The Witch and the Hundred Knight Revival Edition Review

There are a lot of complaints in this generation about games that have been remastered or ported to the Playstation 4 or Xbox One, with some people even jokingly calling it the "Remaster Generation." A lot of companies are joining in on the fun, including Nippon Ichi Software, with them throwing their hat into the ring with a niche title called The Witch and the Hundred Knight, a game that was originally released on the Playstation 3.

Players control the Hundred Knight, a magical creature that was summoned by a mysterious person, as you are forced into a tutorial at the beginning of a new game. As it turns out, this person is none other than the Swamp Witch, Metallia, a character with a mouth so foul, that she makes a truck driver or sailor look relatively tame. Her goal in summoning you is to do her bidding and spread her territory to more than just her current swamp area.

Some people might be thrown off by Metallia's rough nature, especially as the game doesn't hold back on almost anything, although it does bleep out the "f-word." There are twists and turns in the main narrative that will explain pretty much everything, including the reasonings behind Metallia's attitude and her origins. It's not a bad story, but the pacing can be a bit daunting at times, especially in the latter half of the main game.

Although Metallia is the main character of the game, players control the Hundred Knight throughout the majority. The game is a bit similar to the likes of Diablo, as it is an action RPG played from an isometric point of view. One of the minor downsides to this view is that obstacles in the environment do not become transparent as you go behind them, which can both block the action and also become a hindrance while fighting enemies.

There is a central hub, which players can return to at any time to take a break from the action. Via a world map, they will visit instanced stages, all of which have a main objective in the story. You can revisit these stages at any time after clearing them the first time, allowing yourself an opportunity to strengthen the Hundred Knight, although this can be a bit fruitless, as enemies level up with you, leaving a challenge no matter where you go.

The Hundred Knight is capable of equipping five weapons in a set and depending on the order of them (represented by symbols and in-game hints telling you the order), your weapons might do more damage or the attack rate might be higher. One of the new additions to the game is the ability to create up to three weapon sets, which is a welcome addition, due to some enemies only being vulnerable to damage from a particular weapon type.

One of the core mechanics of the game is the Giga Calories that you will see in the upper left whenever you go exploring in a level. As you take actions with the Hundred Knight, this counter will gradually decrease. It will also reduce faster if you take damage, as it will be used to restore your health. Should the GigaCals counter reach zero, then you will be weakened a bit and actions might start taking health instead.

Luckily, you can replenish GigaCals through the use of items, as well as by consuming enemies. Whenever you get their health to 20% or less, you can see an option to consume them, which will initiate a button mashing mini-game. The former option of using items is one of my major annoyances in the game, as it doesn't explicitly tell you how to use items when you're adventuring, at least not in the extensive tutorial. Instead, it delegates this to a series of in-game tips that will appear during loading screens, although they can be accessed at any time during the game.

Speaking of items, any that you should happen to pick up during a level cannot be used until you return to the hub. Instead, they are put into your stomach, which has limited capacity, but you can find specific items in chests that can increase this carrying capacity. The only problem with this is that when you consume enemies to restore GigaCals, it will create garbage items that take up those valuable inventory slots, the likes of which you can't remove in the early game.

To further add to the complexity of the game, you have a stamina meter that appears as a yellow circle around your character. Every major action you perform during levels will consume a portion of this meter, even something as basic as sprinting and attacking. That and everything else mentioned is what can throw off some people who start playing the game, as it is a lot to take in and keep track of while playing. However, once you get into the groove of things, the mechanics will become second nature.

One of the new things that was added to the Revival Edition is the Tower of Illusion. Accessible early in the game, you sacrifice a weapon and depending on the strength of it, the power of the enemies will change. The Tower of Illusion is nothing more than you clearing a room of enemies before you can progress to the next room. The one caveat is that you have one more meter to fill up and once it's full, you will be able to play as Metallia. While it's restricted to one area, playing as Metallia does provide a breath of fresh air.

Having never played the original on the Playstation 3, I cannot begin to tell the graphical differences between both versions. However, with that out of the way, the Revival Edition does have pretty sharp graphics, from the character models to the backgrounds of the stages, considering it is played from a top-down perspective, similar to Diablo. It's definitely not going to win any awards for its graphics, but it gets the job done.

One of the great things is that it appears the XMB bug that plagued some users of the PS3 version is gone. The game is pretty fun and has some unique mechanics that makes the gameplay enjoyable. There's not a lot of new stuff added in that may push you to make a purchase, but the $40 price point is definitely a nice option. For those of you craving for an action RPG, you should definitely look at this game, but don't expect anything like Diablo from it.