There is little surprise that Little Witch Nobeta has been a hot topic among certain gaming circles lately. As an experience that blends both crushing but fair difficulty and charmingly cute character design, the game has real potential to become a cult classic. Created by Taiwanese developer Pupuya Games, Little Witch Nobeta puts players in the role of the titular witch as she makes her way to the throne room of a giant castle where she hopes to find out about her origin. Guided by a mysterious black cat, Nobeta has to fight her way through shadowy figures and creepy mannequins as she slowly pieces together the truth about the castle’s “crafted souls.”
Little Witch Nobeta’s gameplay borrows heavily from the Souls series — a common comparison made by players due to the game’s perspective, mechanics, and brutal challenge. Nobeta primarily attacks by casting various magic spells that use up mana. Her mana can be replenished by striking enemies with her staff. Enemy attacks can be dodged so long as stamina is available. However, dodging with no stamina causes Nobeta to comically fall flat on her face and leaves her open to attacks — a simple way of punishing players that are overly twitchy and that dissuades careless mashing. Rare Goddess Statues can be found that act both as respawn points and a store to purchase healing items or stat bonuses using experience from defeated enemies.
As she progresses through the castle, Nobeta will find new spells, each with their own unique uses. A wind spell can be found soon after the first boss is defeated which allows Nobeta to double jump. An ice spell found in the same area turns Nobeta’s normal magic attack from a slow firing arcane bolt to a rapid-fire machine gun of icicles. Charging up spells not only fires a bigger, more damaging version of the spell, but also can be turned into various enhancements such as the ice spell giving an aura that allows traversal through fire and the fire spell’s enchantment giving a damage boost to the physical staff attack.
Despite its cute exterior, Little Witch Nobeta’s gameplay nuances are geared toward teaching players to approach the game methodically. Healing is only found in the form of items in chests or at Goddess Statues at the cost of precious experience. Using a healing item also takes time to act and will also curse the player, which prevents experience gain. This makes health recovery items a much more precious and risky commodity that requires serious consideration before use. Attacking with the staff at the same time as an enemy’s attack will cause a parry to activate which will reflect the enemy’s strike, while also gives back some health and mana. Dodging at the last possible second will power up the next magic spell that is cast.
The player’s progression through each of the levels will eventually grind the use of these mechanics into the player’s repertoire. For example, the regular enemies in the first stage are slow and lumbering — non-threatening fodder perfect for the new player to get acclimated to the controls. Once they reach the first area’s boss, the Unknown Spectre Armor, the difficulty jumps significantly as the boss fires sword beams with a wide coverage from afar and quick sword slashes up close. Optimally dispatching the boss involves dodging through the sword beams to instantly charge up spells as well as getting close enough for a few quick staff hits to replenish mana once it runs low. Dodging through the enemy’s attacks and the hit-and-run playstyle will both effectively defeat the boss and prepare the player for new enemies in the following area — crawling mannequins that fire their own spells at the player. These can be dodged and the mannequins defeated in the same manner as the first boss. The importance of reflexive dodging then becomes much more important once players reach the second boss, Tania, who fights with two giant ghostly fists that throw out back to back punches. These require methodical timing to avoid — a feat that requires proper stamina management lest Nobeta finds herself face flat on the ground, with blows rained down on her.
The early access version of Little Witch Nobeta features four areas, each ending with their own boss fight with the promise of more to come from the developers in the future. Unfortunately, the game has an unpolished feel graphically due to using generic-looking background assets and character models not having any filters or smoothing. The visuals are where the game’s lack of funding is really shows — a fact the developer freely admits as the game was made available as early access for both funding purposes and for feedback.
Luckily, Little Witch Nobeta carries itself via its intuitive gameplay and cute character designs. The official Twitter account for the game’s staff is proof of the interest that the game has managed to garner in its short time out, as they frequently retweet fan art from many different artists. As one of the stated reasons for the game being in early access, hopefully the staff’s prolific social media presence means they will be in tune with what changes and additions fans want from the game and act accordingly in future updates.
The early access version of Little Witch Nobeta can be purchased on Steam for $9.99. A demo version is also available for free.
