Blog:The Legend of Dark Witch Episode 2 is a priceless video game

I had promised this in the Dark Witch Discord, and I'm now happy to say that I finally finished it. So, here we go. My 20K byte review of The Legend of Dark Witch 2. Hope you enjoy.

So, The Legend of Dark Witch Episode 2. Let's make it clear right off the bat - I absolutely love this game. I can't stop going back to it, even after 100%. So today, I'm going to review Episode 2, and why, without a doubt, I think it's the best in the series. I will give a bit of a spoiler warning here, as I will go into a massive deep dive into why I love it so much. Before that, I'd like to explain my history with Dark Witch 2. One day, I was browsing the eShop for demos. A game titled The Legend of Dark Witch 2 caught my eye. It looked pretty cool, so I watched the trailers, and I instantly fell in love with the game. The awesome music, the cool visuals, and the gameplay looked amazing to me. The next thing I know, I download the demo. I absolutely loved it, and I got the first game's demo, too. It was also pretty fun. I really wanted the full game, but at the time, I simply didn't have the money, so I forgot about it. I always kept the demo, but never really played it. Fast forward to 2019. This was the first time I had gotten an eShop card for my 3DS. On Christmas Day 2019, I bought all the Dark Witch games (even though I already beat The Legend of Dark Witch on Switch), and Brave Dungeon. I also got Parascientific Escape, which is another game series I love on the 3DS. And I beat Dark Witch 2 the same day I got it, and I loved it. I also tried Dark Witch 3 that same day, and to be honest, I initially hated it, but that's a story for another time. I also bought Brave Dungeon, but I held that one off. I also held off Dark Witch 1, as I had already beaten it on the Switch. I did beat it on a car trip, though. Later I would buy 2 on Steam, and that brings us to today. Now that my history lesson is done, lets get into the best part of the game, the music!

Music
My god, the soundtrack. GOD DAMN! It's so good. Honestly, it's in my Top 3 soundtracks of all time. Every song is an absolute bop. For example, Dark Witch is one of the best Dark Witch songs ever made. Not only does it work as an absolute bomb of a title screen, but it works so well as a final boss theme. It feels so climactic, like Zizou's pissed off, and she's not f■■■ing around this time. Another great one is Happy Times, and you know that it's the hardest stage in the game when the vocals start. And then there's Trap activated, where Trap wakes up in a secret cutscene where there's an awesome guitar playing and Ratio just goes completely insane. And finally, Reach for your wish. Hearing it, this was the first time I actually had chills down my back in a Dark Witch game! The worst song is Blad's theme, and even then, it's pretty good. It's adventurous, and it's pretty catchy. It's slow paced, but it works well. I could go on and on, but that's another 10K bytes in of itself. I haven't even talked about the game!

Story
The story is somewhat interesting. Basically, the nation of Germa has some pretty good magic, and Ich is the best. Ich moves into Liana, and Zizou Olympia investigates yet again. After kicking the crap out of 8 researchers, she finds herself in Germa, close to Vilhelm Castle. She gets 4 of her friends and together they head to Vilhelm Castle, which is completely trivial for Zizou. At the top, Franzer is found. The two duel, and Zizou wins, duel again, game end. Overall, the story is just okay. There's not a lot going on, and that's perfectly fine for a Dark Witch game. Unless you're making an RPG like Brave Dungeon, a good story isn't needed to make an amazing game. As a side note there's also Sola's story, which is just a young girl who's looking for her parents. It's not important to the overall plot, but it can be pretty funny when you think about a 14 year old girl beating the goddess of magic. One part that has been improved are the characters and tone. I like a lot more of the characters here, and the dialogue is decently funny, as opposed to the first game, where everyone is oddly serious. This is also reflected in the music where it feels more like a cartoon. Hell, even Churros gets in on the action. He finally says something for once. There are also some returning characters from the first game, and they're just as great as they were in the first game. More importantly, Blad is here, and that's what matters.

