Trigger Witch is a unique blend of twin stick shooter and 16 bit style action RPG, with a healthy amount of puns thrown in. It puts you in the role of Collette, a young Witch about to partake in the Stock Gauntlet to officially become a member of the Clip, the peacekeeping force of Evertonia.
The shooting mechanics are similar to what you’d find in others of the twin stick genre, with a few added twists. You can only reload your first weapon, a revolver. Every other weapon must be stowed for several seconds to have it magically reloaded. This means that each gun technically has infinite ammo, but you must strategically decide which weapon to use when to avoid running out of ammo for all but the starter weapon. Each weapon has different stats and feels unique, allowing you to pick the load out that fits your playstyle best.
The RPG side of things has you completing your first quest as a member of the Clip, taking you across the world and through various dungeons. These dungeons have a good mix of combat encounters and puzzles, especially if you explore as much as possible. This culminates with a boss battle that seems to be a little bit of both. While Collette doesn’t have any progression outside of an increasing health bar, the guns are a different story. While most guns are required for dungeon progression, some need to found off the beaten path. Also found during exploration are weapon parts used to unlock the ability to upgrade one of a weapons stats. You must still spend gems to actually gain a benefit however. Luckily, you can always reset each weapon, regaining all the spent resources if you make a mistake or find a more favorable weapon later.
The artstyle is a classic colorful 16 bit style. This creates an easy to see, high contrast environment. It almost feels as if you are playing a classic Zelda game, but instead of being given a sword to start with, you get a gun! I never thought that this style was holding the game back, it just felt like a good fit for it.
The controls are intuitive, especially if you have played other twin stick shooters. One stick is used for movement, another is for aiming. Then one trigger fires and the other used your dash spell. The d pad has your favorited guns. One but drinks a healing potion while another reloads the starter weapon. Finally a shoulder button switches to the starter weapon, and the other cycles weapons with a tap or brings up a weapon quick select menu if held.
Overall, I enjoyed my time playing the game, even though I only made it about halfway through it. Unfortunately, I encountered a boss that I couldn’t defeat, mostly because I couldn’t see it well. Nonetheless I would recommend the game to fans of the genre or classic RPGs looking for something more fast paced.
I received an Xbox code for the game from the publisher with the expectation for coverage of some kind. I played the game for about five hours, all on a Series X. I am mostly blind, so some things I have trouble with may not affect your experience with the game. Trigger Witch is available now on several platforms.
