Wicca - try
Sorry though, no school of wizards nor you know who for this time but we advise you not to lower your ears because the magic here flows really powerful. Out of place quotes aside, we assure you that behind the name of Wicca lies a project that could surprise you.
Sang-Froid: Tales of Werewolves. If this name tells you something we have some great news for you and not just because you have tastes on your side that have also led you to discover the gems of the indie scene. Sang-Froid was certainly not a perfect game but his attempt to hybridize aspects from strategic and tower defense to an action soul had the merit of improving elements of both genres.
On the one hand the strategy took off that heavy patina of complexity and rigidity and on the other hand the action soul acquired that layer of depth which risks, especially in games with a tight budget, to be completely underestimated. Sang-Froid's co-designer takes full advantage of the teachings behind that experience to pack with the help of two other developers an action-strategy that abandons werewolves and firearms but once again embraces the supernatural.
Watch on YouTube. Immersed in 16th-century Scotland, we immediately confronted the narrative context that confronts us with the story of the young Teagan. A girl apparently like many who was raised by her uncle and who has forged a very deep bond with her cousin Edwin, in effect a brother to the young woman and an essential pillar of her life. But Teagan hides in her blood a mysterious past that has remained silent and abandoned in a corner all her life. But not this time, this is the time of awakening.
Wicca
Developer: Autoexec Games Publisher: Autoexec Games Availability: Available from Q3 of 2021 on PC (Steam) Version tested: PC The awakening is unleashed once and for all just when the end word seems written in indelible characters. He unleashes in the flames of the umpteenth burning of the short-sighted Inquisition in search of witches, of scarecrows to be sacrificed on the altar of an allegedly quiet life. In an intro as convulsive as it is short, this pre-alpha build gives us a Teagan unexpectedly alive and mysteriously linked to Amina, the spirit of another woman who should have died in the flames. But fate is known, it does not look anyone in the face.Without too many preambles and with a third person view that is positioned behind the model of the protagonist, we have begun to touch the cornerstones of a game that will show its full potential only in the weeks before the release set for Q3 of 2021. Already, however, it sets the record straight: this action / strategic hybrid between magic and time travel has all the credentials to carve out a space of prominence in the overcrowded indie landscape.
The witch hunt creates witches ... literally! But wait a second ... time travel? Ok to have some mysterious magical powers but time travel is another thing entirely, right? Everything has an explanation (at least hinted at) from the narrative point of view but what is really interesting is how the context takes shape from the point of view of pure gameplay. Because, although the magic that we mysteriously find inside our veins is able to unleash attacks directed against hordes of zombie-like and demons, these almost third-person shooter phases are not enough to take the skin home.
The dark forces that are attacking the Kingdom of Hogendale en masse require something more, something related to the powerful sources of power scattered around the maps that make up the different acts that should also characterize the final version of Wicca. These orbs of magic are the key to survival and mercilessly tearing apart the advance of overwhelming enemy forces. Enemy forces that come as hordes from the most varied directions and in more or less numerous groups and which consequently also give rise to situations very similar to tower defense in which it will be necessary to all intents and purposes to manage the "flows" of the troops of evil. br>
On the other hand, our new sorceress / little witch finds herself entangled in events that are decidedly greater and more important than her simple destiny and the only desire to be reunited with her beloved cousin. A chosen novel that will soon be immersed in magic and mysteries that for the moment remain big question marks. The trial version cannot give us a satisfactory overview of a narrative aspect which among other things will also be enriched by a much more present dubbing and a very welcome and necessary attention to detail to really convince us.
The strategy is as important as knowing how to improvise. Similar speech, it must be admitted, even for a gameplay that, however interesting, needs the right time to fully convince. For the moment we can only really appreciate the capabilities and the basis of mechanics that give their best only in the very last mission of the test.
Here we have been able to really exploit every possibility of an action / strategy hybrid who knows how to give fascinating ideas and a certain impact, passing from the most basic of direct attacks to the possibility of hovering on the battlefield in a real out-of-body projection to evaluate even the most complex moves and study a truly effective battle plan. Fire demons that attack from a distance, supernatural limbs that rise from the ground and more trees that come to life to launch the undead "poor" into orbit. This is the magical side of the experience. But alone is not enough, time is everything.
Speaking of real time travel is improper, it must be admitted, but the power that flows in the blood of our alter ego coincides with an enrichment of the gameplay that a a first impact is pleasantly amazing. Our "heroine" has the power to give life to echoes of herself allowing us in layman's terms to fight from time to time alongside our past, giving life to clashes in which death is simply a reset that generates another echo to "ally" with (up to a certain point, it is not infinite power).
Between action / shooter and strategic in a mix for all tastes. Thus, while the past Teagan eliminates with its magic darts a small horde of undead by awakening a tree that makes haunt of other enemies, the present Teagan blocks a group of creatures of darkness to allow our future echo to wreak havoc with a fire demon. This is just an example of how all the pieces can fit together perfectly, giving game phases between action, tower defense and strategy capable of forging a perfect magical / temporal puzzle. And everything will be even more interesting when we have the opportunity to test the co-op, an element capable of adding further joints to be discovered but for now only promised on paper.
But with such a "backward" build doubts inevitably and rightly they remain and it is not all to be commended. The variety as always will be the most important element to take care of beyond the technical and optimization problems certainly due to the pre-alpha state of what was kindly granted to us by the developers. More enemies, more powers, a level design as refined and peculiar as possible for the different missions and a further refinement in the management of the skill tree.
Beyond the sheer amount of content, developers must keep an eye above all on the gameplay cycle trying to mitigate a trial and error that between temporal echoes and natural understanding of all magic has seen us fail in several opportunities in search of the perfect strategy. Surely over time the learning curve will drop sharply but this is one of the questions that only another test or the final version will be able to completely erase.
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A splash of stats and skills to transform us into a very powerful witch. Wicca is a very interesting hybrid that cleverly harnesses supernatural abilities and the passage of time to outline a story steeped in dark enemies, fate and of course lots of magic. The basics and ideas are all in the right place and with the right ingredients, time and attention to detail, every piece could fit together perfectly. Magic and time, almost as if it were the perfect recipe for creating a great ... video game.