Gameplay
I've talked a bit about the story, and now I will finally get into the part you've all been waiting for. The juicy game-play. Overall, the gameplay is vastly improved from The Legend of Dark Witch, and that game was almost perfect when it came to gameplay.

Improvements and Additions
If you haven't played a Dark Witch game, the main aspect is the Enhancement Slot. You kill monsters to get Tres, and then use those Tres to get new abilities or upgrade your character. This was a fun system, and was retained in Dark Witch 2. A big point against Dark Witch 1 was that you shared your Enhancement meter with other skills, so if you use a skill, your Enhancement meter drains. This is fixed in Dark Witch 2 where they introduce the Capacity meter, which is drained when you use your skills. Your slots are unaffected. This encourages good use of the abilities in gameplay, as opposed to in Dark Witch where it somewhat punished you for using your slots. Most of the time in Dark Witch, after you installed a slot, you couldn't use your skills. Another small benefit of this system is that you can use your skills, even after you install said item. However, you can't go too crazy with your skills. They still take a lot of power, so it's a bit harder to shut down bosses. If you know what you're doing, you can get some pretty cheap victories. Some would say that's a negative. However, I think it's more of a positive. If you go into this game blind, you won't know what skills stun a certain boss. Obviously you can look it up, but it's the same experience as looking up Mega Man weaknesses online. It would be contrary to the spirit of the game. That's why it doesn't really bother me. Speaking of the slot system, you can buy new slots with Syega. In the first game, you only unlock 1, and that's guard. You had to get all the Syega, so it was a bit pointless as by the time you do that, you're almost at the finish line, even if you got all the Syega beforehand. The Legend of Dark Witch 2's alternative slots are pretty fun, and worthwhile. My favorite is Express, which lets you speed through the game. There's also Dash, which lets you go even faster at the push of a button. You can also upgrade slots, but in my opinion, it's not really worth it except for Speed or Express. You already need a lot of Tres to install the other abilities, so it's not as worth it. It's still a great feature to have, though. You can also give weapons a massive upgrade. For example, the Lord Attack usually bounces off of enemies when you land it, but if you upgrade it, you go straight through it. Other than that, you can also upgrade some other aspects of your character, like how much tres you lose upon taking a hit. Finally, I should mention the magic items. I found these decently useful. My most used were the Healing items, Blocking Items, and Syega Searcher. Return and Assist Block weren't necessarily bad, but they were just the least useful. I could only find myself using Assist Block if I fell down a pit or something. Overall, Dark Witch 2 makes good improvements over Dark Witch 1. I found almost all additions to be pretty good.

Stages
The most important part of any Dark Witch game is the stages. The level design is pretty good in Dark Witch 2, and I like most of the stages. Here is a short review of all the stages.

Icke
First up is Icke. This stage is pretty well designed. Most players will choose this stage first, because it was in the demo. It's also the easiest stage, based on the amount of stars. And it's pretty good. It shows the player the basics, like the coyote time mechanic (falling off a ledge, you have a good amount of frames to jump), the comet shot, and where to look for most of the Syega. All of this is done without a long dialogue at the beginning. Most players will find this out thanks to the Syega, which rewards the player for experimenting and playing well. So overall, it's pretty neat. 8/10.

Kuito
Next up is Kuito. Kuito's stage is the best looking Dark Witch stage, hands down. I love the look of this stage, and the theming is beautiful. I love the Japan theming here (hence the stage's name "Japonesque Night"), and it feels so vibrant and colorful. But the stage itself is good overall. When you're not racing down the beautiful streets of Japan, you're bouncing up and down on trampolines. And with the Dash ability, this stage is even better. It proves to be an interesting challenge trying not to die when using it. It's more risky, but it's so rewarding. Another 8/10.

Klinsy
Hmm... this character seems familiar. Anyways, Klinsy is the third stage, and I'm not going to lie, but this stage is kinda boring. Don't worry, the Syega pieces are cool and the music is amazing, but other than that, this stage has nothing else really going for it. You can easily beat the stage by holding right and shooting. It's not frustrating, but it's a whatever stage. 6/10.

