first level.

Gameplay

On the gameplay side of things the game is your standard 2D horizontal sidescroller with the player shooting at enemies that appear near the right hand side of the screen and will either emerge from the top, bottom, or right-side of the screen respectively. As you can imagine the game also includes optional weapons, but differs from many sidescrollers that I've experienced in the past in that you can switch between various optional weapons at the press of a button. Though to make use of these weapons you need to have enough magical energy stored up, but these weapons can be a major boon to the player if they wish to advance effectively through a stage. The game also includes a bomb option, but to utilize it you need a full magical charge so I've never used it.

The game also allows the player to choice from various modifiers which can either make the game easier or harder depending on their effects. Though, most of the modifiers will act as an aid to the player by increasing their health, increasing the rate they gain magic, or increasing their attack power. The only modifier that is more of a hindrance than an asset in my opinion is the score modifier, but that might just be because I don't see the value in earning a high scorer at the expense of taking increased damage from hits.

The game also features three difficult settings which range from safe to madness. Though, my skills being what they are I've only ever been able to beat this game on safe.

Graphics

In terms of visuals the game has a rather simplistic art style going for it which ties in rather well with the simple nature of the game. My only complaint about the visuals is that most of the enemies appear to be rather simple apparitions rather than household objects. I was just expecting a game that is about a witch bring your belongings to life that you would be facing off against rugs, lamps, tables, and chairs. I will give the game some credit for the living magazine containing adult material though.

Sound

The game has a rather limited soundtrack comprised of only a few songs, but this isn't particularly surprising seeing as how the game only contains three levels. Though the few musical tracks this game does use are rather catchy and remind me a bit of Tempest 2000 on the Atari Jaguar for some strange reason.

Conclusion

Witchworks is a rather simple game that is fun to play and is a good reminder to any developer that a game doesn't need to be complicated in order to be fun to play. It's also a good reminder that an emphasis on mechanics is far more important than the narrative itself. Although, a stronger narrative with character development could have only worked in this game's favor in my opinion. Regardless, Witchworks is a rather enjoyable experience and something I'd recommend to anyone that likes to shoot hordes of oncoming enemies.