Witchinour

The general game feel and bullet hell aspects are okay, but that's about it. The rogue elements are really, really bad. 99% of the upgrades are numerical stat tweaks that don't change how your character plays or feels. Ditto for the weapons - they are basically just rate-of-fire and range modifiers for your default weapon; even the projectiles are identical. Different zones are also essentially palette swaps, with zero distinct features like traps or environmental hazards to differentiate them.

The result is that the first floor feels exactly like fifth floor, and the tenth floor, and so on. Playing this game for literally 30 seconds shows everything it has to offer. Skip this one - it's not worth your money, and it's not even worth your time.

Great little game that takes a lot of inspiration from Nuclear Throne. Lacks content in my opinion though but it's well worth it's price anyway.

Review for 2.0 patch.

TL;DR - 5.5/10, not the most memorable experience.
I'd love to give this game neutral review but there is no such option on steam.

Even tho game mechanics are simple and rather enjoyable the game feels really repetitive and linear.
The reason for this is that special class abilities and lvl-up upgrades are having very little impact on your gameplay, making every single run feel exactly the same regardless of your loadout. The only thing that matters is plain exp for damage and the weapon type you can randomly roll from the chest in the end of each floor.
That leads to situation where your entire roguelite experience is reduced to rolling the right weapon and stomping all the enemies right after you get it.

This could be an interesting game but definitely needs some balance changes and more playstyles variety.

This game is a great example of why I'm done with procedural generation. I literally turn away from most games as soon as I hear that phrase.

I don't really hate it. I like the music and presentation and gameplay. It reminds me, I think completely unintentionally on the part of the developer, of the old DOS (possibly also Amiga) run and gun game C-Dogs. But it's the epitome of 'screwed by procedural generation' as sometimes you'll find yourself in a labyrinth with cover you can use and negotiate, and other times you'll find yourself in a completely open chamber full of monsters who will melt you in seconds. Apart from that it's just a waiting game, like all games that call themselves 'roguelikes' these days, to get the right perks to carry you through.

That said, it's pretty cheap and it's usually on sale for even cheaper than that, and if you like the aesthetic I think it's basically going to end up being worth it. It's got a nice sense of 'pew pew', I actually like the 'retro' filters, and the grind is at least fairly pleasurable. All it could really use to improve the experience is some kind of sound when your special weapon and/or spells finish charging up.

Witchinour is great, man. It plays very similar to Nuclear Throne, but with a lot less thinking. Your thought process mainly goes towards your movement instead of what guns have what synergies with what mutations, etc: the movement feels great and pretty precise on top of some legitimately hard patterns (play the highest difficulty- you won't regret it!) The infinite ammo pours into a game that's well done (albeit simple) about what twin-stick shooters should be. Plus it's only like 3$. Highly recommend.

Fast and mechanically sound twin stick roguelite.
Short and without too much variation, but got this for 0,78€ so definitely recommended at that price.

Really good looking bullet hell, variety of characters and randomly generated maps with tons of monsters to slay. What can I say, I'm really enjoying this game, if you played titles such as Realm of the Mad God, Binding of Isaac etc. then this game is for you. The only con of this game is small number of upgrades, which I'm hoping for to be increased. Also hoping for some DLCs or fan made maps/campaigns, this game has a lot of potential. Really worth money spend on it.

Fun
Fun twin-stick shooter that strips back narrative, skill trees, pickups. What remains is a very slick and smooth arcade experience. Controls are tight and needing to be as the game is pretty brutal.

I'd really like to finish it but not sure i'll be able to. Its a good one to pick up and play for abit when your senses are feeling primed and ready to react. There is a handful of different abilities and characters to unlock so you can mix and match abit for different playing styles however with every character / playthrough it comes down to how efficiently you can plow through each level and avoid projectiles. I find it really fun when i'm in the mood.

It's a fun lightweight twin-stick shooter. Pretty good for the price! But, though I'm not colorblind myself, I think this game needs some form of support for it. Enemy health bars are straight red/green, and the indicator of whether you're able to travel to the next level is too. I imagine this would make the game a fair bit harder if you're red-green colorblind! Aside from that, though, not a bad game.

edit: after an update, red-green colorblindness support is now baked into the design! Gotta love these small developers who make changes this quickly. Buy the game, support the devs :)

edit 2: well this is embarrassing, the health and XP potions are still indistinguishable except by colour. Close enough right?

Even more retro looking nuclear throne-like rogue-like with infinite-like ammo. If you like your twin stick shooters and you dig robotron 2064 (I know I'm close on this one) arcade aesthetics... get this game.

Excellent little game. Heavily reminds me of Nuclear Throne, expect it's quite a bit simplified in gameplay. Run around procedurally generated levels seperated into tiers, then fight a boss at the end of each tier. Boss fights are pretty simple bullet hells, but fun.

Unlockable character options are decent and the selection of spells (you can have two) are diverse.

