This game, despite having notable strengths, eventually fails in critical parts. Both in story and gameplay, I'd say 75% is really good, but the remaining 25% outweighs the good parts.
First, the strengths of this game, which are unfortunately also the source of its weaknesses.
The best part is the exploration. The environment, monsters, maps, and the way battles are handled are very appealing and fun. In fact, they make you want to explore more, collect resources, and not rush the story. This is unfortunately the source of one of the major issues, listed later.
Second, the story. Overall, it's funny, cute, and enticing. The majority of the dialogue made me feel invested and attached. So, when that investment is abruptly cut by tonal dissonance, it creates a strong disappointment and disconnect from the emotional core of the story.
Now, the bad.
The first part, as frequently mentioned by others, would be the Justice romance. It feels forced, unnatural, and sometimes outright creepy. Pieberry apparently gets into him because he's "handsome"... while he shows no depth or strength of character. This forced romance also completely glosses over his willing and remorseless contribution to the kidnapping, torture, death, and brainwashing of witch children. This is not a "quirky character detail", writers !
The second main flaw is in the gameplay. As I said above, the game is fun to explore and collect things. The downside ? The game also has really bad power creep and no ceiling to your leveling. So if you do any backtracking to collect resources or complete side content, you will very quickly become so overleveled that every fight is trivialized. I did not encounter a single fight that made me think or struggle at all past the middle of chapter 3. This makes combat unengaging and boring, even on the highest difficulty.
And third, the last straw is the tonal dissonance in the writing. As I said above, 75% of the story is good, but damn does the last 25% drag it down. The cause may be that the game wants to show Pieberry being kind, but too often confuses kindness with overlooking cruelty when convenient. For example, at the end of chapter 3, one character commits a cruel act by causing pointless agony, and immediately afterward gets an emotional scene that is supposed to set the tone and define Pieberry's motivations for large parts of the next two chapters. Except it simply doesn't land, because the cruel act that came right before snaps the emotional connection in two. If there had been a bit of delay between the two scenes, maybe the act could be justified by shock or anger, but without time to process... it feels like a core emotional beat is simply missing.
Another beat that made me disconnect from the content of an entire chapter comes from the end of chapter 4, with a line that absolutely destroys the tone set by chapters 1-3. Pieberry learns she isn't the witch she thought she was. Her first reaction ? Turning to her friend and asking, "Why didn't you tell me ? All my life, I thought I was an evil witch !" Huuuuuh, I'm sorry, but what ? We spent the first three chapters never putting into question, even for a single moment, the fact that witches aren't evil. Several characters have arcs centered around that. And the moment Pieberry learns she's different, she immediately calls witches evil ? This is absolutely stupid and disrespectful, and echoes horribly with the underlying parallel to racism that defines the treatment of witches by the warriors.
Another narrative-destroying beat comes from one of the first meaningful interactions with Justice. I mentioned above that the romance arc completely disregards his role in the kidnapping and torture of young witches. And yet, one of Pieberry's discussions with him happens right in front of the broken, brainwashed, and dying bodies of two of his victims. Despite that, the game provides zero acknowledgement of the connection between the victims and the perpetrator. Later, Pieberry expresses empathy for another victim personally connected to Justice, and again, the one responsible for her being tortured and brainwashed is simply not acknowledged at all.
If I had to summarize the game overall, the structure is good. But the plot and emotional beats are so inconsistent that it's impossible to feel immersed in the characters' goals or the story's stakes. Meanwhile, the gameplay encourages you to shoot yourself in the foot and make combat bland and boring. In the end, despite high expectations during the first two chapters, I finished almost no playing session feeling engaged or fulfilled.
