The WitchSpring franchise is a series of JRPGs primarily released on mobile devices. WitchSpring 3 was released on Nintendo Switch, however, and WitchSpring R, which is a remake of the original game in the series, has been released on Steam as well as all major consoles. It came out in 2024 for Switch and PlayStation, but was delayed until 2025 on Xbox for unknown reasons, which is why it took me this long to play it.
WitchSpring R is the story of Pieberry, a young witch living alone in the forest in a world where witches are hunted down and killed on sight. She doesn't like being trapped in the forest, though, and ventures out into the real world. Along the way she makes friends, meets other witches, gains the powers of gods, and uncovers a plot where she has to kill the Pope to save the world. Yeah, it gets crazy. Sort of.
It's actually pretty predictable if you've watched basically any anime, but it's still satisfying because the characters are amazing. Pieberry is absolutely fantastic, but the other characters she meets are all really great as well. You really care about them all by the end and it gets kind of emotional here and there. Pieberry is kind of like Goku in that basically everyone she meets, good or bad, ends up as her friend.
It has to be noted that Pieberry is super young to start the game. She's like ten years old or something. She does get aged up over the course of the story to something closer to 15 or 18 or perhaps older depending on which crazy Reddit theory you listen to. The game doesn't ever, ever, sexualize her, or any of the characters, though, and focuses on overwhelming cuteness rather than titillation. Some people will still be weirded out by her age, but I think you're thinking about it too much and you're the creepy ones. It's genuinely wholesome and cozy and innocent. There is a romantic subplot that you could probably side-eye, but Pieberry initiates it and the guy never really reciprocates, so it's safe. Probably.
I'd be lying if I said its mobile game roots didn't show through even though this is a remake built for PC and consoles, but that's also kind of why I like it so much. The environmental graphics are really simple and the game world is mostly made up of small rooms - with brief load times between them - instead of larger open areas. The combat system is also very, very simple and clearly intended to not be overwhelming on a tiny mobile screen, but it works very well.
I have said it before, but I don't like modern turn-based JRPGs. I feel like they waste your time by making everything cinematic and epic and I can't deal with the turn-based combat. I hate it, to be honest. I do like oldschool SNES-era turn-based games fine, just not modern ones. WitchSpring R definitely falls into the oldschool style of turn-based gameplay. It's fast and snappy but still has a bit of strategy to offer.
For the most part you only play as the main character Pieberry and don't really have a party. Occasionally other characters will join you in battle, but you don't really control what they do other than choose which enemy they attack. You can also tame certain monsters out in the world and have up to four of them join you in combat at a time, which is awesome but, again, you only point them at the enemy and can't choose their attacks. The other characters / monsters that join you don't take damage during battle, so all you have to worry about is Pieberry.
As for Pieberry's combat abilities, it's pretty cool. She's a witch, so magic is obvious, but you can also equip swords and go for a more strength based melee build if you want. She can learn ice, fire, and lightning attacks that gradually increase in effectiveness as you play. The big damage attacks are ones tied to specific weapons, or learned directly from the gods as you play through the story. Managing the different spells and special attacks and everything ends up being pretty strategic by the end of the game and it's really genuinely enjoyable.
The content in the game is surprisingly beefy, too. It takes about 20-hours or so to beat the story, and then another 10-15 to clean up anything you missed such as taming all of the monsters, fighting optional bosses spread all over, finding secret weapons and armor, and playing through the epilogue chapter that wraps up all of the character stories.
There is a crafting element here that can be kind of annoying, though. In order to learn spells, or upgrade weapons, or do pretty much anything else, you have to collect materials out in the world. And, of course, all of the best materials are tied to specific monsters or bosses, so you have to fight everything multiple times. The problem is that everything in the game world has a cooldown timer, so you can't just fight the same boss over and over. It's such a pointless arbitrary bottleneck that is one of the few blemishes on the game.
The only other thing I'm not fond of is the fact there are multiple costume DLCs for $8 each that just seem scummy and unnecessary. I don't care if they crank up Pieberry's cuteness to a million, I ain't paying eight bucks for costume DLC.
Overall, though, I really loved WitchSpring R. I was honestly kind of skeptical of buying it at first, because I don't like turn-based games much, but I gave in because of Pieberry's cuteness and was happily surprised by how much I loved everything about it. The story and characters are fantastic, Pieberry is ridiculously charming and lovable, the combat is satisfying and fun, and the presentation is solid. I'm not kidding when I say it's my favorite new JRPG in forever. It's a solid value, too. It's $40 but goes on sale regularly and was even 40% off at launch on Xbox. Considering it takes 35-ish hours to see it all, that's well worth the asking price even if you pay full MSRP. I truly loved WitchSpring R and highly, highly recommend it. If you like oldschool JRPGs and wholesome cuteness, definitely check it out.
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