Exclusively Mix Witchcraft the book is a captivating and enlightening read that delves into the world of witchcraft and magic. This book, authored by the esteemed witchcraft expert, Laura Thompson, provides readers with a comprehensive guide to the history, practices, and traditions of witchcraft from around the world. Main Idea: The book offers a unique blend of different forms of witchcraft, allowing readers to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for this ancient and mysterious art. Throughout the book, Thompson incorporates her vast knowledge and experience in witchcraft to provide readers with practical tips and techniques that can be incorporated into their own spiritual practices. From spells and rituals to divination and herbalism, this book covers it all. One of the major highlights of Exclusively Mix Witchcraft is the exploration of various witchcraft traditions from different cultures.
If you’re into reading about a fun adventure in the wizarding world with colorful animated art, then this game might be for you. I personally didn’t like how abrupt the end of the story was and that also contributed to the rushed feeling I experienced while playing this game. I also feel like the text scenes were very long and the game didn’t provide enough choices and following consequences other than moments where Thomas can die like Alice’s past students. If you played the game once then you have experienced everything except for a couple Forest scenes late in the game that are optional. The further I played, the more I felt the game was coming to a conclusion faster and faster. The end game events really fly by quickly compared to the first half of the game exploring Alice’s home and making potions. However, I’m looking forward to the sequel if there is one in production by Graven Visual Novels as this was a fun story to read.
There are uniquely moments where the game does break the Visual novel genre and becomes a Point and Click Adventure to locate ingredients to brew a potion. Starting with the good the illustrations, as most visual-novel readers generally expect, are beautifully hand drawn, with rich color palettes and lush, whimsical details including the skulls of Thomas s unfortunate predecessors tucked into nooks and crannies throughout Alice s quaintly cluttered home reminiscent of the intricate cottage-core environments of Studio Ghibli films.
One of the major highlights of Exclusively Mix Witchcraft is the exploration of various witchcraft traditions from different cultures. Thompson takes readers on a journey through time, exploring the ancient traditions of witchcraft in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. By doing so, she emphasizes the universal presence and significance of witchcraft throughout history.
My Aunt is a Witch Review – Switch
Created by Russian game developer and publisher Sometimes You, My Aunt Is a Witch is something of a cross between a visual novel and an old-school point-and-click adventure game, combining more traditional visual novel elements of lush illustrations and otherwise primarily text-based storytelling with some elements of adventure game questing and search-and-find gameplay.
The protagonist in this visual novel is a young boy named Thomas, who, in this Hansel-and-Gretel-inspired tale, is essentially driven from his home by his stepmother. He ends up going to live with his aunt, Alice, who turns out to be an actual witch. Alice has a disturbingly bad track record with her apprentices and apparently poor business sense, but she’s is in need of a new assistant potion maker, and Thomas is apparently desperate enough to sign up.
If you’re familiar with either the visual-novel or adventure genre, you’ll likely feel right at home with this game. As with the typical visual novel, you can expect the majority of your experience to be reading lots and lots of text, and there is no voice over as there is with some more recent titles, so you’ll definitely be reading. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. Anyone with an interest in visual novels likely enjoys reading anyway, and I, for one, far prefer reading to listening to sub-par voice acting.
Starting with the good: the illustrations, as most visual-novel readers generally expect, are beautifully hand drawn, with rich color palettes and lush, whimsical details (including the skulls of Thomas’s unfortunate predecessors tucked into nooks and crannies throughout Alice’s quaintly cluttered home) reminiscent of the intricate cottage-core environments of Studio Ghibli films. The characters are perhaps a bit orthodox (like the bookish young boy, the prickly and self-interested cat, and the mercurial and quick-tempered witch) but still cute. Overall, the art was one of my favorite parts of the game, and I enjoyed the fairytale feel of the overall aesthetics, which extend to the menus and settings screen.
Similarly, the soundtrack is pleasantly magical, with plenty of celeste, which most folks will probably recognize from its prominent use in the Harry Potter movie themes. The game also makes effective use of occasional sound effects, whether it’s the yowl of a cat or the bubbling of a cauldron, to help create a more immersive experience.
One of the weaknesses of the game, unfortunately, is the text itself. I noticed right off the bat that there were a lot of spelling and grammar errors—not just a few as can be expected to happen with such a text-heavy game, but so many that they can become a bit distracting, and I would not have considered the game ready for prime time if I’d been the developer or publisher. I understand that the game was originally written in Russian, and some awkwardness in translation can be reasonably expected, especially from an indie title with a lower budget, but the game would have definitely greatly benefited from at least one more pass by a good editor.
As for the adventure-game elements, which include a few simple quests that mostly involve the standard search-and-find type of gameplay, as well as some simple puzzles involving using certain objects found around the environments to accomplish other tasks, I had no complaints. The game provides reasonable hints for how to complete the puzzles, and there is an in-game log and inventory to help you keep track of tasks and objects collected. The difficulty level is fairly low and should be approachable for casual gamers.
Potion making only occurs a couple of times in the game and involves a simple minigame in which you’ll need to accurately press a specific sequence of direction buttons in a set time period, with each ingredient added involving a longer sequence and, therefore, higher difficulty. The minigame itself was not difficult (for me as a longtime gamer), and I’m not sure how challenging it would be for someone not as used to entering sequences precisely on a controller, but I will also say that the game is very forgiving when you make errors and will let you retry as needed. More on that in a moment.
