Developer: Lumen Section
Publisher: Drageus Games
Platforms: Switch
Tested on: Switch
Sweet Witches – Review
Platformers have always been a lot of fun to play. You have many kinds of different platformers with each having their own objectives you need to complete to progress. Sweet Witches is a one-screen platformer in which you need to plant flowers across the whole level to complete each level. Each level is filled with enemies that will try to hinder you in reaching this goal.
Story
As Sweet Witches is more of an arcade platformer, the story is not the most important aspect of this game. The game begins with a short cutscene, showing the two witches Praline and Vanille coming across enemies while they were gathering candy. The enemies have a sign indicating flowers equals candy, and they have crossed these flowers and candy symbols while they are surrounded with dead flowers. There are no conversations or dialogues in the rest of the game, but you will progress across different areas with new enemies. Praline and Vanille set on their quest to plant flowers in each level. Each stage consists of several levels that all need to be completed in one go without losing all of your lives to continue to the next stage.
Graphics
Sweet Witches is a very colorful game. The game’s design is great with the enemies and the witches looking very good. The different stages all have their own themes. The first area is in a forest while others are in a haunted mansion, a snowy area or a desert area. Many different themes await you in the next stages, so the areas won’t be repetitive at all. The platforms are made of blocks that hold true to the theme of the area. Each level will have some blocks with grass on top of them. These grassy blocks are the blocks where flowers need to be planted.
You can choose to play with Praline or Vanille and each witch has their own unique skills and visuals. Praline’s skills look like they’re from an evil witch, she plants evil-looking plants and creates stairs made by green sticky goo. On the other side, Vanille looks like a really sweet witch with cute blue flowers and she creates a rope bridge with cute blue bow ties on it. Some enemies look kind of evil while other enemies look very sweet like bunnies, and charming other witches that look nice with a cute smile, but they are not friendly at all.
Sound
The music and sounds in Sweet Witches are mostly joyful. All of the stages have their own background music that complements the theme of the area. The joyful music helps in making the game appear like a kid’s game that should be fairly easy to play, but it isn’t at all… The music in the game has a very easy pace, while you need to react very fast in this game. As the music changes with each level, it won’t bore you at all.
Gameplay
Sweet Witches is an arcade platformer that will require you to take a good look at each level and act fast to plant all the plants on the grassy blocks while avoiding all the enemies walking around the level. Getting hit by an enemy will cause you to lose a life so you need to avoid them at all times. All of this makes the game a joyful yet harsh experience to get through. the controls are easy in this game but this doesn’t make it an easy game so it offers quite a challenge.
In Sweet Witches, you’ll control either Praline or Vanille as one of the Sweet Witches. As one of these witches, you won’t have much to defend yourself. You can perform a stun attack with your witch hat to freeze enemies at the spot to give you some time to escape. Some small enemies will disappear after you hit them with the stun attack, but most enemies will only be stunned. In most of the levels, there are packages with gift wraps that will hold items that will destroy the enemies they hit. These items vary from bombs, flying boxing gloves or bear traps to get rid of some enemies for easier completion of the levels. These items can be saved to use in the next level so choose wisely when to use them for the best results. When you’ve planted enough flowers, your witch will have enough power to perform a special move they will get a magic broom that lets them fly around the level to plant the flowers very fast while being impervious to enemy attacks.
You need to plant flowers across each level in a stage to complete it. In these levels, many different kinds of enemies will cross your paths, from slimy creatures to cute bunnies that will all try to hinder you in completing the level. These cute bunnies are a real pain in the ass as they will eat all your freshly planted flowers. Fortunately, you can remove them from the level with your stun attack. Other enemies will go on a feeding frenzy, running around the level very fast to try to eat you. The enemy witches around the levels are very smart and will follow you in the best way they can and they have a ranged attack with their whips. The first level in each stage is mostly fairly easy while the difficulty will build up a lot when you progress.
If you have a friend over, you can also play this game in co-op mode which is perfect for a couch co-op experience. Everything’s the same in this mode but you both need to watch out for enemies as you share the number of lives you have to finish each stage. The game also has a versus mode with two different types of modes. In Death Match, the one last one surviving wins. In the Time game mode, the one with the most flowers on the level when the time’s up wins.
Conclusion
Sweet Witches is a fun arcade platformer that can offer a lot of challenges despite its childish appearance. With easy controls, you’ll handle the mechanics pretty fast, but this won’t guarantee success. With the many different enemies that stand in your way, 01planting all the flowers on each level isn’t that easy at all. The ability to play co-op is also great but you need to watch out as you share the total amount of lives. If you like platformers with a bit of a different twist, then this game is definitely a good game to buy as it will offer a lot of challenge and some fun times with friends in the co-op or versus mode.
Sweet Witches - Review,
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