Developer: Indiesruption
Publisher: Blowfish Studios
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch
Tested on: PC
Nine Witches: Family Disruption – Review
World War II has been one of the cruelest periods of our history and so many games have been created that take place in this period. Nine Witches: Family disruption also belongs to this group, but this game is definitely completely different than those we are used to, as this game is purely based on fiction and features a lot of humorous moments. With 8-bit graphics and an awesome story that’s also very funny at times, this game is surely going to amuse you for a couple of hours.
Story
Nine Witches: Family Disruption takes place in a remote Norse town called Sundäe, with a complicated history that tells of Witches and Vikings, which is now occupied by the Germans. The story is set in October 1944 in the middle of World War II. It begins with professor Alexei Krakowitz and his Chinese assistant Akiro Kagasawa in professor Krakowitz’s mansion in London as the British Prime Minister pays them a visit to assign them on a special mission to infiltrate the Okkulte-SS, a secret division of the Third Empire to stop them from unleashing an old curse that will influence the course of the war. In Sundäe, you will encounter many ‘special figures’ who will be a joy to talk to in many humorous conversations. Hell, you will even meet a strange alien that’s the only one of its species on a distant planet.
The game is set up very chronologically, so you really need to do things step by step. You won’t be able to get to places before you really need to be there and you also can’t use items, you’d need somewhere else. The story of the game moves on by finding the correct items and performing the required actions to continue in the story. You have a notebook that’s filled with all your objectives that you can look at if you don’t know what to do next, but this isn’t a guarantee for a smooth progression. Sometimes, you could get stuck for a while if you lack the requirements to continue, and finding these requirements can sometimes take quite a while. In this scenario, the story does help you press on to find the missing item(s). The game is filled with puzzles, shootouts and a lot of jokes that revolve around the characters and even the developers of the game.
Graphics
This game features a great and funny story in a world designed in a retro pixel style. If you look at the game, it looks like it came straight from the ’90s. Although the possibilities are limited when picking this type of graphics, the world looks great with a lot of details still present. Every ‘named’ person has a unique appearance despite the chosen style. The developers even put some funny jokes in the game about the type of graphics used, for example, one of the inhabitants of Sundäe lost his arm ‘during photoshop’ and now, he must live on with four pixels less.
Sound
The sound in this game is also a great aspect of the game. The environmental sounds always fit the area perfectly and you can even hear some Nazi ‘marching’ music playing in the bar in the town of Sundäe. The game doesn’t use any voice as every conversation can be read on the screen, but when someone laughs, the word “HAHA” is always written in capital letters and a laugh will be heard. This laughing sound will be described as strange in the game, but after this has been said, it will be repeated throughout the whole game and everyone will copy the same laugh.
Gameplay
Nine Witches: Family Disruption is an action-adventure game that puts you in the shoes of Alexei Krakowitz and his assistant Akiro Kagasawa on their mission to stop the curse from infecting the whole world in the middle of World War II in October 1944. Aside from the game being a simple game that only lets you interact with items and people, the game will also pack some puzzles and combat.
The game features full controller support and it’s even recommended to play with a controller, but a keyboard and mouse is fine too. When using items or performing actions, you will always get a message reminding you that you can’t perform a specific action, or your character just doesn’t want to do it. In this case, you have to find a way around this obstacle to still perform the action wanted. Professor Krakowitz has learned the ability to make contact with the undead in the form of a ghost. When in the professor’s ghost form, you can fade through doors and other locked entryways you couldn’t normally get through, letting you check out the contents of each and every area. This does have a limit, as the professor can’t go through two successive doorways, as it will kill him.
As you walk around, you’ll notice that interacting with everything you see in the world is important for trying to get further in the game. Sometimes, the most stupid items will get you past a point you’re stuck for a while, like a pool of piss or a helium-filled balloon. Trying to find out what you need or where you need to go can sometimes be very frustrating and leaves you walking around all the areas for a long time, but eventually finding precisely what you’re looking for will fill you with happiness and makes the game worthwhile to play again.
At some points in the story, you will be forced to fight others in combat. As the only capable person, Akiro needs to fight and defend the professor. In these fights, you need to shoot down all enemies before they kill you or the professor, and especially as you get near the end of the game, these fights can get quite tough. The enemies will get stronger, have more health, and will come at you with higher numbers at the same time. In these fights, you can only walk and shoot your weapon. The Chinese pistol does have unlimited ammo, but it will frequently jam, immobilizing you for a few seconds, making you open to attacks. Luckily, in each battle, you can find other weapons lying on the floor with a limited amount of ammo.
Conclusion
Nine Witches: Family Disruption offered us a very pleasant surprise. At first glance, this game didn’t really look like much, but it was an amazing experience to play this game. The game filled us with laughter while letting us explore the Norse town of Sundäe and stop the curse that has been released. Every conversation is so fun to watch, that only this aspect already makes the game worthwhile to play. Toss in the funny dark humor, the puzzles and the combat of the game and then there’s not really anything bad to say. This title can be played fully at your own pace, and won’t really require any particular skills other than just plain thinking and some basic knowledge of how to play with a controller. We’d definitely recommend this game to everyone who loves humor, likes to solve puzzles and love an original take on the World War II scenario.
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