Preview: Garden of Witches

When I woke up this morning, I didn’t expect that it would already be evening when I began this review. Tasked to explore Steam’s Next Fest. I was going to start on a different title, my Editor in Chief suggested from a pool of ducks. I decided I’ll be goin in my own direction, as this needs everyone’s attention. I’m a sucker when it comes to rogue games, they can sometimes seem repetitive cause everyone uses a similar formula. I will say that this doesn’t change it all that much. The only other game I could honestly compare the layout with is a mobile game I once dedicated life to. This is because it’s very addicting. As is this title, Garden of Witches.

Originally, this was supposed to just be a game I would check for myself, and I spent over the granted hours it says it could take to finish. A fair mention is that this is the first game release of Team Tapas. Which they let you know in the introduction of the demo, but  after checking their website, and social media. They also have mobile games, with a few rewards to show for them. So this must be their first release of a full game for PC. I am excited for them. Cause I look forward to the full release.

It’s late but can you stay for some tea?

To start, when I launched this demo. I was given a small note. That Garden of Witches is best played with a controller, and for the best experience to use one. I didn’t manage to get a picture of that, but once launched. A habit is always to check the settings. In doing so, I was given a chance to chuckle as they showed you the layout for controls. Very subtle and accurate. I finally began the game, and experienced a nice story time. The aesthetics and delivery were charming, and led you into a very cute world. The art style is one of the reasons for my interest to try Garden of Witches. They’re unique and detailed, and it’s all around cleverness. I won’t over indulge in the story, because there wasn’t enough experience at this time to really give any information.

You play as Sil, who is looking to gather the other witches for a tea party. Starting off in your house, where you’ll frequently visit. Believe me. I first thought it might be a one off. And tried to get every detail of the scenery. I was wrong, I’ll explain soon. Once you exit, the journey starts. You’ll start exploring rooms, and sometimes have 1 or 2 paths to follow. The doors give you a hint at what lays behind. Could be health, skills, attacks, enemies. Sometimes double symbols, so you may need to fight to claim health or extra skills. 

Progression & Bosses

Progressing forward in Garden of Witches, you’ll gain numerous options to grow. While exploring the garden you gain skills, and stat increases to help you prevail against the nightmares that are invading. Since it’s just a demo, some of the features were not available. You’ll have plenty of time to experience them all and figure out the best skills for your own style in the full version of the game. Back to an earlier point, once you fail, your current story ends and you’ll restart.

Once more in your cozy little home with your familiar cat, you’ll now have access to the large scissors on the mantle. This is where you’ll really start to grow. As this is where you begin to invest into the base stats of Sil. You’re also able to see other information, such as the skills that are currently available to learn while fighting in the garden. Eventually, you’ll see what also works together. I did say invest, right? Because each visit to the garden, you slowly accumulate some currency. This is where it’s spent at this time. Each run, you’ll want to continue to buff yourself up. 

A worthy note, and reason you’d want to buff up a bit moving forward. In this demo, they mention that you’re only able to face 2 bosses. Which they also buffed up, with the intention of more replay within the demo. Once full release, they’ll be mildly downsized. The difficulty increases, which is smart. It enabled me to hunger to push forward. Which is why I am still playing, because I only managed to get to the second boss’s second phase once. I enjoyed the boss fights, because they’re actually very friendly. It honestly gave me Final Fantasy XIV vibes, because they have visible AOE telegraphs. This doesn’t make it easier in any way. Since currently you’re locked with only 2 dashes max. And you’ll need to avoid any and all damage, because they have 2 phases.

After the first defeat of the bosses, they have intervals of where you need to avoid or damage them a little more. Fiena knocks you against the wall and sprouts a maze hiding in a flower pod in the center, a timer is going and I never managed to see what happened if you didn’t get to the pod and destroy it before the end. Anyway, the second phase begins after, and she does similar attacks to the first. I think the only difference at the time would probably be more spam. When I finally did manage to beat her, I went to the second area with only 5 HP. Garden of Witches is ruthless, as it did not help me till 2 rooms into the next area. In the same run I made it to the second boss, and got past the second phase into death with 32 HP. 

Garden of Witches – My Opinion

Garden of Witches is honestly one of those cracked walls, hidden loots. It has a fantastic art style, the gameplay although mechanically nothing to stand out. I think the skills themselves and the idea behind them is worth praise. Especially with only a small handful available in this demo. I look forward to the overall story, as you get a brief taste at the start. You’re not exactly hungry for the investment yet. The journey for sure will be fun to reach though. As this is the first full game title for a small indie company, I think they’re doing something amazing. I seriously hope this will thrive enough so they’ll continue to release more. I was just invested in the overall play style though. It might not be to everyones liking, but it struck enough cords for me to want to make my own symphony for it.

Something subtle of interest to me, since this is a roguelike. You will experience the dialogue continuously going forward. With most, you can skip cutscenes. This one goes beyond that. By not instantly black to the fight. It gives you the experience of watching a fast forwarding VHS experience. Which isn’t the tea for everyone, but I thought it was stand out enough for me to enjoy. A small keypoint that I enjoyed and figured it deserved a mention. I’d praise this up and down all day. I’m legit still playing it, trying to get past the second boss still. I look forward to more of Team Tapa’s games in the future!

I especially look forward to Garden of the Witches release some day. You can find more information through their mentions in the start, and X here. They have a small Youtube channel, which hopefully gets some more updates. You’ll probably have the most luck through their discord. You can wishlist Garden of Witches now on Steam.