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The Knight Witch - A Deep Dive Into a Deckbuilding Metroidvania Shmup

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The Knight Witch- a freshly released Metroidvania which plays with the genre by combining both shoot em' up elements, as well as some light deckbuilding components. While on paper this sounds interesting, the question remains- Was this, in practice, a wonderous bit of witchcraft., or a Knightmarish experience?

This Shoot 'em Up Ain't Shoujo

Don't let the cute visuals fool you, or the initially heartwarming interactions between our protagonist, Rayne, and her husband lull you into a sense of false security. The Knight Witch is a -surprisingly- bleak adventure.

The again the games opening does kick things off with a Civil War that culminates in destroying the sky, scorching the surface world- and leaving the survivors of the conflict with no option but to shack up together in the underground nation state of 'Dungeonidas'.

Apparently, Jailton, Prisonville and Oublietropolis were already taken.

In any case, what's notable about the Civil War is that it was brought to a close by an elite squadron of soldiers, the Knight Witches- whose greatest strength was to take the trust others lent them, and convert it into power.

Which brings us to Rayne- who, despite being a Knight Witch Cadet, simply wasn't up to snuff when the war hit it's peak. Which is a bit of a problem when the remnants of the civil war crop up out of nowhere, lay siege to her city- and kidnap her husband. It's a desperate time, and one that sees her finally being inducted into the ranks of the organization she'd once aspired to be a part of.

Here's the thing, though- it really doesn't take long for the game to make things incredibly murky. For instance, while the whole 'Link' thing, where the trust of others turns into a witches strength could have been played as a friendship=magic type of scenario- in practice, The Knight Witch finds itself more concerns with the bleaker possibilities that such a scenario would entail.

You actually wind up with a PR specialist, whose entire job is coaching you on how to omit, misrepresent, or misdirect the details that might otherwise cause people to doubt you - all in the name of more power.

Notably, this is also the main choice you get to take narratively-too, since you can entirely go off the rails and tell the truth during these segments.

And the various NPCS at the hub (Including any you've rescued during your journeys) will react to these statements - which help to further flesh out the story.

Also, as a sort of hilarious integration of gameplay and storytelling- though you do gain less link for being honest . . . you can just spend oodles of shards (the games currency) to buy yourself good PR. . . . Feels a bit on the nose, really.

Still as messed up as that all is, The Knight Witch constantly finds ways to make things a bit darker- to the point that I found myself constantly vacillating between being darkly amused, and indignant. For instance, it doesn't take long for the game to hammer home that being Career Soldiers was not all glory and good times for the other Knights - or for the motives of just about -everyone- present to grow murkier.

Frankly, The game did a great job of keeping me hooked- spacing out a decent array of scenes as I progressed through areas and objectives with a constantly evolving story that kept me guessing.

And the input of the survivors did a decent job of motivating me to explore- Despite, well.

It's Gonna Be a Long Walk

So, here's the thing. Rayne has a major advantage over most metroidvania protagonists, by being able to fly from the get go- she still winds up feeling absolutely ponderous as far as the exploration aspect of the game goes. Despite the whole, exploration and backtracking being a staple of the genre.

And a big part of this is the simple fact that there -is- no quick way to get across the map, in order to return to an area where you -suspect- an item might be hidden, or that was locked behind a newly acquired ability.

Yes, you can travel to the entrance of a given -region- but, it wasn't uncommon to be hiking around for 10's of minutes to get to the far end of a map- to potentially discover that you -still- didn't have the item you needed despite your 'Clever solution' . . . and then having to make the journey in reverse.

Yes, there is a short range dash that you'll -eventually- unlock- but, nonstop mashing a button for 5-10 minutes gets old fast.

Which- is a shame, because I actually do like the world itself- with some fairly memorable obstacles and secrets cached in certain corners of it.

Like this monstrous Laser Maze.

Figuring this segment out, and getting past it -without- getting hit, even as all the individual components are whirling about was a -challenge-. And far from the only one the game has, since more puzzles become available as you progress.

That said, the joy in now being able to solve a puzzle that had eluded me earlier was so often tempered by a sense of tedium in getting there. Not to mention the occasional bit of aimless wandering because I failed to remember -which- room had the thing I missed. Because, you don't actually get any form of map markers to jot down points of interest until a very late unlock that hinges on you...already obsessively collecting and finding secrets.

And don't even get me started on the underwater segment- Where the game decides that after introducing you to some neat upgrades, it's going to make an entire area devoted to underwater combat- with the stipulation that you lose your dash ability, and the capacity to aim in any direction except forward.

Awesome.

And it's not like combat was -easy- before this.

Shoot To Kill

Yes, things don't start -off- terribly, but then, they don't overly need to. Rayne is -incredibly- fragile as a protagonist, keeling over in 3 hits by default- and while things start out simple enough, it's really not long until the enemy health, size of their swarms, and the overall lethality of their bullet patterns escalate. You won't even have the ability to -dash- before enemy will begin shooting waves of homing bullets in your direction, layered between barrages of normal bullets, and piercing shots that will pass through any form of cover you might be cowering behind.

