The issue is partly exacerbated by the sheer amount of dialogue standing between you and the proper start of the game. But it does feel slightly off, as if penned by someone who has an excellent, but not innate understanding of English. It’s not badly written, in fact the script is rich in character and frequently witty (I particularly like the witch’s world-weary talking hat, who futilely chides the witch like an exhausted parent trying to stop their toddler from repeatedly jumping on their face). I’m not sure why Little Witch In The Woods opens like this, but it’s indicative of the game’s more general approach to storytelling and plot. Here, she discovers an abandoned witch’s cottage complete with underground alchemy lab, and decides to set up her own little potion-brewing business. Impulsive and impatient, our witch leaps at the first opportunity to disembark the train when it is delayed for unspecified reasons, venturing into the local woods to explore. The game’s over-elaborate opening puts you in the role of an apprentice witch transitioning from regular witch school to a sort-of witch finishing academy, which apparently necessitates a days-long train journey. And while I can’t profess to love Little Witch In The Woods, I am glad that I tried it (which is more than I can say for the time I tried kombucha). READ MORE: ‘Sniper Elite 5’’s Invasion multiplayer lets me be a sneaky bastard – and it’s the bestīut sometimes it’s good to step outside your comfort zone, to peer over the garden fence and see what your neighbour who listens to experimental jazz and brews his own kombucha is up to.In fact, the only way this game could be less my bag is if it had a broomstick-racing minigame. I’m also not that much into witches or top-down adventure games/RPGs. It features cute pixel art, cuter anime characters, and sickeningly cute anthropomorphised animals, none of which I’m especially into because I am a thirtysomething goblin man brought up on a diet of first-person shooters and world-conquering strategy games. This week, Rick Lane follows the candy trail of Little Witch In The Woods.įull disclosure before I pour out your bubbling weekly measure of Early Access analysis – Little Witch In The Woods is 100 per cent not a game made for me.
Unfinished Business is NME’s weekly column about the weird and wonderful world of Early Access games.