The Knight Witch is a game that had a lot of potential. A mix of shoot ’em up and Metroidvania, it immediately stood out as something different. But while the game starts out great, there are just a few too many issues present in this experience.
To be more specific, The Knight Witch is a Metroidvania that makes use of fast-paced twin-stick shooter combat while also using deck-building elements. This may sound odd, but the game actually blends things just well enough that it works at first. You play as one of the titular Knight Witches named Rayne and set out to defend the realm of Dungeonidas from an invasion of War Golems and things take some interesting turns from there.
The game has a somewhat cutesy art style with its aesthetic, but this is in no way a cute em-up. The story takes several emotional turns and has a good degree of depth to it, talking about the grey area that exists between good and evil and never feeling unsatisfying. In fact, this is one of the best aspects of the game, and that is unusual for a shmup-type game.
Indeed, this is not just a shmup after all, as it is a blend of genres, and the Metroidvania parts of the game are played out well. You can go back and forth to locations to uncover new areas as expected, but building your link with the citizens of the realm is also important as it boosts your magical link and makes you stronger. In effect, you can empower yourself to become a walking bullet hell maiden and it is amazing.
However, the game has a serious flaw and that is the difficulty spikes and framerate issues. The more intense the action the game has on screen, the more slowdown and framerate drops the game has and it gets to the point where it can end up making the game feel unplayable. This would be bad enough, but the effect is worse with the difficulty spikes.
The game will throw out massive amounts of enemies that you cannot respond to quickly enough at various areas, and many of these areas will be locations where maneuvering is difficult. This feels unnecessary but when adding in the aforementioned slowdown and framerate issues, this can end up creating some impossible situations for players. I actually got so frustrated that I rage-quit a few times over the matter.
It is not all bad, as The Knight Witch has some truly amazing artwork. When this is playable, this looks like one of the best indie titles in a long time, with some great effects. It hearkens back to the classics and that is a good thing, but not enough to save the game.
I wanted to like The Knight Witch, but the issues are too many to deal with right now. This is a game that I cannot recommend and would suggest just passing on for now.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided