Introduction
Witch College is a series of Visual Novels, written by indie studio Kavorka Play. This bundle includes the first and second titles, with two short stories. It was released in July 2019 on Steam, then was published to Console in September 2022 by Gamuzumi.
Review
Halloween is a fantastic time of the year. It’s nice and cool outside, the leaves are gorgeous, there are spooks-a-plenty, and people make insane costumes! For Steve, this means that he has to find a date for the Halloween dance though. He could ask his best friend Aki out, but he’s not sure he can build up the guts to do that. Then in walks Sam. A new lady to town, from the big ol’ city. He can’t take her eyes off her, and maybe it’s for the best. Now it’s time to figure out who his heart belongs to.
The game takes place over the course of a week, as you get to pick and choose who you get to spend your time with, through dialogue options that pop up every once in a while. Aside from the two main girls, there’s a few others you can impress as well. Like the shy girl who no one sees, Hana, or your incredibly gorgeous teacher, Miss Seiko. Though they don’t exactly have an ending tied to them, it’s still nice to see these relationships unfold.
As you work through the week, you end up realizing that maybe all the witches and occult things that Miss Seiko teaches in history class aren’t so far off from reality, but the question then becomes, who is the witch? I’ll be honest, I fell for the game’s insinuations hook line and sinker, so it was a shock when I found out who they really were. All the characters were enjoyable to be around, even if some acted like highschoolers instead of college kids. That’s a big problem with VNs like this is no one truly acts like an adult.
The two short stories in the game are exactly that. Short little stories. I don’t really think they correlate much to the main games, but they were silly little things that let you see weird relationships with Hana and Miss Seiko. Though it was a bit more naughty than the base game, it still wasn’t overly terrible that I had to make sure I was playing alone.
The last game in the bundle was nowhere near as long as the first game. Instead of figuring out who to impress for a school dance, you’re made to try to find your friend Sam. The annoying thing about this one is it had three different endings, and one of them was kind of a pain to get. At the same time it was way too obvious on how to get the good ending. Though I wasn’t too excited about this part of the entire bundle, it did have some good bits to it. Like deciding if you should watch anime, or play video games all day long. Why you’d do that when a friend is missing is beyond me, but hey, whatever.
The entirety of the writing is filled with a ton of pop culture references along with some innuendos here and there. The game isn’t nearly as lewd as it lets on. The worst you see is a still image of people kissing. But I laughed every time I saw a reference and understood it. My favourites were easily Barry Dopper (Harry Potter) and One Cheese (One Piece). The fit so perfectly into the dialogue as well, that it made it all even better. It just sucks that most of the good dialogue is packed into the first game and the rest just feel like a bit of a letdown afterwards. But at least the game pokes fun at itself by pointing out that it really does not have a canon ending! Just like most VNs with sequels and I gotta give it points for that.
Rating
Pros:
- Many Games In The Bundle
- Pop Culture References
- Enjoyable Little Side Stories
Cons:
- Sequel Fails To Deliver
- Isn’t As Lewd As It Seems To Market Itself As
Summary
For a fun little afternoon, this was a good little read. It has humour, many stories to it, kept me laughing, has just a smidge of intrigue, and all the characters are great! It’s just a shame that none of the other stories in the bundle lived up to the first one in terms of length or quality. But hey, at least it has pop culture references all over the place!
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Game & Developer Information
Developer Website: Kavorka Play
Developer Socials: Twitter
Publisher Website: Gamuzumi
Publisher Socials: Twitter
PSN Store Links: £7.39/€8.99 Europe / $8.99 North America
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