REVIEW : My Aunt is a Witch (PS4)
Visual novels are a convenient way for players to see a story in a distinct form than a usual book, and My Aunt is a Witch, created and published by Sometimes You, sets out to draw readers on a mysterious journey. While the play offers cute art and well thought out scenes, some areas leave the player wanting, which makes for an odd experience.
My Aunt is a Witch is a visual story game with secret elements. As the reader goes through the narrative being told from the angle of a boy named Thomas, there are breaks in the narrative where the player must communicate with surroundings to unlock the mystery. These problems involve finding objects buried within the currently possible locations, oftentimes needing a tool that must also be found by discovering clues within the rooms. Parts of the story are also discovered during these tasks which, once solved, solved then progress in the story and onto the next set of difficulties.
The communication with environments in My Aunt is a Witch is done. using a cursor that player commands with the left joystick and LZ trigger. This appears a bit confusing, particularly for players using the Nintendo Switch to play the game. By using the trigger, players can see what items in the room can be communicated with. However, the cursor can be touchy, making tapping the items difficult. The detailed environments also have very small items that only advance the issue with the cursor, causing interaction with the needed items to solve puzzles difficultly and unwieldy. As players advance through the story, several tools are unlocked that are assigned to multiple buttons, but few of them benefit gameplay and are more of a barrier to the method of solving the needed puzzles.
Good art is a large part of sports with a visual novel aspect, and My Aunt is a Witch is unique in this regard, with specific environments that set the mood for a funny fantasy world. The objects in the rooms are accurate and well-designed, helping the player engage themselves in the narrative while also providing a challenge in the puzzle quests that break up the narrative. However, detailed environments are a stark contradiction to the art of the designs of the main roles, which have an unpolished feel and in many scenes feel clunky and strange in such a detail-rich setting.
If there is one thing that games like NecroBarista and Dream Daddy have shown when it comes to visual novel games, it’s that the story is of utmost importance. Good art and interesting puzzles are not going to keep a reader interested if the story doesn’t hold up. Sadly, My Aunt is a Witch has an array of narrative problems. Thomas, the main part, is a frightened boy from a broken home, but the essence of his turbulent background appears cliché to the point of boring. The writing feels excited and communications between Thomas and Alice, his witch aunt, don’t feel plausible for their involvement. There are problems with narrative from the very start, where players learn that spell isn’t normal in the world, but then seems very common through the rest of the story.
