Little Witch Nobeta

Little Witch Nobeta
Cover art, with the protagonist Nobeta standing on water
Developer(s)Pupuya Games
Simon Creative
Publisher(s)JUSTDAN[1]
Idea Factory International
Platform(s)Windows
PlayStation 4
Nintendo Switch
ReleaseWindows
  • WW: 29 September 2022
Switch, PlayStation 4
  • AS: 29 September 2022
  • EU/NA: 7 March 2023
Genre(s)Soulslike
Mode(s)Single-player

Little Witch Nobeta is a 2022 Soulslike 3D action shooter video game developed by Pupuya Games for Windows, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.

Gameplay

Little Witch Nobeta is a single-player Soulslike third-person 3D action shooter game.[2] Players control Nobeta, an amnesiac witch exploring an ancient castle on a quest to recover her memory.

The gameplay consists of mostly ranged combat using a variety of different spells that are acquired and upgraded throughout the game.[3] Players fight different bosses and unlock new areas in the castle as they progress.[2] The game has two difficulty options: "standard" and "advanced", with the former being more forgiving and adding health and mana regeneration.[3]

Development

Little Witch Nobeta was developed by Taiwanese indie game developers Pupuya Games and Simon Creative.[1] The development started in June 2017, and an initial demo was released in January 2019 featuring a single stage with one boss.[4] The game then entered early access on Steam in June 2020, with development continuing until the release of the full version on 29 September 2022.[5] PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch versions were published by Idea Factory International in North America and Europe on 7 March 2023.[6]

The game's audio is in Japanese, with English subtitles available.[7] Nobeta is voiced by Konomi Kohara, and all three major bosses are voiced by popular virtual YouTubers.[3][8]

Reception

Little Witch Nobeta received "mixed or average reviews", according to the review aggregator website Metacritic, which calculated weighted average ratings of 65/100 and 71/100 for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch versions respectively, with the former being based on nine and the latter on five critic reviews.[9][10] Aggregator OpenCritic found that 57% of 15 critics recommended the game.[11]

Christopher Farris of Anime News Network gave the game an overall 'B' rating, calling it a "Baby's First Dark Souls".[3] Adam Haffen, writing for Siliconera, rated the game 8/10 points, praising its "incredibly fun" boss fights, but finding most of the regular enemies to be just "annoying obstacles". Calling it "not perfect", he nevertheless stated that he would return to play more of it.[2] 4Gamer.net praised its "cute" character design and voice acting.[12] Ryan Thomas Bamsey of TheGamer, on the other hand, rated the game 1/5 stars, calling the combat "functional", but "boring" and overly easy. He claimed it "suffers from a total lack of taste", and that it was "filled to the brim with egregious, pervy fan service", noting that a large amount of enemies, as well as the player's companion, were anime girls.[13]

The game's Switch and PlayStation versions were the 13th and 17th most sold in Japan during its debut week, selling 12165 copies.[14] In total, more than 250,000 copies have been sold since the game entered early access.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Introduction". Little Witch Nobeta. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Haffen, Adam (5 March 2023). "Review: Little Witch Nobeta Is Big on Soulslike Shooter Fun". Siliconera. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d Farris, Christopher (3 May 2023). "Game Review: Little Witch Nobeta PS4". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  4. ^ "Progress". Little Witch Nobeta. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  5. ^ Romano, Sal (17 January 2022). "Little Witch Nobeta launches September 29". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 20 March 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  6. ^ Romano, Sal (17 January 2023). "Little Witch Nobeta launches March 7 in the west". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  7. ^ "Q&A about full version". Little Witch Nobeta. 19 May 2022. Archived from the original on 17 June 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  8. ^ "Cast". Little Witch Nobeta. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  9. ^ "Little Witch Nobeta PlayStation 4". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  10. ^ "Little Witch Nobeta Switch". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  11. ^ "Little Witch Nobeta". OpenCritic. Archived from the original on 3 December 2023. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  12. ^ カワイイ魔女が魔法をぶっ放す爽快感……最高。 ソウルライク3DアクションSTG「リトルウィッチノベタ」，待望の正式版インプレッション. 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). 30 August 2022. Archived from the original on 17 June 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  13. ^ Bamsey, Ryan Thomas (3 March 2023). "Little Witch Nobeta Review - Nobeta? No Thank You". TheGamer. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  14. ^ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (8 October 2022). "Japan's Video Game Rankings, September 26-October 2". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.