When Onidra showed us the list of games to test recently, a title caught my attention: Cooking Witch. These are two words that make me want to know more!
A single sentence was enough to convince me to test Cooking Witch: the one presenting the game.
In Cooking Witch, you play as a witch flying on her broomstick through the woods to join a party, where you can capture children to cook and eat them.
Me, it sold me dreams. Being able to capture kid's dirt and throw it in a cauldron without remorse is just magic. Good to eat them a little less, I would have preferred to just transform them into food to give them to wolves for example, but let's not be choosy.
The game begins and two signs quickly show you how to play. The first explains the controls and what we have to do: we move with the mouse, we click to grab a child when an exclamation mark appears and we throw them in the cauldron to turn them into a tender little leg.
The second panel details the menu, ie what the child will give you once it is well cooked! We can thus see that those in the red overalls give meat but also life and time.
Visually we are dealing with something simple but neat. We have beautiful colors, animations in accordance with the game, all very fluid.
The bar symbolizing the time is located at the top of the screen. So we have a limit. Not enough to panic however, I can start it over as many times as I want by choosing "Replay"to progress from part to part in the objectives.
On the left, two more bars indicate Health, our hit points, and Stamina, the endurance of our witch. Carrying children is tiring!
I start grabbing the kids and throwing them in my cauldron when a daddy with a blunderbuss stops me from quietly harvesting the kids. He's not kidding, 3 shots and I'm good to start over! When we finish a game (by death or time elapsed), a quick assessment and a summary of the current objectives are displayed, to be achieved as we go. We have for example "cook 5 children", "knock out a daddy", etc ...
Clicking on Next, a new screen appears with the score achieved, the current ranking but also some small tips.
This is how I learn that I can knock out daddy by throwing a kid on his face. This game is fabulous. If I succeed, I can even immerse the father in the cauldron in turn! Other tips appear as you go:
- filling out the "Cook Meter" will attract a dad. You have to believe that cooking smells do not go unnoticed
- the distance between the mouse cursor and the witch determines its speed
With these tips, I manage to knock out a daddy and put him in the cauldron. You still have to have your eyes everywhere because you can quickly find yourself with three dads who duck at us, determined to protect their kids.
We can also improve our witch by clicking on "Upgrades". In this menu, you can increase your speed, the number of children you can carry at a time, the quantity of meat received per kid cooked and the statistics of our witch:
- increase Health will allow you to take more damage,
- increase Stamina will allow you to keep your prey while you fly longer
- increase Strength will make us lose speed less while carrying our noisy meat.
Upgrades of speed, number of children to carry and meat recovered while cooking are unlocked as we progress through the objectives. You will then have to spend points (the required number of which is in green) to activate them.
In the end, I go through the games and time goes by without realizing it! Capture the children, escape the dads, make sure to make the game last ... All this is very addicting. In addition, the sound environment is also up to this little game. The sound effects have not been forgotten, such as the "splash" when a kid falls into the cauldron, their cry of panic or the "crunch" when the witch bites into the meat! The music remains simple, but is perfectly in tune with the funfair atmosphere as soon as you approach it.
Cooking Witch was fun at first glance and I'm not disappointed! A funny concept, allowing to get rid of infamous kids without attacking those of the neighbors (or yours), quick games allowing to play in small or large sessions make it a game that will have its place on your PC. And then, given its very low price, it would be a shame to deprive yourself of this good escape!