One caveat, though: I did notice that while the directions (which must be entered on the plus-shaped direction pad on the controller) were easy to enter correctly on the Nintendo Switch Joy Cons, I found the minigame to be unexpectedly frustrating on the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller. I think this has to do with the direction pad being four buttons on the Joy Cons, versus the plus-shaped single button on the Pro Controller, which might not provide as clean of a directional input, as I think sometimes the game read my button presses as a combination of directions, rather than just one direction. To use the Pro Controller successfully for the minigame, I had to be super careful about only pressing the plus shape on the very ends of the plus arms, which was annoying. I don’t typically have trouble with entries from the direction pad on my Pro Controller, so I think perhaps the game’s coding would benefit from some tweaking to give it a little more tolerance in this regard.
Anyway, regarding failure: there are a few points in the game when Thomas could potentially follow the footsteps of Alice’s unfortunate prior apprentices and actually die if you make a misstep (though you can save at any point and reload from your last save as needed to continue on), but I didn’t experience any deaths even when using the Pro Controller repeatedly screwed up my potion making inputs. In fact, the game seemed to just move me along to the next scene when I repeatedly botched the most complex last sequence of the final potion making session, which was a relief in terms of alleviating my overall frustration at the time, but it also made me wonder if doing well at potion making mattered at all in this game.
Regardless, the minigames are a very minor part of the overall experience of My Aunt is a Witch, so players that prefer the visual novel genre to the adventure genre and don’t enjoy puzzles or minigames shouldn’t be too turned off by them, while players that prefer adventure games would probably find them to be a bit tedious and probably not challenging or off-the-wall enough.
Storywise, I didn’t feel particularly invested in the characters or plot, which is slow-moving and only starts to pick up a tad close to the final moments of the game—at which point the game abruptly ends without resolving anything. I suppose it’s meant to be a cliffhanger because the ending screen promises that Thomas’s story will continue in a future episode. With how little happens in the game, though, at least for me, it was hard for me to feel enough impetus to bother continuing the story.
I should also mention that though this game is rated Everyone (10+), there is some mild language (a few instances of damn and hell, nothing stronger), as well as some iffy situations that, depending on your personal views, may not be appropriate for younger children. (I apologize for the mild spoiler, and this is revealed very early on in the game, but please skip over the next sentence if you’d rather avoid it.) For instance, the witch’s cat is her on-and-off boyfriend, whom she transformed into a cat without his consent and whom she frequently abuses throughout the course of the game; and there are quite a few off-color comments about women. Notably, despite Alice being one of the protagonists of the game, she and the other female characters in this game are generally portrayed as cruel, moody, unreasonable, and materialistic. I don’t know about you, but that’s a well-worn and distasteful sexist trope I’d be happier never seeing again in any kind of media, particularly media labeled as being for “Everyone.”
In any case, My Aunt is a Witch is available at the Nintendo eShop for $9.99 at the time of this writing, and it’s a very short game that I finished in three short sessions totaling about five hours, even with taking my time to thoroughly explore and take screenshots for the sake of this review. At least from what I can tell, it doesn’t seem like there are multiple paths to explore, so there’s probably not much reason to replay it, but maybe future installments will prove me wrong. Your enjoyment of visual novels and the particular art and prose style of this game (as well as your tolerance for typos and sexism) will probably determine whether you feel the $2 per hour cost of this game is a good value for your buck.
Gamer, engineer-turned-attorney, classically trained pianist, visual artist, stinky-cheese fanatic, and aspiring hip-hop dancer. I write reviews for Game Chronicles when I've got a spare moment or two.
Moreover, the book also delves into the misconceptions and stereotypes surrounding witchcraft. Thompson elucidates the difference between witchcraft and Wicca, clarifying common misconceptions and dispelling myths, making this book an invaluable resource for those wanting to learn more about witchcraft in an accurate and respectful manner. The book is not only educative but also engaging, with Thompson's writing style making it accessible to readers with varying levels of knowledge on the subject. The use of anecdotes, personal experiences, and real-life examples further enriches the content and helps readers connect with the subject matter. In conclusion, Exclusively Mix Witchcraft the book is a must-read for anyone interested in the world of witchcraft and magic. Laura Thompson's expertise and passion shine through, making this book a valuable resource for both beginners and seasoned practitioners. Whether you are looking to expand your knowledge, enhance your spiritual practices, or simply satisfy your curiosity, this book will undoubtedly leave you with a deeper appreciation for and understanding of witchcraft..
Reviews for "Exploring the Dark Arts: Unraveling 'The Book"
- Lily - 2 stars - I was really excited to read "Exclusively mix witchcraft the book" as I am a fan of witchcraft and magic. However, I was deeply disappointed. The book seemed extremely disorganized and lacked a clear structure. It jumped from one topic to another without any connection or flow. Additionally, the information provided was very basic and did not provide any new insights or knowledge. Overall, I found the book to be a wasted opportunity and would not recommend it to anyone looking for a comprehensive guide on witchcraft.
- Mark - 1 star - This book was a complete waste of time. It promised to provide exclusive and unique information about witchcraft, but it fell short on every level. The content was shallow and lacked depth. It seemed like the author only scratched the surface of each topic without delving into any details. The writing style was also quite dull and uninspiring. I was expecting to learn something new and interesting, but all I got was basic and repetitive information that I could find easily on the internet. I would not recommend "Exclusively mix witchcraft the book" to anyone.
- Jessica - 2 stars - I found "Exclusively mix witchcraft the book" to be a very confusing read. The author constantly referred to other books or resources without providing any explanation or context. It felt like I was missing out on crucial information because I hadn't read those other sources. Moreover, the writing style was convoluted and hard to follow. It seemed like the author was trying to sound sophisticated, but it only made the book more difficult to understand. Overall, I was left feeling frustrated and disappointed with this book.