When you think of mobile games, it’s hard not to picture your grandma playing 500 levels of Candy Crush or a virtual gambling simulator disguised as a pretty anime character collector. There are plenty of gems that break outside of those molds, though, and developer KIWIWALKS has been pumping them out for nearly 10 years now in the form of the WitchSpring series. What started as a cute, character-driven RPG series that lived on your phone has recently grown into a proper console game franchise. WitchSpring3 Re:Fine saw releases on Steam and the Nintendo Switch, and just last year a full remake of the very first game in the series dropped on Steam. That remake, WitchSpring R, is finally coming to consoles, and now even more people have an opportunity to experience one of the most charming RPGs I’ve ever played.
I hesitate to call WitchSpring R a JRPG, since it’s origins as a Korean-developed game leave it technically lacking in the J department. Despite that, though, the spirit and style of the game channels so much iconic JRPG energy. In particular, as a massive fan of the chill alchemy-focused Atelier series, I felt right at home diving into the adventures of bunny-eared witch Pieberry and her talking bird companion who goes by the unfortunate name of Black Joe.
Typically content with a life of solitude in her magic forest, Pieberry gains a newfound goal of discovery when she tastes her namesake for the first time – human-baked pie. So, on top of her usual routine of foraging for materials and fending off monsters and witch-hating humans, she sets out to explore the world beyond her home and see what other human inventions she can experience that are as good as pie.
I love a game with low-stakes, and WitchSpring R plays into that so perfectly. At first, the stakes are arguably a bit too low – it takes a while for the game’s writing to break out of the rhythm of just feeling like it’s dialogue purely for the purpose of gameplay tutorializing. That slow start eventually gives way to a rhythm and routine that helped the narrative really fall into place for me, though. Without an immediate end-of-the-world plot being thrust on me, the smaller encounters that make up most of WitchSpring R’s story helped give a lot more grounded charm to all the characters that got introduced along the way.
It helps that the gameplay in WitchSpring R is not only varied, but fun enough that it feels all to natural to fall into the gameplay loop routine of it all. Combat in the game isn’t triggered by any random encounters – you can see enemies on the field and choose when, or if, you want to engage them. It makes battles feel like a calculated choice alongside your routine of harvesting materials, or doing minigames to raise Pieberry’s various stats in the Growth menu. Battles are pretty simple turn-based encounters, with Pieberry being able to dish out standard attacks or various Magical Slab abilities while Black Joe can hop in to provide items and potions in a pinch.
As you progress through the game you’ll recruit characters who can expand your party, but you also get to capture a huge variety of monsters and make them part of your party, too. In a standard playthrough, the combat in WitchSpring R will be more about party customization and stat growth than dense strategy – but new game+, higher difficulty options, and bonus bosses give you lots of opportunities to push your battle prowess to the limits if you so choose.
The 30 or so hour runtime of WitchSpring R flew by in a flash for me. It’s a gorgeous game full of beautiful character art, whimsical music, and a lighthearted story that dishes out all my favorite, comfortable JRPG tropes. If you’re looking for a high-stakes adventure with grim narrative consequences, this won’t pass the sniff test for you. But if you’re in the market for a comfortable, cute RPG experience, WitchSpring R is a must-play.