Herbert
Herbert is the fourth stage in this game. The first part is good. The seals prove an interesting challenge, and the fishes are cool. But the second part? Eh. It's alright. If you're smart, you can speed by this part, but other than that, it's kinda slow. Furthermore, there's not a lot in the second half. It's not as automated as Klinsy's stage, but it's still kind of a straight shot to the goal. It just decent, 7/10.

Urken
Urken is the fifth stage, and it's nice. The first part has faries throwing rocks at you, cats pop out to scratch you, and that's about it. It's still fun, though. The second part ramps things up a bit. There are a lot more enemies, but I feel like I'm on drugs at some points. There are big grandmas that are followed by thieves (I think?). But it's more interesting than the first part. The Syega pieces are, again, pretty well hidden. Another 8/10.

Mari
Mari, the drunken scientist, is the sixth stage, and it's another decent stage. The first part is a bit slow, but the second part has a cool gimmick with the quicksand. There's not a lot in this stage, but enough to warrant a 7/10.

Litty
Litty, the philosopher, is the seventh stage in the game, and this stage is such a banger. My favorite part are the on/off switches, which disable electric orbs. They're also used for a clever Syega piece where you have to race to grab the Syega piece in time. A 9/10 for me.

Rudy
Rudy, the beautiful beastwoman, is the eighth stage in the game, and it's amazing! First, the song is a jam. Second, it doesn't really rely on any gimmick. And gimmicks are okay, but this one stands out as a fun platforming challenge. This stage is very pretty as well. It feels lively, and you know what? It would've been a 9/10, but for Rudy alone, it gets a 10/10!

Bosses
An important part of Dark Witch are the bosses. And Dark Witch 2 has some great bosses.

Icke
Icke is a pretty fun boss. It keeps you on your feet. First, she charges at you, but you can jump over it. This intentionally has a long startup to show that most Dark Witch attacks are telegraphed. Then she does a pull up with her stick (or whatever it's called). It's easy to dodge, just don't jump. At half health, she will shoot a laser that bounces around the arena. The attack itself isn't hard to dodge, but if she follows it up with the dash attack, you will have little room to dodge. Her revenge magic is "BEAM de DOOOOON!" She will blast a beam that covers half of the arena. It's very easy to dodge, but I found that Icke doesn't have a hitbox, so you can stand on top of her. Overall, it's a good introductory boss that teaches the player the basic mechanics of fight in the game. Interestingly, I actually find the fight harder with her weaknesses. She'll be stunned, but she'll move onto her next attack near instantaneously. Still, it's an 8/10.

Kuito
Kuito's up next, and it's a decent fight. She'll throw these bombs at you that will explode upon contact. next, she'll reflect your attacks with her umbrella. Finally, she will throw boing boings at you. A pretty alright fight, but there's not a lot to say. Using her weakness Lord attack basically makes this fight a walk in the park though, so it's a 7/10.

Klinsy
Klinsy's up next, and she's a decently challenging fight. Normally she shoots 4 random fireballs, but on Lunatic, she shoots 12. My god, talk about overkill. Overhelm helps a little, but that's still way too many. I figured out if you stand in a pixel perfect position, she can't hit you, but again, it's pixel perfect. Next, she summons 3 waterfalls, and they're easy to dodge. next, she makes an explosion on the ground, but you can just jump over it. Finally, her Revenge Magic is Dia Missle, one of the harder attacks to dodge in the original game. Now, it's a bit easier, and the Dia explodes on contact with another Dia, which makes it a lot easier to simply jump around to dodge the Dia. Overall, a 7/10. It's pretty decent, and kinda fun.

