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『A story of commotion with cute witches』

※ This review was written based on the early access version.

💎 First impressions of the game

First of all, how much do you know about the genre called 'roguelike' ?

You've probably heard the term "roguelike" a lot, but not many people actually know much about this genre.

I also didn't know why it was named that way until I looked it up separately.

According to 《Rogue》, which is the origin of the genre name, 1) there is a random element , 2) the player's choices are irreversible , and

3) The roguelike genre is characterized by minimizing the benefits of repeated play . (There are other characteristics, but let's skip them here.)

It is not difficult to produce compared to the amount of content, and it is also famous as a genre with a large fan base.

Some famous indie games include the Hades (Hades I, II) series, Enter the Gungeon, and Skul.

That's why most of the recently released indie games are of the roguelike genre.

But with so many roguelike indie games coming out, it's becoming harder to get noticed.

This is especially true as there are already many games known as masterpieces.

Meanwhile, in March, a domestic indie game developer called Team Tapas introduced a new roguelike game.

The Witch's Garden is an action roguelike game that tells the story of witches who create, decorate, and live in their own world.

⌚ Gameplay

『It's neat and fun! If only the title was "Witch" 』

<You can feel the game atmosphere created by Team Tapas through the drawing style>

The game we're introducing today, "The Witch's Garden," is Team Tapas' third title .

Drifting Girl and Warrior Restaurant were both idle mobile games, and I personally remember enjoying Warrior Restaurant quite a bit.

The overall theme of the two games is quite similar: they are both idle games that can be enjoyed without the burden of paying.

All of them have a fairly slow tempo so it takes time to get going, but they have received a lot of favorable reviews because there are no ads or in-game elements.

However, unlike the previous two games, 『The Witch's Garden』 was released as an indie game for PC.

Because of this, the perspective or viewpoint from which the game is evaluated has completely changed to fit the fact that it is an indie game for PC .

<Unlike the previous two games, the difficulty level was quite high>

First of all, since it is an action roguelike , let's first take a look at the combat-related systems.

Unlike the previous two games, it has a fairly high difficulty level for casual enjoyment.

This can also be confirmed on the difficulty selection screen that appears when you first start the game.

In the descriptions for each of the Story/Normal/Hard difficulties, there is a section that says ' Immunity to all damage for a short time while dashing '.

"

It's not too spicy though

A game with some degree of challenge.

"

Normally, no matter how difficult it is, dash invincibility is included as a basic function of the system.

If you play this game on Hard difficulty, you'll need to be quite careful because your dash invincibility will be gone.

However, if you think the difficulty is a bit too difficult, you can freely change the difficulty at the starting point at any time, so you don't have to worry.

I really liked how you could easily see when a new feature was unlocked at a stronghold via an exclamation point bubble.

<You are given two chances to choose one of the three skills. After choosing, you can proceed with your desired key settings.>

There are a total of 4 skills related to combat.

There is a scissor skill for basic attacks, a dash skill for evasion, and two skills that can be freely selected .

The two free skills allow you to specify the skill you want through two selections, but

You have to choose the right combination for the situation, as there is no guarantee that you will always get the skill you want. (Or you can just get lucky.)

You can skip skill selection if you want, but it is not recommended unless you are an experienced player.

At first, you can just look at the performance of the skill itself, but as you progress through the game to a certain extent, the 'synergy' system is unlocked.

You can enjoy playing by trying out various combinations of attributes attached to skills.

I'll talk more about synergy later.

< You must carefully decide which is more advantageous between passive enhancement (left) and skill effect enhancement (right) >

<Let's check the map to choose what to strengthen in advance>

There are two main ways to strengthen your character: magical strengthening and passive strengthening.

Magic strengthening is a method of strengthening the effect of the skill itself , such as increasing damage or granting additional effects.

Passives are a way to enhance the effects of basic attacks or overall skills, such as reducing the cooldown of all skills or increasing the damage of scissor attacks.

"

If you are focusing on one skill, strengthen your magic

If not, I recommend passive enhancement

"

There may be some variables depending on the situation, but if you are a player who mainly uses a specific skill, use magic strengthening.

If you play primarily using basic attacks like Scissors or using a variety of skills, it is advantageous to choose passive enhancement.

