Mika is a young girl who aspires to be a witch like her mother, so she enrolls in Witch School which is held at the top of a mountain on an island.  But when she gets there, for her first lesson the witch on the mountain pushes her off!  Luckily Mika lands safely, but her broom breaks and she can’t fly high up to the top of the mountain anymore.  She meets an artist who can repair her broom, but it’ll cost money so Mika gets a job in town delivering packages to people while flying on her broom.  To say this game is “Ghibli-inspired” would be an understatement, as there is a Ghibli Studio cartoon movie called “Kiki’s Delivery Service” that has nearly the exact same plot.  Mika and the Witch’s Mountain is a 3D action adventure game and it’s available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

You’ll control Mika in 3D space as you zip around the island.  Press the X button to jump and the A button to pick up and put down objects.  The Y button lets you fly on your broom, which is how you’ll spend most of the game.  Once you meet the artisan and the post office worker, you’ll be tasked to deliver things to others on the small island village, as well as others living on the rest of the island.  Here’s where performance is key.  Certain items you deliver can’t get wet or banged around too much, and some of the items you must hurry and deliver before they melt.  So it becomes an exercise in logistics.  If you mess up or bang up a package too much, you can hold down the B button to reset the delivery, but sometimes I couldn’t get it to work for whatever reason.  If you deliver an item perfectly, you’ll get a happy stamp and some money.  When you fill out your stamp card, the day ends and you’ll usually get a new broom the next day which will let you explore more of the island and move the story along.

The game has a few problems and at first they didn’t bother me but ultimately they reared their ugly head and caused me to stop playing.  Which is a shame because the game is so gosh darn charming otherwise.  First problem is that even though the game gives you a map and a description of where you need to go, sometimes the goals are still a bit unclear.  For instance, later in the game you need to put out fires, and they tell you to get a sponge to do so.  But they don’t tell you where to get the sponge.  Play control isn’t bad but it’s not precise enough for this type of game.  I could soar over one cliff with no problems, only to slightly nick a corner of a ledge and ding my package next time.  And the constant fetch quests did get more tedious than fun in the end.  But if you are very patient, you might still like this game.

Kid Factor:

Nothing violent or objectionable here, although reading skill is a must.  Younger gamers may have trouble with the difficulty, controls, and unclear goals and get frustrated, though.  Mika and the Witch’s Mountain is rated E for Everyone.

Tags: Game Reviews