DoKomi is Germany’s biggest anime and Japan expo, and among the largest anime conventions in Europe, with hundreds of thousands of visitors attending. This year, I finally got to experience it for myself, and even help out at the Creative Games area in hall 9 as a volunteer, where I got to help set up booths alongside the teams from gamesAHEAD and GameUp! RLP. It’s been incredibly awesome getting to know a lot of these developers and getting a peek behind the scenes!
Today, however, I really wanted to talk about one particular title I got to try out at DoKomi, an upcoming indie bullet hell/shoot-’em-up (shmup) called Warding Witches by the developers at Sonorode.
It offers classic, unapologetic bullet hell action, featuring both a traditional arcade mode as well as a story mode where you unlock upgrades over time while following the witches, Willa and Talia, as they investigate a nearby village.
A lot of shmups will rely on screen-clearing through bombs or other similar features but not Warding Witches: Rather than relying on traditional screen-clearing bombs, Warding Witches gives players defensive spells that must be used strategically. The result is a system that rewards planning and positioning instead of incentivising panic-button escapes.
Willa has a shield that can protect you from bullets, whereas Talia slows down bullets to create gaps in the incoming waves.
These abilities require time to recharge after use, but that ties neatly into the game’s scoring system. Destroying or slowing bullets builds up combos, which can then be cashed out by defeating enemies and spawning coins. These increase your score, of course, but also help recharge your defensive ability, creating a satisfying gameplay loop of defending, destroying and collecting!
Once everything clicks together, the game developers a really satisfying rhythm where you’re constantly balancing offense, defense, and movement instead of simply trying to survive.
What’s also pretty interesting are the shooting modes. You get slowed down massively when you charge your shots, but in return, it will focus the firing direction more. Willa, the “easier” character, has more of a spread shot pattern, which will get focused into a tighter area, of course.
Meanwhile, Talia has these beams to her sides that deal a fair amount of damage and shoots just ahead using her normal attacks, which can be focused into a devastating but narrow ray of bullets if you so please. Alternatively, you can also just use the “auto” fire option, which does not slow you down but does also not offer the offensive potential of tapping the attack button.
I had honestly such a blast playing this demo. I spent way too much time in it. My shmup experiences are fairly limited, but after a bunch of tries, I managed to beat both of the demo stages in the “apprentice” difficulty. I’ll try to beat the greater difficulties on Sunday again when I’m back at the DoKomi after my shift volunteering at the event is done.
Willa may be more straightforward since her defensive options just block shots that could hit you, but, personally, I just sorta fell in love with how great Talia’s shooting feels and how much you can do by slowing bullets down in the field.
Looking at the DoKomi leaderboard, Talia also seemed noticeably less represented than Willa. Whether that’s because her defensive spell is harder to use or because players gravitate more toward the easier-to-grasp character with the spread bullets and shield combo, I don’t know, but it did make me want to root for Talia.
I also dig the glasses. I’m a simple man, after all. I see glasses, I press like.
Warding Witches doesn’t have a release date yet, but after spending far more time with the demo than I probably should have, it’s become one of the indies that I’ll definitely be keeping my eye on.
If you’re visiting DoKomi this weekend, make sure to stop by the Creative Games area in Hall 9 – not only to try Warding Witches, of course, but also to discover the many other great projects being showcased there!
This post was originally written by Dan Dicere from Indiecator.
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