Platforms:
PS4, PS3
Released:
March 4, 2016
Publisher:
Nippon Ichi Software
Developer:
Nippon Ichi Software
You may look at this game and think “oh how cute! I bet this will be a sweet little adventure”
Don’t be deceived! The Witch and the Hundred Knight is a well of bad language and sugar coated slaughter, which is not the best for some of the younger players out there, (unless you have super cool parents with low censoring), but the older player out there will love this title!
You start as a small, unknown creature in a dark world with a mysterious voice commanding you to do her bidding. She is the great witch of the swamp, Master Metallia, and you are the Hundred Knight, her now loyal servant. The beginning world you are summoned from acts as a small tutorial, though seeing as the ones playing this game will undoubtedly be older and accustomed to action JRPGs, I feel it really wasn’t needed. As you play along, you slowly gain intelligence, gaining the ability to agree, question, or even deny your master, which is a fun touch.
You are set with the task of bringing mayhem and spreading Metallias disgustingly beautiful swamp all throughout the land of Medea, so she may conquer it and force all of its inhabitants tremble before her.
The story is set out in Acts and chapters, breaking up the vast content into fairly quick, playable parts, which I found to be a good play to process all the new information flowing in.
Though you play as the Hundred Knight, I really feel that Metallia is the center of this game. She is a perfect anti-hero, and is in absolutely no way innocent. In fact, nothing about this game is innocent what so ever, despite it’s cute facade. I quite often found myself being shocked at some of the games direction and dialog, and laughing uproariously at it even more so. It should be mentioned that I love games that are dark, twisted and full of foul humor, but I can recognize that some of the games content may make some out there uncomfortable, so fair warning, you may need to think about how low into the gutter you want to descend before playing The Witch and the Hundred Knight.
The game brings in some needlessly complex features and systems, and it would take me a very long time to go over them all, so I will cover just a few. As the hundred knight, you are the servant of Metallia, and as such, cannot stay away from your masters side for too long. Essentially, any time you are away on a mission or adventuring you are on a timer, or more accurately, an energy counter called Gigacals. This means that the more you move, fight and use your skills, the more your Gigacals deplete, and once they are all gone, you are exhausted and must return to the swamp to replenish your stores. While it does keep game play snappy and fresh, it can be irritating at times.
Battling forces you to be a bit more paced with attacks, as you can set multiple weapons to use in your combo attacks. You are given 3 sets to fill as you wish, with a max of 5 weapons for one set. If you set out your weapons smartly, you can flip endlessly through your sets during battle, playing to your enemy’s weaknesses, gaining you bonuses for aiming at their weak points.
You also have a fun feature called “Witch Domination” and before you get ahead of yourselves, it’s not what it sounds like. As you do your masters bidding, you will come across small villages, which give you the opportunity to talk to its occupants, buy items from the shops, and also raid and dominate their homes.
Hide your kids, Hide your wife, because the hundred knights climbing through your window!
You can also attack the villagers if you want to, but they are virtually invincible, and doing so will decrease your karma level, which affects how the townspeople feel about you, and can increase item prices in shops. Though, I never really bothered much with any of that, I just liked the opportunity to create some mayhem!
I also really love the design and animation of the characters and levels, though Metallias outfit had me scratching my head at how she kept it on…well, probably with magic, being a witch and all, but I digress.
The Witch and the Hundred Knight has an almost Tim Burton feel to it, not so much in the art styles, but more so in the music and the ambiance, which I adored. It’s great to have a game that is both a combination of cute and haunting, and it’s even better when the story line, character personalities and overall play of the game match up to that standard too.
The Witch and the Hundred Knight is definitely a game made for the older generation, hidden under and innocent disguise, and if you have a twisted and uncensored sense of humor, like some lengthy game play and deep story lines, this game will be a perfect addition to your collection.
About the Author
Vivienne, AKA Vavabeeb, is a well known optimist and purveyor of happiness who has a deep seeded love for Games (JRPGs especially), Pop culture, all things Horror and The Arts. They also befriend anyone with even the slightest love of Harry Potter.