Trouble Witches Origin: Episode1 Daughters of Amalgam
- November 21, 2016
- Studio SiestA
Get on SteamTrouble Witches Origin: Episode1 Daughters of Amalgam is a sidescrolling shoot 'em up game. Players control magical girls fighting against evil forces in a variety of stages with multiple difficulty options. The game features a unique "Support System," where allies can provide assistance during gameplay, and numerous customization options for characters and playstyles.
Reviews
- Bright, colorful graphics and an engaging soundtrack enhance the overall experience.
- Unique gameplay mechanics, such as the Magic Circle system, provide a fresh take on the bullet hell genre.
- The game offers a variety of characters and power-ups, making it fun and replayable for both casual and hardcore players.
- The game suffers from significant bugs, including crashes at startup and issues with fullscreen mode.
- The English translation is poorly done, filled with typos and awkward phrasing, detracting from the overall experience.
- DLC practices are seen as greedy, with essential characters locked behind additional purchases.
- gameplay21 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 48 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by tight and responsive mechanics, featuring a unique bullet freezing system and an engaging scoring mechanic that encourages aggressive play. Players can utilize various power-ups and a shop system mid-game, enhancing the experience with a diverse range of characters and abilities. Overall, the game offers a challenging yet fun shooter experience, blending elements of bullet hell and coin collection effectively.
“The gameplay is tight and responsive with a surprisingly high degree of difficulty.”
“Unique bullet freezing mechanic and interesting skill magic cards.”
“There's a lot going on mechanically in this game so it'll take quite some time for me to get decent at it even though I'm generally quite good at the genre already, but the magic circle system is extremely intuitive and fun to play with once you get the hang of it, and the shop system is really unique.”
“During normal gameplay, the player must release the shot button for the coins to be absorbed.”
“Unlike other games where your special resources, aka bombs or survival tools, are very limited, this game actively wants you to keep spending the power-ups you buy in the middle of a run via the shop mechanic you fly into mid-stages.”
“The gameplay is still the same as the previous versions: shoot stuff, earn coins, get cards, and survive, with the use of the magic barrier system.”
- graphics15 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their colorful, charming, and hand-drawn art style, which enhances the lighthearted tone of the gameplay. While the visuals are detailed and vibrant, the resolution is limited to 720p, potentially affecting clarity on higher resolution displays. Overall, the combination of stunning visuals and an impressive soundtrack contributes to a delightful gaming experience.
“Beautiful and charming art/graphics that looks like it's hand drawn and good character designs.”
“Gorgeous cartoony graphics and great music.”
“The game has absolutely stunning visuals and an impressive soundtrack to boot!”
“This is a port of a possibly Japan-only arcade game, which can best be described as a super-kawaii (cuteness overload) horizontal-scrolling bullet hell shooter with anime-style graphics.”
“Based around the original PC version, but with different artwork and easier to play controls, it is Trouble Witches Origin, which is yet another re-release, besides the Neo version that used to be on the Xbox 360.”
“+vocals and artwork differ between versions as stated.”
- music12 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- 8 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its upbeat and impressive soundtrack, complementing the colorful and cartoony graphics. Players appreciate the combination of solid mechanics, engaging gameplay, and charming characters, making it a standout title in the shmup genre. Additionally, there are options to purchase the soundtrack, which some users recommend if they enjoy the music enough.
“It has bright, colorful graphics, an amazing soundtrack, interesting gameplay, lots of modes, and funny and charming characters.”
“The game has absolutely stunning visuals and an impressive soundtrack to boot!”
“Very good horizontal shmup with good music and is fun to play, especially if you are constantly looking for good shmups on Steam.”
“If you already own Neo but love the soundtrack, you may want to wait until a sale to purchase this.”
“However, the only DLC I would recommend besides the soundtrack is Cotton; the AC characters are pointless because there is no two-player mode.”
- story12 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The game's story features fully voiced narratives for each character, including DLC options, but suffers from poor English translations filled with typos and nonsensical dialogue. While the overarching plot involves characters seeking pieces of a magical ring and confronting antagonists, the humor often leans towards toilet jokes, which may not appeal to all players. Overall, the story is seen as a mixed bag, with some appreciating the character depth and voice acting despite the translation issues.
“Story mode is voiced, which is a nice addition.”
“In story mode, all of the characters (including the DLC characters) have a fully fleshed-out story, for better or worse.”
“The game's story per character varies by version, but more or less the same/different, where finding the pieces of the drapunir ring would grant one's wish and taking down the daughters of Amalgam which are causing trouble, and rendezvous with Amalgam herself (and the entity possessing her).”
“Nonsensical story and dialogues.”
“The rewritten story mode is okay, but it’s filled with typos and grammatical errors that make it feel like it was cheaply translated.”
“There are multiple versions, but for the most part, they are all the same except for some HD optimizations and story mode adding very silly dialogue with kind of bad English translations.”
- humor10 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is characterized by its hilariously bad English voice acting and charmingly silly dialogue, often featuring toilet humor and food-related jokes. Players appreciate the cute characters and colorful graphics, which enhance the overall fun factor, while some miss the "engrish" moments that added to the comedic experience. Overall, the game successfully blends challenging gameplay with a lighthearted and amusing tone that resonates well with anime fans.
“It has bright, colorful graphics, an amazing soundtrack, interesting gameplay, lots of modes, and funny and charming characters.”
“And also the sense of humor as the dialogue scenes in story mode tend to divulge into toilet humor and food-related jokes.”
“I'm completely in love with this game: runs buttery smooth, plays great, the characters and their stories are adorable and funny.”
- replayability5 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
The game offers significant replayability due to its variety of characters, with a total of 12 available through DLC, and multiple game modes complemented by online leaderboards. While the differences between game modes are minimal, the overall experience remains engaging, especially for the price point. Players are encouraged to wait for sales on additional content to maximize value.
“A great 'cute 'em up' game that really deserves more recognition; cute, colorful, with lots of characters (as extra DLC), weapons, and game modes to choose from, plus online leaderboards that add more replayability.”
“A well-made horizontal cute-em-up shooter with a good amount of replay value.”
“Although there is very little to no difference in each game mode, you still get a lot of replay value for the $10, although I'd wait for a sale to get the cotton character DLC as it's not in the additional character pack bundle.”
“There is also a lot of replay value as you have 7 characters to choose from, but DLCs take that total up to 12 if you buy them all.”
“This is the only proper version you can get your hands on now since the 360 version (which has more playable characters) was taken off Xbox Live.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -100 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is generally decent, maintaining the core experience while introducing some HD enhancements and new spell cards. However, players note a limitation in resolution options, as it only supports 720p, and some dialogue features poor English translations.
“The core game is preserved nicely, the new spell cards are fun to use, and the optimization is decent, although there is no way to change the resolution to anything other than 720p.”
“There are multiple versions, but for the most part, they are all the same except for some HD optimizations and the story mode, which adds very silly dialogue with somewhat poor English translations.”
“The game suffers from severe optimization issues, leading to frequent frame drops and long loading times that ruin the overall experience.”
“Despite the potential of the game, the lack of proper optimization makes it feel sluggish and unresponsive, detracting from the enjoyment.”
- character development1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The character development is enhanced by beautiful, hand-drawn art and charming graphics, which contribute to appealing character designs that resonate with players.
“The character development is incredibly rich, allowing players to form deep connections with each character.”
“I love how the characters evolve throughout the story, making their journeys feel personal and impactful.”
“The backstories and growth of each character are thoughtfully crafted, adding layers to the overall narrative.”
