Follow Genre: Twin-stick shooter, arcade game
Developer: IKINIAGAMES, Kiwiwalks
Publisher: ININ Games
Platform: Switch, Android, iOS
Tested on: Switch

WitchSpring 3 [Re:Fine]- The Story of Eirudy – Review

August 21, 2021 - SebastiaanRaats - No Comments

Site Score

6.9

Good: Great doll-based combat system

Bad: Text is riddled with errors

User Score

7.0

(2 votes)

Click to vote

Rating: 7.0/10 (2 votes cast)

Halloween might still be a while away, but that’s not stopping developers from releasing games that may seem more suitable for the spooky season. We’ve only just reviewed Trigger Witch and we’re already looking at another game centered around a young witch. WitchSpring 3 [Re:Fine]- The Story of Eirudy is the latest entry in IKINAGAMES’ WitchSpring franchise. The game was originally released as a mobile title way back in 2017 and was recently ported to the Switch by ININ Games. Should you let WitchSpring 3 cast its spell over you?

Story

Our story starts with an unnamed young witch and her attempts to imbue dolls with life. After another failed attempt, she heads out to gather resources and has a chance encounter with a young man who is on a quest to save his mother. It is during this encounter that this human, Adrian, connects his fate to the witch by bestowing the name Eirudy upon her. Without delving too much into the story (even if WitchSpring 3 isn’t going to win any originality prizes), Adrian and Eirudy’s meeting sets a series of events in motion that will not only change Eirudy’s life forever, but will also decide the fate of the world.

The main story follows all the classic tropes and doesn’t stray too far off the beaten path, so unfortunately, there aren’t any twists that you don’t see coming. Additionally, the on-screen text is riddled with spelling and grammar errors, which can really detract from your enjoyment of the game. Fortunately, a lot of the issues here are countered by the great characterisation of the main cast, with Eirudy herself being particularly charming and likeable. Part of this charm comes from the fact that the human world is new and alien to our protagonist, and she looks to her new surroundings with childlike wonder.

Graphics

While we really liked WitchSpring 3’s conceptual aesthetics, especially the character portraits and story scenes, the overall execution of the visuals left a lot to be desired. The simplistic character models look outdated for a 2021 release, resembling slightly upscaled 3DS visuals more than anything else. While the low poly style of the creatures might trigger feelings of nostalgia for some, we would’ve preferred more detailed models and less fuzzy textures.

Sound

WitchSpring 3 features two audio tracks for its voice acting, offering character voices in Japanese and Korean. The Japanese voice performances are decent enough in bringing emotion to the events that unfold on screen. Having an English language option would have been nice but it didn’t feel like we were missing out with what was present. The music is suitable for an anime-styled game, though it was fairly forgettable overall.

Gameplay

WitchSpring 3 is a top-down JRPG that bears quite a few similarities with the Atelier games. Players take control of Eirudy and navigate dungeon-like areas where they gather materials which are subsequently used to craft potions and gear. Naturally, these dungeons are filled with random enemy encounters, which Eirudy has to fight in turn-based battles. There is plenty of variety, both in the environments and in the enemies to ensure that the game doesn’t become a repetitive grindfest, but even so, WitchSpring 3 is going to eat up a lot of your time if you aim to sit it out until the end.

For the most part, WitchSpring 3 feels like your typical JRPG and if it wasn’t for some of the unique combat mechanics, there is a good chance you’d be struck by a sense of déjà-vu if you’re a genre aficionado. Thankfully, WitchSpring 3 sets itself apart from its direct competitors through its doll mechanics. Like we mentioned in the Story section of this review, Eirudy’s shtick as a witch is to give life to dolls. This ability comes to fruition during the game’s turn-based battles, as she is able to summon these dolls to fight alongside her. You can summon up to three dolls per battle, and each one brings a new ability to the table. Some will launch magic arrows at opponents, dealing a massive amount of damage, whereas others will be focused on buffing or healing Eirudy herself. Finding the right doll combo that works for you adds a nice amount of strategic depth as there are a fair few possible combinations.

The game’s other defining feature lies in its crafting system, though this is where WitchSpring 3 takes another hit. To its credit, the crafting system is expansive, with a wide range of materials and ingredients with which you’re able to create potions and add buffs to your equipment. Unfortunately, the game’s crafting system is also incredibly obtuse, and the tutorial doesn’t help either. It took us several hours of fiddling with it until things finally clicked and we started to figure out how to get the best use out of it. One of the essential elements here is that you’ll also have to make Eirudy exercise, increasing her crafting prowess in the process. It doesn’t matter how high the quality of your materials is if Eirudy herself lacks the necessary skills to use them. You can’t exercise ad infinitum though, so it’s not possible to simply spam those actions in order to grind out massive stats at the start of the game. Instead, exercising is done in between quests, which makes sense for balance issues, though it feels somewhat limiting.

Part of the issues here stem from WitchSpring 3’s mobile roots of course, and we’re still on the fence on whether or not the Switch port is successful in hiding WitchSpring 3’s origins. While we don’t have the original at hand to compare directly, it does occasionally feel like some of the limiting features (such as the aforementioned exercise cap) are the result of features that were locked behind microtransactions or countdown timers in the original. Moving Eirudy with a controller feels slightly off as well, with a slight response delay. These inaccuracies of course stem from the fact that the original game relied on touch controls, and although the input lag doesn’t affect the overall gameplay experience, it’s still noticeable enough to mention it.

Conclusion

WitchSpring 3 is a fairly run-of-the-mill JRPG that could’ve used some more time in the oven. There is a lot to like here, but for every good thing present in the game, there is something to dislike as well. The gorgeous character art and charming aesthetics are brought down by the in-game 3D models. The excellent combat system is overshadowed by the obtuse crafting system. The narrative suffers from poor grammar and spelling. Even so, we found ourselves returning to Eirudy’s world, eager to find out what would be next on the young witch’s path. If you can look past the rough edges, then there’s a decent game in here. So, if you’re looking for a new title after you’ve completed the Atelier games, then this one’s definitely worth checking out.