And that's without even factoring in the ambushes- which deprive you of the ability to freely move about the room- and -force- you into a much smaller arena than normal, while throwing waves upon waves of enemies upon you. And there are a -fair- amount of these- including in the way of non-optional content. (My sole consolation was the quest to get through these without being hit, and quickly- was optional).

Which was especially daunting given some of the absurd difficulties that later regions toss into the fray just to make things worse.

And this isn't even the most frustrating element. Because, ultimately- there were plenty of basic combat elements I -did- enjoy. I was actually -really- fond of a number of the boss fights- to the point that I'd been vaguely hoping for some means of re-challenging them, even if it came in the form of an NG+. They are some of the best bouts the game will have to offer you- with some pretty interesting attack patterns to adjust to.

Which brings us to Raynes Arsenal. By default, she has a basic attack you can hold down and fire away- and even an auto target mode, if you don't mind slightly reduced damage. That said- these both hit like wet noodles- which leaves the crux of your damage in the hands of . . .

Card Based RNGESUS

It starts out simple enough. You have a small assortment of cards to start with, and can find more in chests, or after beating up bosses. With a a max hand size of 3 and a deck of 6 cards- you can cycle through it all fairly readily- so long as you have the necessary mana.

Mana's -randomly- generated by things as you hit them, as glowing motes you need to collect. Simple . . . right?

Well- there's some stipulations to be mindful of. For one thing- you don't actually have the ability to discard cards on your own. Yes- there's discard oriented cards you can find- but that still hinges on -drawing- them. Which means if, by chance, you find yourself unable to play a card because of the aforementioned -waves- of death, or enemies with regenerating shield camping all your precious mana motes . . . it's entirely possible to find yourself stuck with a hand of cards you can't play- and no means to cycle to better ones, or viably gain mana, short of eating dirt.

I tried to counteract this, by loading my deck with cheap cards to avoid just this- but well- I hit a small problem early on, because of my rabid desire to be the best Witch around.

Using the collectibles that give you max MP -also- increases your maximum deck size. And you are -obliged- to fill that slot with a card, you can't keep a thin deck.

Yes, there is an NPC at the hub that lets you clone the normal cards you find- allowing you to have a single extra card, in order to better populate your deck, but- this also has it's own problem.

Because despite it being called a deck- it's more akin to a -pool- of spells you can pull from- with nothing really stopping you from getting the same card several times over. Yes, for the card counters in the audience- You're getting shafted.

But y'know, even after all this? Here's the thing. I don't actually -hate- the spell card system. There's some really neat spells in the mix of things- like weapon cards that change up your basic attacks function for a period of time- summoned entities that can provide you support and defense, some neat utility cards- and flashy apocalyptic attacks.

That said, I often found myself incredibly frustrated by it- especially as I got further into the game, and my decks replicability continued to tank. Trying to set up card combos is actually fairly obnoxious, once you realize that cards with ongoing effects will actually lock down one of your three spellcard slots for the entire duration of the spell.

For instance, Spell card that summons a raven that shoots a sword whenever you cast, and the spell that let's you rapid cast cards at no cost, but with no effect -sound- good on paper, but, with 2 slots locked down- and the third only loading at a slow rate- it's an ultimately lackluster outcome which requires setup -and- a heap of mana.

...And, the thing is- I had to commit to these decisions in order to do so. There's leveling of sorts in the Knight Witch- through the acquisition of links to acquire certain passive abilities, and collectible items, to boost your Mana and HP.

While you -will- eventually max out everything if you do all the subquests- early on, these decisions matter a great deal- because you can't simply respec.

Done With Substance, Onto Style

Anyways, when it comes to the visuals and music- I do have to give this game a lot of credit. It's got a distinct fun visual identity, some great character and enemy designs, and some solid tunes to jam to as you genocide robots.

Enough About Children's Card Games

But was it enough? If I had to recommend this game strictly off it's narrative beats, that'd be a lot simpler of a decision for me. I can't emphasize it enough- the twists & turns were solidly satisfying, to the point that I not only went out of my way to see both of the games ending - I felt a major tug to return to the story and make very different choices at the press conference, just to see how things would play out.

That said, a major factor in my decision not to do so, was the lack of an NG+, because I was duly aware that I would need to go through the tedium of exploring again, of running around, occasionally backtracking to find the survivors I wanted to hear from when I made those choices . . . all while fighting with a card system that frequently fought me tooth and nail.

I looked forward to challenging the bosses again- but facing off against waves of ambushes just...elicited a certain sense of dread.

Ultimately The Knight Witch is enough of a mixed bag that, though I can heartily recommend it on a narrative front, I have far more difficulty doing so on a mechanical level- especially as I got further into the game. And it's that very mixed feeling that ultimately leaves me rating it a FUMBLE.

Still, If you're a major fan of metroidvanias and want to try something different with a neat story- It does achieve that. That said, if any of the other elements sound galling- well, you've been warned.

P.S. While the game does say there's a point of no return at the ending- it's only until you clear the game- so you're able to get both endings in the same save file -and- return to mop up missed content.

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