Indie Impressions: Fantastic Witch Collective (Adventure Demo)
Firstly, I'd just like to take a moment to recognize that Fantastic Witch Collective as a name for anything is already pretty brilliant. That that something happens to be a delightful 16-bit RPG from indie developer, Lulu Blue, only makes it more, well, fantastic, and though it's still incredibly early in development, the little I've played of FWC has me convinced it's going to live up to its title. Because what's currently playable is such a small slice of the game, there's not a whole ton I can say about it, but the gist is you're a witch (fancy that) who happens to be enrolled in a magical school and, as far as I can tell , spending your days serving up juvenile justice on the greedy corporate overlords trying to ruin your fun.
My first order of business was creating my cute little witch, which is where I was first struck by how much character and charm the game already has. My character may be only distinguishable by her blocky portrait, but even still there's something I love about FWC's simple but personal art style. Options are still being added (I wasn't even able to change my hair color in the current build), so that the minimal character creator is already a lot of fun to mess around with is definitely encouraging.
The rest of the demo consists of a handful of battles and preceding dialogue, which admittedly doesn't give you a lot to work with and is clearly in its earliest stages of implementation. You've only two attacks and there are no stats or levels to deal with (save your health and mana), though one thing I did find interesting is that the battle system takes on a sort of Missile Command-like aiming system, requiring you point your wand toward the enemy you want to attack instead of just selecting them. This also plays into the ability to break off enemy attacks if you can manage to hit them as they're trying to attack you. Certain enemies also move around, requiring you be more precise in your aim and keeping battles engaging.
The current build is only around five minutes of gameplay, but even taken in such a brief vertical slice, I'm already totally on board with the direction Fantastic Witch Collective is heading. It's still uncertain when the final version will arrive, but I'm more than eager to be able to take my witch on a full adventure.