REVIEW: Mika and the Witch’s Mountain

Mika has always wanted to be a witch, and she finally reached the age where she can enrol in a witch’s school set on the top of the island’s mountain. But things don’t go to plan when she arrives, as the teacher decides to teach Mika a lesson by kicking her off the side of the mountain (not quite sure what the lesson is!) with the thought process that Mika will figure out a way to return to the top. This is how Mika ends up in the situation she is in, having to earn coins to be able to afford upgrades to her broom so she can return to the top of the mountain and start her witch schooling. 

This is done by delivering items around the island, including letters, parcels, pictures, and even ice cream that you need to deliver before it melts. You’ll find plenty of other items around the island that will need delivering and some mysterious items that have no clear destination, leaving it up to your detective skills to find their rightful home. All the items are perishable, so you have to treat them carefully. This is shown by the hearts on each item and what they will perish too. A letter will have three hearts, but of course, it is perishable to water, so you have to be really careful not to let it touch any. Other things to look out for are crashing into walls and cliff sides at speed and dropping from a high distance. Mika will also be rated on her delivery performance and speed, so work fast, as if you get a bad rating, there’ll be no money for you! 

Transversal was not everything I was expecting when delivering the goods. It is a pleasure flying around the island on the broom. It has this satisfying smoke trail that it leaves, and as you upgrade the broom, it gains new abilities to make travelling easier. But one thing I wasn’t expecting is that it can’t gain height on its own. This is left to the wind torrents that you’ll find all over the island, which will raise Mika to a certain height. This restricts Mika from getting to the higher places of the island until later on, when you’ve gained all four available broom upgrades. You can also ‘bounce’ off roofs and stones to keep your height, and you also have a little bump manoeuvre to hand, which will raise you up slightly.

I was left slightly disappointed that they went in this direction; it did lead to some fun moments, but overall, I felt more frustration than anything. It broke up my flying experience, so I never got full enjoyment out of it, as Mika will gradually drop back down to Earth unless you can reach another wind torrent to keep you at the height you were at. It also fed into a couple of missions where you had to be high enough to reach a far-off target, which did give it some other purpose, but all in all, I was left a little bemused by it all. What made it worse was that the flying felt so good and smooth, and when you were able to fly for a good distance, it was a really enjoyable experience. What I was hoping for was for the broom to be limited to how high Mika could fly, with upgrades giving us the ability to fly higher, which I feel would have given a more unbroken and pleasurable flying experience. Or they could have offered an unrestricted flying mode or an item that gives you that option, which would be difficult to find or locked behind a secret mission. I do want to clarify that the wind mechanic is fine; it’s not a game-breaker; it’s just that I believe there was a better way to approach this section of the game.

While I am here, another irritation I had was during the talking sections of the game. There’s no voice acting at all, with everything text-based, but when I say there’s no voice acting, there are some voice noises. “Oh,” “ah,” “hmm,” “uh huh,” “err,” and so on. I don’t mind these from time to time, but they were too consistent here, with it seeming like every second there was another one, and they just started to get on my nerves. I even searched the options to see if I could turn them off, but sadly, there wasn’t an option to do that. I may be in the minority with this, as I am sure many will enjoy this inclusion, but it was just a big turn-off for me personally. 

I wasn’t overly keen on the map either, as it was locked in the options menu, which was not the most accessible place for it to be. This led to endlessly going backwards and forwards from the option screen to the game to check where I was and which direction I needed to move in. There was no mini map on the main HUD either, which would have been very useful, or mapping it to the D Pad would have been most welcome. What fed the frustration more was that the map was actually a good tool to use as it gave away your next destination, so it erased the frustration of endlessly searching for your next goal, hence the constant switching. 

The design of the island itself was fun to explore, with different terrains to experience and hidden collectibles to find. Overall, I didn’t have an issue with the layout, with some fun features and discoveries. You’ll find what looks like artefact gates and structures, which will eventually become helpful, though I believe some of these only get activated during the game’s heavy postgame as most did nothing up to the credits rolling. Collectables that you find will help you unlock new costumes, charms, and trail smoke for your broom, and there are plenty of secret areas for you to find. Mika and the Witches Mountain seems like a short game on paper, but there is much more to the game, as it seems, with thirty-six main missions and eighteen side missions to complete, six charms and seven trail smokes to unlock, and fifteen tarot cards to find. It’s a good package, and it will keep you busy for a good chunk of time.

Mika and the Witch’s Mountain is a good, high-quality game. It contains a fun cast of characters, enjoyable exploration (even with that wind mechanic), a healthy depth to its gameplay, and those gorgeous Studio Ghibli-style visuals that you can’t stop yourself from falling in love with. It’s just a shame that it couldn’t completely live up to the hype, as its issues made for a more subpar experience than I was expecting. But if you think you can overlook its shortcomings, you’ll find a cosy, chill experience that won’t challenge your grey matter too much, charm oozing out of every corner, and an overall fun adventure.

Release Date: August 21st, 2024

Platforms: PC & Nintendo Switch (PS4, PS5, & Xbox Series X|S coming late 2024)

Price: £16.99

Version Tested: PC (Via Steam Deck)

Many thanks to the publisher for the review copy.