Nine Witches: Family Disruption

Story

If you love major historical events turned overly satirical and then injected with paranormal activity, Vikings, and raves... then you will love Nine Witches. The story takes place in 1944, a time when Nazi control was at a peak. You play as two characters, Alexei Krakovitz, an esteemed professor of occult science, and his assistant Akiro Kagasawa. You're visited by the Prime Minister and requested to investigate an odd celestial event occurring in the town of Sundäe, located somewhere in Norway. Upon arrival to Sundäe, you soon discover the most peculiar activity unraveling as you stumble upon random murders, curses left by Vikings, witches, a notorious mime, a vulgar clown, a world domination plot by the Nazis, and the town's concern about threats to their number one tourist attraction, the three-testicled salmon. What begins as a witty and historically themed satire only continues in that same vein and gets unusually outlandish as it progresses. History lovers will appreciate the art and activities true to this time period such as the Nazi Uniforms, old Mercedes Benz, and even activities like book burning. While the developers took their own creative liberties, it’s clear some time was spent designing these aspects.

Art STyle

Nine Witches has a pixelated art style to it. There are degrees to the number of pixels used and how defined the overall scenes are, and I'll contrast a few game examples. Chucklefish's upcoming Eastward uses more pixels and is well defined, moving down towards Stardew Valley and finally Nine Witches being even less defined. Regardless of your preference along the spectrum, lovers of this genre and art style will undoubtedly be attracted to this game's art direction.

Game Play

The gameplay is similar to most 3D pixel adventures consisting of the basic directional movement controls and the ability to interact with objects and the world around you using one or two buttons. A distinctive aspect of this title is the dual character mechanic. Alexei, who has quadriplegia and whose gameplay movement takes place in a wheelchair, possesses the unique ability to pass on to the beyond and speak with the deceased. This mechanic allows you to see, explore, and interact in ways that cannot be done playing as Akiro. As for the type of game progression, Nine Witches at its core has a puzzle-themed mechanic in which, through dialogue and interaction, you'll unlock areas previously hidden. Your journal provides a sense of the things you need to do and as you talk to others, collect new items, and get closer to the main objective you’ll be able to progress through the story. Other fun features are traveling on a big map, interacting with landmarks, and entering those previously undiscovered locations. When exiting the town, you will find yourself on a bigger map panned out where you can move to other landmarks and see if you can enter those areas yet. Many are locked, leaving you with anticipation for the moment you'll be able to access them.

Comedy

The crude comedy in Nine Witches is the staple of the entire experience. I noticed this immediately when scrolling through the gameplay menu. Every few scrolls initiate a fart sound. From the start, you can tell that alongside the satire is the accompanying witty dialogue and comedic takes on the story's progression. It has been noted elsewhere that the humor took away from the storyline, and I believe it did the opposite. Humor in any medium must be done right, and Nine Witches went from 0 to 100 upon arrival, not leaving any room to doubt what the experience would be like moving forward. Specific chapters caught me off guard entirely, and I even laughed out loud multiple times. Nine Witches even goes as far as breaking the fourth wall by adding numerous interactions with the developers themselves, jumping in-scene, and communicating with your characters. As much as I would like to list out some of the jokes I captured in-game, I equally want you to experience them at the moment to feel their full effect on your own. Ha-Ha!

Conclusion

I thoroughly enjoyed Nine Witches: Family Disruption and the uniqueness it brought comparative to most games or more mainstream titles by prominent developers. As mentioned in the comedy section, both the comedic dialogue and the shorter pixelated adventure were a much-needed break-up from the current open-world fatigue I’ve experienced lately. Uncommon games like Nine Witches are my most anticipated experiences as I look forward to the gaming industry. Nine Witches: Family Disruption earns an “Enjoyable” 6.5 out of 10 on the Busch League Gaming rating scale. If you enjoy comedic or satirical games, anything pixelated, and unique adventures, then we think you'll enjoy this title and encourage it to lovers of the genre. If you want to see more photos of my adventure, feel free to explore my twitter thread I recorded during my play-through!

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Busch League Gaming was provided with a code for this review.