Witch Dance

Music is wonderful and the gameplay is simple and addicting! Never been a big mouse-clicky gamer but this one made sense instantly.

Simple, yet very tricky, game. You start the game and you instantly start playing. You get some points, you lose, you start again. You get a personal hi-score, you try to beat it. You learn how the enemies behave, you learn the little rules that make a difference. You get addicted. Good game.

Really enjoying this one. Great little game, have put in almost 3 hours in one day.. says enough. Really fun and quick gameplay once it clicks. Feels great landing a big shot and seeing all the ghosts and slimes melt away. The sound effects fit the action perfectly and the awesome soundtrack bouncing away keeps you in a kind of cozy ghost slaying mood. 'Just one more run' is a term used all too often in video game reviews but it fits this game all too well. Restarting is instantenous and the soundtrack just keeps going smoothly. Oops another hour went by. For 2.99 it's lunacy not too buy this one if you are even a little bit interested. Keep up the good work Marcus! Ghostly greeting from harassing_hyena, cheers.

This game works great on Steam Deck. Just remap the controls from the Deck menu, e.g., change it to left stick for mouse and A and B button for left and right mouse click. It is a different experience on Deck because the controller does not facilitate fine motor control as well as mouse and keyboard. Still fun gameplay. When I tried with mouse and keyboard I was playing reactively and trying to maneuver around sprites. When I played on the Steam Deck I found myself trying to predict where the sprites would go, and plotting a linear path through them, because when using Steam Deck controls that's easier than micro-maneuvering. Doing it this way is more difficult; not unreasonably so, but it might deter some new players. Depending on how the sprite motion is programmed, if possible the developer might want to update to make the sprite paths more linear for people playing on deck, or slow their movement slightly. I bought the game to support Marcus in thanks for introducing so many of us to Souls games back in the day, and for sharing his progress when he started developing indie games. At my suggestion, my oldest child just completed a simple 2D game as part of a school STEM project. He had a lot of fun and did a great job, and I was inspired to suggest it because of the example of Marcus and other indie developers like him. Radix Chronicles isn't really my kind of game; these days I mostly play games casually with my kids or I play something like a Souls-like that I find relaxing if I have time on my own and no work to do. I don't expect to put a lot of hours into Witch Dance, but it hits a sweet spot of a game that I can play for a few minutes or maybe a half hour to pass the time when I don't have anything else to do. Something that is challenging and engaging but I don't mind turning off when it's time to stop and do something else. I like the game and it is well worth the price I paid. Add: I showed the game to my kid (the one who is also into game dev) and, his words, "This is kind of addictive." We had a party to go to and I had to take the Steam Deck away and remind him he was missing out on cake. He found it difficult but still fun. This will never be a "favorite" game for him (nor for me); if he's done with homework and allowed to have some screen time he's not going to be playing Witch Dance. However, on a car ride or if we have 20 or 30 minutes that we have to wait for something, it's raining outside, and I brought the Steam Deck along, this is going to be our go to for a fun game to play to pass the time. I like the game even more, now.

On the "negative" side, as the description says, it is a minigame. If you're expecting a fleshed out game, then check out Radix Chronicle instead;) On the bright side, if "simple but challenging" sounds good to you, this is definitely worth it's price! It works great for me as a "podcast game". Something that doesn't require my full attention, but keeps me engaged, while I listen to padded out lectures or podcasts. But if you want to give it your full attention, there's room for that as well, as skill ceiling seems pretty high.

This is a great little gem, very addicting, a perfect example of "just one more..". Gameplay is simple enough and really fun, the soundtrack is superb. When you get in the "zone" and lock-in it's like a trance. At this price point it's a steal!

While Witch Dance is a small and cute (lorewise) game, and may look and seem simple enough, you quickly learn (usually the hard way a.k.a dying) that there is quite a bit more intricacy to the enemies and the game mechanics. It lets you play as fast or (relatively) slow paced as you're feeling up to in that moment, which is cool. In it's own way and in a much more compressed manner, i think it's akin to the atmosphere of a Dota 2 (or League of Legends) match. One game you can be Anti-mage locked in on getting every last hit on creeps and farming efficiently while dodging enemy ganks, in another you're Treant Protector chilling in the trees and clicking heal on your carry once every other minute (but still playing and not afk lol). In Witch Dance you can start slow if you want to, then really ramp it up, detonate a bomb to chill again, and repeat, all within a couple of really satisfying minutes. Having said that, the game was designed to be tough and rewards high risk plays. Especially being a score based game and with the bomb mechanic, there is no denying that the more enemies you allow to roam freely on the screen to setup a big bomb, the more intense and at least for me, the more satisfying Witch Dance becomes. It's such an adrenaline rush detonating that bomb after dodging 30+, 40+ (maybe one day 50+) enemies for just a whole minute (but what feels like forever). [Oh and watch out for that random pumpkin that inevitably decides to spawn right on top of you while you're still celebrating the aftermath of a big bomb..] Witch Dance matches your intensity all the way. As you progress missions and detonate big bombs, enemies spawn faster. And after crossing a score of 5k the game literally starts chucking knifes at you.. -_- While gameplay is not easy, familiarity with having to react quickly with a mouse and (trying to) line up spells with accuracy, like in every Dota / LoL teamfight, helps quite a bit. It is an addictive little game. Especially when you hit your first big(ish) bomb, cross that 1K score for the first time, that's when Witch Dance really draws you in. Currently on my "just one more" run for this afternoon, for the fifth time.. I also quite enjoyed the soundtrack, and the fact that you can select from a mix of slow and fast paced beats to suit your current dancing mood is really neat. I like to live dangerously (in game), so I generally prefer the faster beat ("Gates of Hello World"). Overall, an immensely satisfying dance!