Herbert
Up next is Herbert, and her fight is kind of annoying. First, she tries to crush you with hands, and the problem is they appear out of nowhere, so I found myself running into them a lot, especially with Express. Next, she jumps and tries to power dunk you. I found you can always jump and hold left to dodge this attack, even at the lowest speeds, although it is harder in that case. At yellow, she will go up into the air and throw bombs at you. This is really easy to dodge, you can literally just stand under her to stay safe. Finally, her Revenge Magic is sad. She makes a shield that's painfully easy to destroy. Sola can destroy it in a matter of 1 second. Overall, Herbert is a pretty easy fight with a lot of flaws. Unfortunately, it gets a 5/10 from me.

Other Stuff
Here is a lightning round of some sorts. I decided to add this as I had a lot to say, but I didn't know where to put it, or it wasn't major enough to get it's own section.

Steam port
The Steam Port is amazing. For one, the assets are all high quality, and it looks beautiful. Second, Riva is added. More info on that in the Spoiler section. Lastly, there are leaderboards, but you need to go out of your way to find it, but it's still a fun feature regardless. There are also more secrets, but I haven't found them all yet!

Easter eggs
One thing I love about this game is the amount of secrets. I feel like every time I boot up the game, I find something new here. That's partially why I put trivia on the main page, just so I could share some Dark Witch related trivia for fun. I also put it as a fun side thing that other wikis had, so why not?

SPOILERS!!!
This is the Spoiler section. Anything contained below is considered spoilers, and is in the endgame. This is your warning now. If you have yet to play Dark Witch 2, first, what the hell are you doing with your life? And second, click 'hide' if you want to avoid spoilers. ''THIS IS YOUR WARNING NOW! If you want to proceed, scroll down...

Franzer
Franzer is, by far, the best Dark Witch villain. And I will explain why. Before the final boss, you see an ominous castle in the distance. This is shown in the intro, where you see a tall castle as well, but you don't know what it is. The structure is extremely striking, especially in the daytime. Hell, even in the night, it's still visible. This builds up tension. And I haven't even talked about Franzer yet. You see, Dark Witch villains are usually obsessed with Syega and/or Magic. You see this in Riva, Franzer, Day, and Bajel (and I guess you can say Zizou in a way, although she's not really a villain, more like an antagonist). The thing is, we don't know how badly they want it. And no character hasn't gone as far as Franzer. Why does Franzer have pale skin? It's because she used Syega past the human limits, risking her life all for Syega. That's the price of desire. When Zizou comes along to ruin her plans, she's extremely resilient, tapping into the power of Syega once more. This is all told through the song's title, 'Reach for your wish'. When I realized this, I officially fell in love with Dark Witch 2. All of this is told with little words. The developer gave the hints, and you had to find them. I only found this out after checking a playing level. And her boss fight? It's so good. First off, Franzer starts with a slash attack that's easy to dodge. You can simply jump over it. Franzer also jumps on the sides, then slashes at you. I found that if you jump and move as soon as she slashes, she can't hit you. It's pretty difficult, though. Next, she shoots some weird Dark Thing. It's easy to dodge but it makes the jumping attack harder to dodge. Finally, she uses Handert, and it's the only attack that straight up ignores your invincibility frames. That's a bit cheap, no? Anyways, after beating Franzer, as I mentioned above, she goes into her second phase into, whatever the hell this is. First, she charges at you with a drill. Then she throws Tornadoes at you. Damn, Syega really is insane. Next, she fires lasers, and with the tornadoes, they can be difficult to dodge. If you make a precise jump, I found I was able to dodge them on Lunatic. Next, Franzer summons Darrys that will limit Zizou's jump height. If you get grabbed, you will take damage, likely from the lasers. And finally, the Revenge magic is kinda scary. Franzer will make a massive blue hand, and if you don't dodge it, you'll see an oddly unsettling portrait of Franzer. Then, she slashes the crap out of you, and you go down to 1 HP, or if you are at 1 HP, YOU'RE DEAD. This also shows how badly Franzer wants the Syega, outright cheating by dealing more than 1 damage at a time. Well, I guess it's not the first time she did that! Once you finally drain her HP to zero, you get a lovely cutscene. Franzer says she was almost able to defeat Zizou, and then Zizou laments on how humans don't learn their lesson, and after that, the game ends. However, that's not the end of Episode 2. You see, once you're done with a video game, you usually turn it off, and never play it again. That's not the case with Dark Witch, and especially not 2. Because there's a lot more to be done after. A lot more than you probably think.

