Blog:Blad's Reviews Side Episode: Spinoffs

PREVIOUS REVIEW: BRAVE DUNGEON For a series like Dark Witch, you'd expect way more spinoffs, right? Well, that couldn't be farther from the truth. We only have 3 spinoffs, and today I'm gonna look at all 3 of them (or 2, but we'll get into that later). First up is Rudymical.

Rudymical
Rudymical is a rhythm game, where you slash balls (i forgot their official name) in 3 directions and jump to avoid hazards. You have 4 difficulties, one unlocked by beating the game. It's a retelling of The Legend of Dark Witch 2, plus a furry who's looking for a good time, and fights herself. I'm assuming Riva was out for breakfast, as she's all but absent in this game. There are 2 versions with some differences (mainly in the difficulty, mobile and the console versions. Today, I'll look at the console versions, as the controls are a little better (at least in my opinion).

Gameplay
So you know Rudymical from The Legend of Dark Witch 2? Well, this is basically that mode, but bigger. As I mentioned, you slash balls and get ranked on your performance. The ranking system is harsh, and you can only miss 1-2 balls to get an A rank. Easy and Normal can be fun at times, and they're pretty easy to S-rank. You have 14 stages, all based on the music of Dark Witch 2, which is amazing. By S ranking stages, you get some new characters/skins. New to the console versions are a 2-player VS/deathmatch, and achievements (if you play on Steam). There are 4 difficulties, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Lunatic. And this is my main issue with Rudymical. It's either too hard to be enjoyable, or too easy to be worth a damn. I play on Normal, but for the love of god, do not play on Hard mode, unless you got a good night's sleep, because you need really good reaction times to even get the Syega Crystals here. And don't even get me started on Lunatic. On Normal, the game is WAY easier, so I suggest you play on this mode, but Normal is too easy, so I just end up kicking ass. If Rudymical could give a decent balance towards the two, I'd be praising it a whole lot more, but in it's current state, I can't really enjoy Rudymical. I'm really sorry, but it was just too much to take. Another issue I have is with the notes themselves. This is coming for an above average rhythm game player, so keep that in mind as some of the issues I have with this game stem from that. The balls bounce around at varying speeds, depending on how they feel. This just threw me off, and while it gives the game personality, it made the game worse. The circles that appear around your character somewhat mitigate this issue, but that just gives me less time to react to on-coming notes, which makes the game even more frustrating. To add to another issue with the notes, you often have to hit notes twice in succession, even on Easy mode. Another annoying part about Rudymical is the sound effects. While you can turn off the voices (and I highly suggest you do), you can't turn off the ball bouncing noises, which is pretty annoying, and it threw me off even more. Finally, the offset is annoying to set up. If you've played a game like Muse Dash, they make setting offsets as easy as pie, but in Rudymical, no such sandbox exists, and overall made setting offsets extremely frustrating.

This is also a bit out there, but I wish this game had a lot of other songs as well. Yeah, I know. But hear me out. I'm not talking about other songs from other games, no. What about the entire series? This series has some of the best VGM I've ever heard, and it's a shame only 14 songs got used. And if NAN-A can reuse hundreds of sprites, why can FHW/Esquadra reuse some songs? Hell, throw in the arranged songs. You can make it a DLC, but unfortunately, that's probably not going to happen, given that the game is 5 years old now, bordering on 6 (how the time flies, huh?).

Conclusion
I know I complained a lot, but this is coming from an above average rhythm game player, and seeing a lack of certain features other rhythm games have is disappointing. I really wish this was made by a seasoned rhythm game developer, otherwise I think it'd be a lot better. Despite that, this game is alright. Although its difficulty is poor, and it's on the short side (seriously, only 14 songs?), the gameplay is pretty basic for what it is, but fun, and if you're a Dark Witch fan, you'll probably get a kick out of it. If you want to slash balls for an hour, this is a decent pick. Just be wary of the issues I've mentioned. Overall, I'd give it a 6/10.

Dark Witch Connect!
Alright, up next is Connect. Connect is a matching puzzle game, and you use revenge magic to get a higher score, and that's really it. Yeah, it's not really that big. There's a mission mode where you can get more Tres. You use Tres to unlock more characters, and if you unlock a character, you can use their revenge magic. You can also level up your character, but all it does is That's about as far as it goes. To be fair, unlocking new characters is satisfying, but that's about it really. There's also no English translation unfortunately, but you can get used to it.

Conclusion
Overall, I'm not sure what to think of Connect. It's pretty shallow, but it's also free, so I can't knock it too much. So I'm abstaining from rating Connect. But I will say, if you have time to kill, Connect is alright.

Break Rock Syega Crystal
Break Rock Syega Crystal is the last game we're looking at today. It was released in March 2021 for And...roi... oh no. Yeah, I'm an iPhone user, an unfortunate disease, I know, but there's not much I can do here. I do own a Kindle Fire, which is an Android device, but 1. that thing is really, REALLY old, and 2. it only has 1GB of RAM. Yikes. I know there's a way to use Android apps on Windows 11, but... it's Windows 11. I don't like having 2 diseases at one time, so no thanks. And yes, I know Bluestacks exist, but I'm not installing it just for one game. So... shit. Review's over.

OR IS IT? There exists something called YouTube, so maybe I can get a gist of the game there.

Break Rock Syega Crystal is a clicker game. You tap for 2 hours on end and you have a hunger mechanic. I'm not sure what happens if you run out of food, but I presume you die and reset. Anyways, you click until the meter at the top depletes, and then the game stops. Doesn't that sound AMAZING? Yeah, I'm glad I skipped this game. My good friend Mali described the game as "a buttload of shit, with nothing making any sense to it at all." This truly is the greatest game of all time.

Conclusion
Overall, save for Break Rock Syega Crystal, I think the spinoff games are worth your time, particularly if you're a Dark Witch fan. They're not really that deep, but they can be fun in short bursts (more so Rudymical). If you're looking for a longer lasting experience, I'd stick to the main Dark Witch games, however.

This review was kinda filler, because the next game... ooh boy. We're looking at Brave Dungeon 2, and that's going to be a ton of fun. I don't have much else to say, other than stay tuned. Good things come to those who wait, and it'll be good. I promise. Anyways, see you guys later! '''FINAL REVIEW: BRAVE DUNGEON 2. THIS IS THE END, HOPE YOU'VE ENJOYED!'''