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While it’s the right time of year for some creepiness and scares, quality still needs to count for something
Before landing pretty negatively on this title as a whole, I’ll concede that it seems that the overall design is on purpose, and I have no doubt there’s an audience that’s down for it. With that out of the way, let’s take a look. You could make a case that having people playing your game frequently dying suddenly (and with no warning) constitutes a fun collection of “jump scares”, but I’d point out that it’s also pretty lazy design. There are moments that show the game can get it a bit right, building some tension with odd sounds or sights around the periphery that put you on edge, but when you’re then essentially railroaded into an instant death in the next room and need to go back to your last save it pretty well ruins what was working to that point. I pretty quickly found myself getting numb to dying and then sometimes struggling to figure out what I had done wrong and needed to do differently, and merely began being annoyed by it all. The sad thing is, there’s a space for horror games made well to really make a mark on Switch, but much like far too many “scary walking simulators” The Witch’s House MV seems content to just put something out that checks a few boxes, failing to make something more compelling, interesting, or fun. You may find it satisfies your need for some weird moments mixed with sometimes interesting puzzles, but it doesn’t feel worthy of much praise either.
Justin Nation, Score:Fair [6.2]