Sola
That's right, I'm talking about the postgame, and this is where the magic happens. After beating Dark Witch 2, you'll notice a new character - Sola. Sola is a high school student who is way too overpowered. Ever since Sola was revealed to be in Dark Witch 2, I've never been the same since. Sola's main power is these bombs. They do a large and lasting amount of damage, and on top they stack damage. However, at times it can be a bit hard to hit things, so Sola has a double jump. She also has Plasma balls, which roll until they hit something. All in all, you've got a fun character to play as. However, after completing Sola's campaign, you get another new character.

Riva
Riva, returning from the first game, is another unlockable character. Now some of you probably have horror stories about Riva from Dark Witch 1. Thankfully, she's a lot better here than in Dark Witch 1. For one, Sword is actually good! Instead of raining Swords, Riva now slashes in front of herself! This made it much more fun to play as her, as you weren't screwed over when you installed Sword! And now you have the awesome punishment shot to boot, and you also have dash as well! This one improvement made the game much better to play as Riva, as opposed to Riva in the first game, who was awful to play as. However, this doesn't compare to the absolute best part of Dark Witch 2 endgame.

VS. Zizou
The final battle with Zizou is so good, dude. I think it's my favorite Dark Witch boss in the entire series. I love how chaotic it feels, especially in the latter half. I'll never forget that moment where Zizou takes off her coat, and then the real battle begins. And then as soon as you start, Zizou uses overhelm and the Illusion Shot, followed up with a Lord attack shortly after. A bit later, she slows down time, and uses the Hyper Beam. Next, she'll throw Boing Boings, then Dark Matter, and finally Dia Missle. It can be difficult to dodge, especially with all the stuff thrown at you. In her peniultimate phase, she throws Bound Rings, uses Hungrify, the energy orbs from Codino, and Final Evolution. And, my personal favorite part, as soon as Zizou hits 0 HP, she will use Pelusa's Revenge Magic, Codino's Revenge Magic, Stoj's Revenge magic all at once, finishing off with Blad's Revenge magic. It's memorizing watching all this happen. My jaw genuinely dropped as I was playing this part. And once Zizou Olympia stands still, shoot at her once to end the fight. This fight is simply beautiful. With the music blaring in the background, and just the incredible finale, I'll never forget this moment. Before I end this review, I have a couple of things to mention about the game.

Lunatic Mode
Lunatic Mode is the hardest difficulty in the game. It's pretty cruel. Upon death, your Capacity meter resets, and taking a hit resets it too, there are no health drops whatsoever, Tres is more limited, but in my opinion, It's the best way to play the game. I feel like it strikes the perfect balance between difficulty and fun. Dark Witch 2 is a pretty easy game, but Lunatic was a pretty good challenge. I actually died a fair bit, and I'm realizing that it's a bit embarrassing considering I've been playing this game for over 3 years, but that's okay. I highly recommend Lunatic mode to anyone who picks up this game. It's pretty fair, unlike Dark Witch 1, and it changes things a lot, unlike Dark Witch 3. I always play Lunatic mode when I make a new save.

100%
Oh yes, I did 100% Dark Witch 2. My boy NAN-A really went and said "Alright, what if we made 100% actually fun?" and you have Dark Witch 2. Almost every achievement is so rewarding, so fun, so unique! Really, the only mediocre one is the Syegacha one, where it's random. Even then, it's not all too bad as you have to only get 70% of all of the artwork, and not 100%. Other than that, no complaints with 100%. Go do it if you haven't as it's so damn fun.

Conclusion
Episode 2, as I said in the intro, is an absolutely amazing game. I love almost everything about it - the gameplay, the music, and even the smaller details. Every time I boot up this game, I always find something new, and that's why I'm never tired of it.