Witchcrafty

I want to be constructive and kind in reviews, even for bad games. I've disliked games and still recommended them because they'll be good for [i] someone [/i] out there. But honestly this is just a terrible game. Genuinely, do not buy this. It goes on sale for like a dollar. Still a dollar too expensive. It could be free and it's still not worth the 2 hours you'll never get back and the braincells it will kill. This is truly the worst thing I have ever played. Every review complains about the illegible translation and font, and the terrible controls. All that is true. You can't remap the controls, and they're really atypical for a metroidvania so it's annoying for the whole game. The game doesn't read half your input, and a lot of your input lags awfully. Saving is also terrible, you need to walk back all the time to get gems if you die, and you can't heal since healing items either spawn randomly or appear in really inconvenient rooms. And none of this is even close to the biggest issues this game suffers from. That is the absolutely nonsensical, mind meltingly infuriating combat system and enemy design. Half the enemies don't deal contact damage. The other half do. Some of them …

Witchcrafty is the perfect example of a game that has so much potential, but falls flat in nearly every aspect. Let's start with the positives. The music is absolutely awesome. Every stage has an awesome musical accompaniment that reminds me of GBA games. This game also uses my favourite GBA aesthetic with its graphics. It's truly gorgeous to look at and evokes feelings of nostalgia. That's about where the positives end, though. Nearly every aspect of this game was extremely difficult to push through. First and foremost, while I love the graphics, this game definitely feels like it should be a low-stakes cozy game. I was really surprised and disappointed to find out that this game is actually quite difficult, especially compared to the games I usually play. There's also no difficulty setting in this game, so if it's too hard, you're out of luck. Because this game is a Metroidvania, whenever you die, you go back to the last save point. You don't get to retain any of the gems you collect; it's like you literally go back to your previous save. It's frustrating because you can spend all this time collecting every gem and killing every enemy, only to die on the way …

This game has catchy music and absolutely GORGEOUS art, but that's not enough to save it I'm afraid. The movement and platforming is horribly buggy, with the protagonist often phasing through walls or getting stuck in the ground in the middle of tense battles, leading to unfair and unpredictable deaths. The story is confusing and dialogue is full of strange phrases or incorrect grammar. There are other minor issues here and there but they really start to pile up and make for a bad experience. I'd list them all but I've honestly lost track and forgotten most of them since I finished this game. I was too frustrated to make the review until now. There's clear potential here for a good game, and the characters were pretty memorable (except for their names, can't remember any of them) however, but this really should have spent some more time in the oven.

Witchcrafty is a 2D side-scrolling action-adventure developed and published by PigeonDev that blends classic platforming with light metroidvania progression and a whimsical fantasy aesthetic. Framed as the journey of a young witch trying to restore balance to a kingdom overtaken by dark forces, the game immediately establishes its tone through colorful pixel art, enchanted forests, icy caverns, and ruined castles that feel pulled from a storybook. Its visual identity is one of its strongest assets, leaning into vibrant palettes and expressive sprite work that give the world a lively, magical atmosphere. Gameplay centers on exploration, combat, and incremental ability unlocks. As with many metroidvania-inspired titles, progress is gated behind new powers that allow access to previously unreachable areas. The protagonist wields both a wand for close-range attacks and a set of elemental spells, including fire, ice, and lightning. These spells are not only combat tools but also interact with environmental elements, such as burning barriers or activating mechanisms. This dual-purpose design encourages players to think about traversal and combat as interconnected systems rather than sep…

A very soft recommend IF you love Metroidvanias and don't mind some of the shorter ones (Microvanias) currently out, and your backlog is short/already played all the heavy hitters. There are a lot of grammatical errors and the controls are a but finicky, but it's heart is in the right place and it's fun.

Im not sure if im just bad at the game but Witchcrafty felt kind of hard. Although, it was kind of fun i had a hard time enjoying it! One problem i had was when i walk through an area to switch screens it would continue walking the direction i was going. The controls also feel a bit janky as i have tried to double jump sometimes but didnt even jump overall a 6/10