Little Witch Nobeta review

This sassy little spellcaster will melt hearts and sear flesh (with her fire spell).

Adorable, pint-sized witches make almost everything better. Sure, Success’ Cotton was a competent shooter, but it was the game’s delightful protagonist that catapulted the game past its peers and laid the foundations for the cute ‘em up sub-genre. Studio Ghibli’s Kiki’s Delivery Service offered a splendid depiction of female maturation. But at least some of the film’s charm stemmed from Kiki’s soaring broomstick flights across Koriko, along with the comradery shared with her talking cat, Jiji. Witches are habitually determined and audacious, making them appealing characters.

This kind of conical hat-wearing cuteness is also at the heart of Pupuya Games’ Little Witch Nobeta. Arriving at the entrance of a mysterious castle with little more than a vision of a throne and a cat, the game’s amnesiac lead is driven to learn about her shrouded past. This entails a Souls-like trek through the vast citadel. While the exploration of a labyrinthine castle is one of Nobeta’s core components, so is combat against its antagonistic inhabitants, as well as some light puzzling.

Cute as a Kitten, Formidable as a Tank

Fortunately, the petite sorceress gradually acquires an arsenal of abilities that can help defeat her opponents. You’ll begin the game with a melee attack, with your trusty wand striking antagonists and treasure chests alike with a four-hit combo. But far more than most of its contemporaries, Nobeta leans toward ranged combat.

Across your expedition, you’ll wield four different types of upgradeable spells that you can sling at adversaries. Unsurprisingly, each has its own aptitude. You’ll begin the game with the basic all-arounder- the Arcane ability. Later, Fire will deliver a short-range multi-shot, Lighting provides Nobeta with a sniping capability, and Ice dispenses rapid-fire punishment. Despite the absence of any guns, the game often feels like a three-dimensional shooter, making the campaign quite lively.

Before launching a spell, a single button press can trigger an incantation. While chanting can temporarily slow Nobeta’s movement speed, when charged, it drastically intensifies each elemental spell type. Not only does this increase the amount of damage but can also augment the form of your spells. For ice, that means a lock-on capability, and later, an increased defensive stat as well as fire resistance. Just be careful, as some of Nobeta’s spells can inadvertently cause injury.

Combat is Rather Enchanting

Unsurprisingly, the integration of mana and stamina meters means that Nobeta must be discriminating with her spellcasting, as well as evading and sprinting. Fortunately, the gauges replenish automatically, but the powerful chanted spells come at a proportionate cost. Beyond cracking open the destructible objects scattering in most corners of the castle, landing melee attacks and precisely timed dodges can refill your mana meter more quickly. Finding the proper balance between player resources can be tricky for a Souls-like. However, Little Witch errors on the side of generosity, helping to keep frustrations to a minimum.

That said, expect the game’s boss battles to be exponentially tougher than facing subordinates. You might be able to cheese your way through the game’s normal fights, darting out from cover to strike at languid foes. But the game’s core showdowns extend a consummate test of mastery, as hulking adversaries exhibit a procession of attack patterns. Pleasingly, the elevated enemies flaunt some interesting designs, and some even threaten to steal the spotlight from little Nobeta. Fortunately, the game offers some unlockable costumes so you’ll always have the stylistic upper hand with an unlockable maid outfit or sailor suit.

A Lava Stage for the Masochists!

If you’re having trouble tackling the game’s succession of seven bosses, visiting one of the goddess statues can provide an indispensable upgrade. Here you’ll spend your inventory of soul essences earned by defeating enemies to increase your six key stats, upgrade your elemental spells, or purchase consumables.

Little Witch Nobeta can be both enjoyable and enchanting, but the title has a few evident imperfections. The biggest one is the lack of any kind of map. Given that the castle doesn’t have much aesthetic variety, it’s easy to get lost, especially around staircases and walkways. Although the game is typically kind-hearted when it comes to injury, stepping in lava results in immediate death for Nobeta, even with a full health bar. And while it’s minor, the character isn’t exactly a lithe little witch. Movement can feel a bit unwieldy. Some of this is related to a control scheme that doesn’t exploit the multitude of buttons on contemporary controllers. As such, you’ll be asked to perform unintuitive actions like melee attacking in the air to slow your descent. Overly sensitive analog camera control means you’ll get frequent glances of Nobela’s frilly panties, which is probably more of a feature than a bug.

Conclusion

But despite these minor setbacks, I found myself thoroughly enjoying Little Witch Nobeta. Given that the visual style of most Soulslikes could be described as dread-goth, seeing the game’s diminutive darling offers a much-needed reprieve. Essentially, Nobeta is cute enough to be an anime lead, especially with her persistently flowing cape, blonde tresses, and charming voice acting. Meanwhile, the game’s soundtrack offers an orchestral score that shifts between wistful and driving. “Absolution”, the song that plays during the final boss battle, is truly sublime and begs for the game to be played with a set of good headphones tucked underneath your witch’s hat.

Finding Nobeta curled up and catching some much-needed rest under the protection of a goddess status is absolutely endearing. But this little witch offers more than just adorability. Gradually enhancing the pint-sized enchantress’ spellbook and tackling tough boss battles is thoroughly enjoyable. Anyone seeking a reprieve some the drab melee-based dungeoneering of Soulslikes will probably find Little Witch Nobeta rejuvenating.

Little Witch Nobeta was played on PlayStation 4
with review code provided by the publisher.