Also has an in-game difficulty system straight from Risk of Rain where the longer you spend in levels, the harder the enemies become. Helps to give you some urgency instead of corner camping enemies all the time.

Shoutout to the music tho. I love it and especially that the theme of each tier of levels gets another musical layer to it as you progress through each level.

Good price point as well. Overall I give it 8 Witches out of 10 Bullet Hells

Witchinour is a great game. The graphics combined with the music combined with the combat is just so fun. I do wish there were actual boss themes (They are currently just a generic track). But all in all its a great game.

If you like Nuclear Throne, but wish it had infinite ammo, Witchinour is for you. This game is a roguelite twin stick shooter made by a single developer who put a lot of passion into his work, and it shows. Witchinour is easy to pick up, easy to play (both with keyboard + mouse or controller) and very hard to master. If you don’t fear a good challenge, go for it.

In this game you play as an amateur witch who lost her spell somewhere in the dungeon, and you must find it. All levels are procedurally generated, offering a different experience each time you play, and after the first boss, the upcoming biomes are randomly selected, so you’ll never know wait awaits you. Here your dodge and aiming skills will be put to the test constantly, and the longer you play, the harder the game gets, just like in Risk of Rain. On the other hand, if you clear some levels fast enough, the game will tone down the difficulty a bit.

Just like it’s common in the roguelite genre, Witchinour has a meta progression system, but, the stuff you unlock (newer classes and power-ups) offers only different choices, and not more powerful abilities, like we’ve seen in Rogue Legacy, for instance. On another words, in the end of the day, your skills will be the decisive factor to succeed (just like Spelunky), as you won’t be grinding for more power. This is a great plus, since this is not that kind of roguelite that you will beat by unlocking perks and buffs; instead you will level up as a player.

The soundtrack is wonderful, adding new layers of instruments as you go deeper in the dungeons: every biome starts with a shy melody and as you progress, the melody grows and other instruments join the music (it’s hard to explain, but you got the idea). The graphics are very simple, but that’s actually a good thing. This game is very fast paced, so the almost minimalist graphics helps you to focus on the hectic gameplay, with no visual distractions to confuse you. I’m not a big fan of the screen shake and scanlines filter effects, but gladly you can turn these off.

Overall, for a very cheap price, this game offers an awesome experience for roguelite and shoot ‘em up / bullet hell fans.

Pros:
* Satisfying controls, both for keyboard + mouse, or controller
* Good amount of challenge for those who love hard games
* Great and retro-like chiptune soundtrack
* Meta progression system done right
* High replay value, due to procedural generation and classes / power-ups variety
* Passionate and devoted developer who listens to the community

Cons:
* The alert bar raises way too fast, but maybe that’s just me

Fun small game were you unlock new spells and classes as you die. It's really difficult I would say as I only got to level 10 in 5-10 tries. Fun and fast, and really cheap as well.

A real hidden gem for a cheap price. This is a game you will find interest in if you enjoy titles such as Binding of Isaac, Enter The Gungeon, and Nuclear Throne. Don't let the cute sprites fool you, this game can be difficult but it is definitely fun.

Pros

Cons

Crimson-Albedo wrote:

Follow my reviews through my curator at Crim's Humble Opinion

Look, if you are a fan of twin-stick bullet hell schmups, just do yourself a favor and grab this. Don't overthink it - it's only five bucks.

So where does this fit in the scheme of things? Well, it's definitely more on the lite side of things along with games such as Monolith. It has an arcadey sort of feel to it - nothing ever gets too complicated. You level up? Your stats are simply increased automatically. You pick a buff every so often and try to murder everything in your path as fast as you can. Yes, the game is pretty one-dimensional as far as complexity goes - but it's fun. The one-more-run effect is strong in this one. There are also metagame upgrades that you earn.

Pros:
+Well well worth the five bucks
+Super addicting one-more-run appeal
+Nothing ever gets too complicated
+I *love* how the music adds a layer every time you move down in the dungeon - brilliant!

Cons:
-There really aren't too many rough edges to be fair, but the 'shooting' sound is a bit abrasive
-I played with keyboard/mouse and controller - and while both work really well, I wish I didn't have to hold down the trigger when playing with controller (although I understand why I have to)

Glad I found this one.

I'm really glad you can play as a witch. There's not many games where you can play as a witch.

The music adds layers as you go down floors. That's a 10.

It sucks that this game has nearly no recognition, because it's well-made and well-designed, and the developer clearly put thousands of hours into making this work.

Witchinour is a difficult twin-stick-spellcaster roguelike, cutely-ugly with chunky pixels and a bit-filled soundtrack. Others have already mentioned Nuclear Throne and Risk of Rain, of which elements of both are present – Witchinour essentially affixes a ROR-styled Time/Difficulty system to the NT overhead shooter thing. It’s a move providing initiative to keep the pace up, play quickly and dangerously – especially once bosses get involved and no cover exists, and your evasive maneuvering will be seriously put to the test. Death comes quickly in this game, often from a single mistake.