However, due to the nature of the roguelike genre, you cannot expect the desired effect every time, so you must choose a strengthening effect that suits the situation.

However, since I don't really care about balance in single games, I actually like the fact that I can use a variety of skills.

<You can use gold to strengthen your abilities such as health and basic attack power>

In addition, you can also strengthen your abilities through the gold you collect until the character dies or you clear the stage.

Not only does it increase stamina, but it also increases the attack speed of scissoring,

Because it also has additional effects, such as reducing the cooldown of the dash or increasing the number of charges.

The difference in perceived difficulty depending on the level of basic ability enhancement is quite large .

It is noticeable that repeated play is semi-mandatory unless it is a penalty play that allows you to play without reinforcement.

However, this point can be understood as a characteristic of the genre rather than a shortcoming of the game itself.

<The real fun of the game starts when the synergy system is unlocked>

Now, shall we talk about synergy?

Once you clear the first stage of the first chapter, the synergy system is unlocked.

If you paid attention when you first started playing, you would have seen that skills and passives have icons attached to them.

Apart from the skill's effect, various effects are added depending on the synergy tag attached to each skill or passive.

"

Depending on the selected synergy tag

Various strengthening effects

"

For example, when strengthening the vampire skill, if you choose the 'burning' strengthening effect or the 'crow' strengthening effect,

It can grant a burning effect equal to a portion of the blood sucking damage, or it can summon a crow while the blood sucking hits.

If you strengthen the Burn tag 6 times here, some of the excess will be burned immediately, or

Powering up the Crow Tag 6 times will grant effects such as firing a projectile that deals increased damage when the Crow is killed.

And if you strengthen both the crow tag 8 and the burning tag 8, it will have the same effect as the crow burning the enemy's health by a portion of the damage done.

It also has a dual synergy effect, so combining them is quite fun.

<You can enjoy the small stories of various witches that the main character invites>

The combat part was well-received, but the story part was somewhat disappointing.

As the title suggests, The Witch's Garden, there is an interesting keyword called 'witch', but there is not much of a story about the witch itself .

As of Chapter 3, the main story of the chapter is the story of the tea party between the main character, Sil, and other witches.

There are quite a few interesting storylines that can be developed, such as what kind of being is a witch and what witches can do.

Nevertheless, it is regrettable that the story is summarized in one short keyword, 'tea party commotion among witches' .

However, since it has been announced that there will be some reinforcement of the game content after the official release, we expect the story to be reinforced as well.

<Various patterns shown for each stage and boss>

There are also some disappointing aspects to the stage boss's pattern.

I was able to fully enjoy the cute character design and the fun of the battle itself, but

Unlike Chapter 1, you must enjoy the same stage bosses in the same order in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3.

It's a shame that it leads to the thought, 'Isn't the game too repetitive?'

The patterns you see when fighting stage bosses are also connected in a similar way.

Chapter 1 is fun to watch because it is the first time you see this pattern, but

The boss pattern of Chapter 2 is composed of the connection between the patterns of Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, and the boss pattern of Chapter 3 is composed of the connection between the patterns of Chapter 1 and Chapter 3, etc.

Only the stage boss's health increased, but the boss pattern itself felt like a lot of repetition .

This point, as mentioned above, is connected to the fact that you have to enjoy all the stage bosses in the same order, which I felt was very disappointing.

📌 Game Review

『 Gameplay to look forward to after Early Access 』

The roguelike genre is often underrated because of its repetitive nature.

However, there are quite a few people who are fascinated by the depth of the game that comes from these characteristics.

The roguelike genre is highly accessible to game developers, but it is a genre that players have very different opinions about.

That's why I was worried that I might look at the game from a somewhat biased perspective.

Enjoy various skills and synergies, and various elements that create reasons for continuous gameplay.

Despite being Early Access, I was quite satisfied with the gameplay.

However, it seems that there is still room for improvement in various areas such as story, content, and balance patches.

The developer is also aware of this and is consistently sharing update plans through community announcements (link) .

So, personally, I'm looking forward to seeing how much fun I'll be having with it when it's officially released!

The action roguelike game that has its official release date even more anticipated is 『The Witch's Garden』 !

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Hello, this is the Lounge Manager!

Just like that, we're already halfway through 2025!

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