Also on: Nintendo Switch
Publisher: Chibig
Developer: Chibig
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: E
Chibig is such a weird developer. Every time they make a new game, you can count on two things: 1) it’ll be good enough that you can tell exactly what game or piece of media influenced its creation, but 2) it won’t be good enough to come anywhere close to matching the media that inspired it in terms of quality. So you get games like Summer in Mara or Koa and the Five Pirates that make no bones about copying Wind Waker, and that are good enough that you can tell what Chibig was trying to evoke, but that don’t do anything more than that.
It should come as no surprise, then, that Mika and The Witch’s Mountain follows the exact same pattern. It was clearly influenced by Studio Ghibli and Kiki’s Delivery Service, and it’s solid enough that you can see that influence come shining through, but at the end of the day, all the game really has to say is, “Hey, remember Kiki’s Delivery Service? Yeah, that was pretty cool.”
Don’t get me wrong, that’s not the worst thing for a game to do. The game is very nice to look at, and it’s neat to see the way that it evokes Studio Ghibli while still using the brighter colour palette that tends to define Chibig games. Similarly, the game’s world is a pretty pleasant place to inhabit: Mika is unfailingly optimistic, and nearly everyone she comes across is happy and upbeat. Mika wants to make it as a delivery witch, but no one gets that upset if her deliveries are a little wet or late or beat up.
But it’s hard not to wish there were slightly higher stakes at play here. Mika has a boss that’s kind of a jerk, but that subplot is forgotten pretty quickly. She can interact a little with the delivery senders or recipients but the conversations don’t amount to much; likewise, the world is full enough of people that it doesn’t feel empty, but you can’t interact with them, so they’re basically just scenery.
Mind you, it’s probably for the best that everyone is so chill, because the delivery aspect of Mika and The Witch’s Mountain is probably its weakest point. Flying isn’t very fun, since you can’t really fly up and down, just side to side, with little hops to gain height now and then. There are wind drafts to help you gain speed and height, but their placement is only intermittently useful. Similarly, the game gives you a map, but it’s kind of useless: you need to go to the pause menu to see it, and you can’t place waypoints to guide you to your destination.
Which all means that, once again, Chibig has come up with a game that’s good enough to evoke its obvious influence, but nowhere near good enough to have its own identity. Mika and The Witch’s Mountain is pleasant enough that you probably won’t hate it, but it’s far from being a must-play.
Chibig provided us with a Mika and The Witch’s Mountain PC code for review purposes.