Combat-wise, it does take a bit of getting used to the spells & specials available, especially with a relative lack of information available. Different spells and specials unlock with play so you do get a chance to gradually try everything out, but you probably won’t be winning any runs until you've picked a single character & spell set and stuck with it for hours. At this point I’m finding it difficult to want to branch out beyond the Sniper character with Protection & Overcharge spells, but that’s also because I think it’s the fastest build.

Levels are randomly generated and, for the most part, this works. On occasion, you’ll be dropped in the middle of a mostly-open level surrounded by enemies & projectiles from all directions, and, well, in most cases, dead. Spells and specials tend to be instantaneous, lasting for a second or two at most, and the upgrades can seem a bit muted. There is a thrill to surviving this kind of thing, but it can also be deflating to finally reach a high level and be wiped out in an instant. To this effect, I wouldn’t mind seeing more of an effect from the level-up upgrades, which might potentially help balance out some of the difficulty/character imbalances.

My main criticism is that the bosses can seem unbalanced and occasionally unfair, certainly at least until one has fought them enough times. In addition, some of the earlier levels seem to appear more frequently than others, which can make learning boss and enemy patterns somewhat challenging – and that’s assuming once you finally get to the boss, it doesn’t decide to repeat the wrong attack multiple times in a row, depleting your MP and/or HP stocks in a second. As of this review I have beaten the game a few times and, while very satisfying, it does occasionally feel like luck factors in on some boss fights. Stages 4 & 5 (Lab and Battlemage) are especially punishing in this regard; without any cover, the machine-gun spam of wall-reflecting bullets fills the screen nearly instantly, and even with the extra invincibility frames powerup it’ll chew through a full HP bar in a second. As for the earlier stages, the Dragoon and Orc levels seem noticeably more difficult than the Archery and Ruins stages – I am unsure if the level selection is random or tied to your Alert level, but the difference in difficulty between these levels seems rather marked.

I would like to give an appreciative nod to the soundtrack, as I’m especially fond of how it subtly integrates itself while dialing in the intensity with the progression of levels. Each level starts off with a relatively minimal theme before a new layer of music is added with the progression of each floor – it’s a nice touch, deceptively cute on the earlier levels but with some filthily intense distorted bits as the game gets harder.

I like Witchinour quite a bit, but I’m a glutton for this kind of punishment. The difficulty will undoubtedly ward off some, though much like Nuclear Throne, as you get faster and more confident in dealing with enemies, the waves of “this is impossible” gradually subside. In any case, definitely one for the “I want my games difficult” set – there may be “fuller” games of this type, but the minimalism here cuts away any loose fat and leaves what matters: fun, fast-paced action that’s certainly worth the five dollars if you don’t mind getting slapped around a bit.

Very, very good game. I love dungeon crawlers, roguelikes and light bullet hells (like Enter The Gungeon, or even a bit TBOI, even if I wouldn't call that "bullet hell"), and believe me: I'm super picky with games. Like SUPERpicky. I browsed Steam games for DAYS (not kidding) in search of some great roguelikes/lites dungeon crawlers, and Witchinour is absolutely one of the bestest I could find!

Believe me, I have 126 games in library, I know how a good game looks like!
Let's make the ol' good pros/cons list.

Pros:
- Surprisingly pleasing graphic. I like simple, retro pixelart, but that one is just capable of creating a great atmosphere. Again, I was in art since 2009, I know how good art choices look like, even when minimalist like in this case.
- Challenging without being exaggerate or frustrating (haven't finished the game yet)
- Well structured, pretty content (items, outfits...)
- Well structured, higly recognizable enemies (that's something incredibly important in this kind of game)
- Pretty, immersive maps
- Immersive soundtracks (during the levels the same soundtrack "evolves", I liked it a lot)
- Very simple but not bland or ripetitive. This is the kind of game you play 100+ hours
- One guy said he didn't like the monitor-lines effect. Dev made them optional. That's a good guy.

Cons:

- Dam! I love these little cute maps, but I can't read their names! The order in which you find the levels is partially randomized, making you find one type of level or another for the second level, for example. I love it but everytime I try to read the level name, it disappears. "Oh look, it's the Dragon ..." it disappear. I'd love the level names to stay for a couple of seconds to read 'em, because I'm really interested in these little details, they make the game even more immersive!

Conclusions: don't wait for the game to be in sale, for two reasons:
1 The game is worth 5€, word of honor.
2 The dev needs and DESERVE your support, if you like this kind of games. We should stop letting talent to die.
Buy Witchinour and have fun. 10/10 recommended.

This game is a cute little rogue-like bullet-hell where you must clear the levels as fast as possible or the enemies become too aggressive. The game is very hard though and I have yet to beat even the second boss, but it is fun to keep trying to get further into the game. You also constantly unlock new helpful spells and new outfits that change your starting stats.

There is no controller support which was not a problem for me, but it is worth mentioning for those that are expecting it.

Overall it is a fun little game that I keep coming back to try a few runs per day. It was definitly worth the $5.