While there aren’t necessarily a ton of action RPGs on the Switch when compared to other subgenres, there are enough that the battle lines have been drawn when it comes to the level of quality you need to be aiming for. In the case of Hyke, it absolutely has a few areas where it shines. If you’re looking for attractive visuals, and at least some variety when it comes to combat, the game has you covered. Once you get outside of those realms I’d say that the overall situation gets a little more dodgy, but we’ll explore the good and the bad further.

Set in a world where the existence of witches appears to be a threat to the general populace, you’ll play the daughter of one such witch who is on a journey with her friend Riko in search of the source of a mysterious voice on the radio. Hoping to find her mother, they’ll explore off-limits areas and run afoul of the authorities, leading to quite a lot of battles, and bumping into some additional witches who’ll join them along the way. While at first the game’s combat just felt more average, as you get to make use of Riko and the new witches there ends up being quite a bit of fun to be had, and different tactics to be used. For me the highlight is the bizarre fact that Riko is able to turn into a giant pink bunny who’s a glass cannon but also quite a bit of fun. By continuing to enhance the skills and power levels of the group you’ll have the opportunity to customize them more to suit your style, and that does make the combat generally satisfying.

Outside of the game’s great aesthetics, odd monster designs, and strangely satisfying combat things are a bit tougher to get excited about. There are systems around making camp, preparing recipes, and other things in that vein, but they feel more like add-ons than something to get invested in. In a similar way, some of the maze-like areas you’ll explore felt really strange as it feels somewhat random whether you’ll pick paths where you’ll encounter chests or other positives or not. Locking gates will force you to commit to a decision, and it doesn’t seem that there’s an option to circle back to get to chests you’ll realize you’ve missed. I suppose that isn’t a huge deal, it is just a very unusual design decision for sure. In the end, it’s just sort of an odd package that gets some things right and others a little less so, but on the whole still has enough distinctive charms to be worth a look.