The January drought is an utterly annoying period to deal with when you’re grasping for any kind of brand new release to talk about and play. Sure, we are still eating our Steam Holiday Sale leftovers, but given how there are already some interesting 2024 bangers out there (well, technically there’s just Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, but the point stands), we feel like it’s already time to be given some new content to try out. And what we have here today isn’t exactly that… a console of a small PC indie you may have never heard of before, called Witch Rise. A game with a handful of interesting ideas, but once again, botched by a low budget and overall lack of polish. And the fact it’s basically being marketed as yet another collection of easy trophies for your PSN profile.

Published by Ratalaika Games, you know what to expect from a game like Witch Rise. It’s not meant to be a grandiose indie gem. It’s a short (as in, you can 100% it in less than two hours) Unity game, clearly meant to evoke a sense of nostalgia, with some easy gold trophies to boost your virtual ego. But what makes this game so disappointing is the fact it actually had a handful of neat ideas which could have resulted in some better than a quick fix for your trophy-hoarding FOMO.

This is a first-person shooter, but set inside a dungeon crawler with some slight RPG elements. You need to explore this small map, plastered with enemies and slight puzzles, in order to acquire some keys, defeat some bosses, grab new equipment, and defeat the final boss. You improve your health and MP (which works as this game’s ammo meter) by leveling up; you do so by grinding, killing loads of adorable enemies scattered throughout the map. The game is entirely nonlinear as well, giving you a shocking amount of freedom to explore its many rooms at will. Those are all interesting gameplay elements, which could (and should) have resulted in a fun experience. So why isn’t Witch Rise worthy of a recommendation?

There are too many gameplay-related issues which hampered Witch Rise‘s potential. For starters, you need to move around the map in order to look for a staff, which is this game’s projectile launcher. Before that, all you’ll have at your disposal is a sword. Dealing with enemies when all you have is a sword is horrendous. Due to the nature of the game’s art style (2D sprites thrown into a 3D environment), there is no depth of perception, and the collision detection simply does not work as intended. You never know how close you are to an enemy in order to attack it, and how safe you are from being attacked. Add in the faulty camera system, and you might even start spinning in circles if you get attacked often during a fight. It’s borderline nauseating.

To make matters worse, the game, as a whole, is really repetitive, though I do understand it’s an issue caused by its minuscule budget. I even think this was made, in its entirety, by a single person. It’s a cute-looking game, but the environmental variety is too repetitive. I can say the same about the character designs and even the music. They are not bad, just tiresome to look at and listen to after just a few minutes. The fact you get fed up with it after a handful of minutes, even though the game itself isn’t even that long to begin with, says a lot.

It is not entirely terrible. As previously mentioned, Witch Rise has some good ideas. In theory, mixing dungeon crawling with retro-styled shooting and RPG elements could have been pretty interesting. Sadly, it is marred by equally annoying gameplay and execution decisions. Poor controls and collision detection, a grindy nature, confusing exploration, and the fact it ends right when it’s starting to get interesting, are all factors that bring the game down several notches. Sadly, even though there was some potential in its premise, Witch Rise is the kind of the game that will attract players based on how easy it is to get some trophies, not its actual features.

Graphics: 5.0 Cute, but unremarkable. As much as I appreciate the juxtaposition between 3D environments and 2D enemies, the visuals are extremely repetitive and way too simplistic.	Gameplay: 4.0 In theory, mixing dungeon crawling with retro-styled shooting and RPG elements could have worked, but the collision detection is terrible, the camera controls are dated, and the level design is flawed.
Sound: 5.0  Very repetitive (but not exactly terrible) music coupled with simplistic sound effects. It’s a low budget game, so know what to expect.	Fun Factor: 4.5 As mentioned in the gameplay section, there are good ideas thrown into Witch Rise, but they are hampered by lots of gameplay-related issues. Oh, it’s also very short. It’s the kind of the game that will attract players based on how easy it is to get some trophies, not the premise itself.
Final Verdict: 4.5

Witch Rise is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC and Switch.

Reviewed on PS5.

A copy of Witch Rise was provided by the publisher.