Mika and The Witch's Mountain Preview

After being unceremoniously tossed off of a cliff, Mika must try to reach the magic school at the top of a mountain in this cosy third-person platformer. Sure, that sounds pretty straightforward, but Mika and The Witch's Mountain quickly makes it apparent that you’re not going to be getting there any time soon, as your flying broomstick is busted, and repairs cost money.

Mika winds up getting a job as a delivery courier and has to ship things across the island. As her broom improves, she can carry multiple things at once — but they dangle below the broom, which cannot gain altitude on its own and will constantly descend. If something is fragile, it might get knocked if you’re not careful, and if you’re flying over water, you’d better hope that it’s allowed to get wet. Of course, there’s no penalty for wrecking a parcel, this is a cosy game after all.

The controls are really simple, and that doesn’t always go without saying in cosy games. There’s no diving, skidding, surfing, or anything like that. Mika can run around, jump once (not a double jump), and use her broom at the press of a button. That’s all, and honestly, there’s no reason to want to do anything else, until after the halfway point of Mika and The Witch's Mountain.

Even the fact that you can carry multiple things rarely comes up, and that’s only if you want to do it. You’re free to carry just one thing at a time and go back to do a second or third, as no story mission requires you to carry multiple objects. But perhaps you want to return all three kites at once? Well, that’s an optional thing so go ahead and collect them all — but if you break one of them in the process you’ll just have to reset it and go pick it back up where you found it.

There honestly isn’t a lot to say about Mika and The Witch's Mountain as it’s so sweet and simple. The main story takes about five hours, but the developer is adding more content throughout its Early Access tenure. Even after the story, there are optional things to deliver and secrets to find. I’m not even sure what one yellow orb was for, and I’ve been around the island so many times.

I did have one crash during my time with the game, but no real performance issues or bugs that I noticed. Oh, except for the music. If you’re standing around for a while because you stepped away to answer the door or went to make some notes, the music doesn’t loop and will just stop when the track reaches the end. It happened to me in a few locations, each with its own unique theme, so it was quite noticeable. It’s a surprisingly polished game for something that’s been in Early Access for only a few weeks.

The graphics are bright and vibrant, and the variety of characters are all unique (except for the twins). There are some surprises around the island and it all looks great. The music is fun and well-suited to each location, and if you’re near someone who you’re holding a delivery for, they’ll call out. That helped me find a few people because the game doesn’t like objective markers.

While Mika and The Witch's Mountain isn’t exactly what I thought it would be (mainly the broomstick controls), it’s a fun and well-made title. I do hope there are going to be more things to do for its full release, as I’d like to play some more.