Mika and the Witch’s Mountain Early Access Review

A coming-of-age story about a young witch struggling with a difficult curriculum at school and trying to make ends meet with her first job, Mika and the Witch’s Mountain is most certainly a relatable experience. Filled with great characters, a relaxing exploration platform, platform-heavy gameplay, and a charming world, Mika and the Witch’s Mountain is sure to be a great, heartwarming addition to your Steam library and the source of a newfound appreciation for postal workers.

Mika and the Witch’s Mountain begins as our titular protagonist, Mika, arrives at the Witch’s school at the top of Mount Gaun, where she is slated to begin her magical education. Mika is a bit cocky for her age, so the headmistress of the school decides to give Mika her first lesson on being a witch; she must climb all the way back up to the top of Mount Gaun, this time on her own… but not before she’s unceremoniously kicked off a ledge at the mountain’s peak.

Crashing hard at the base of the mountain, Mika finds her broom destroyed. To get back to the top of the mountain, she needs to be able to fly, but even after getting her broom repaired and eventually replaced, it still isn’t strong enough to fly back up top. Luckily for Mika, the broom-smith reveals that the town is hiring a new delivery person for the post office, which is the perfect way for Mika to earn the money she needs to get a new broom and fly back up the mountain.

If you’re asking me, Mika is getting scammed.

Just think about it. Mika arrives at this witch school far from home, only to immediately find herself stranded in an island town she’s never been to, with hardly any means of transportation and no way back to the top of her school. Conveniently, the first person she meets tells her she can work her way up to buying a new broom from her and points her to the post office, which happens to be hiring a new delivery person.

Mika just happens to take up a minimum-wage job, only to funnel all of the coins she earns back into a local artisan. Nuh-uh, it’s just too fishy. Mika definitely fell for a scam to get some free labor around the town, and the witch school is in on it.

Full disclosure: I didn’t fully complete Mika and the Witch’s Mountain, so if that is revealed, I absolutely did not mean to spoil it for you.

All jokes aside, Mika and the Witch’s Mountain is a parcel delivery game that uses witchy broom travel as its central mechanic. Pick up packages and deliver them across the island’s diverse cast of characters, flying over pitfalls and great cascades as you try not to damage the mail.

Mika gets paid cold, hard cash by completing delivery cards, which are little cards that get stamped by customers at the end of her deliveries based on how satisfied they are. Green stamps mean the delivery went off without a hitch, and you are required to get paid for that delivery. If you bang up a package by slamming it into a wall, get it wet by dipping it into the water, or fail to arrive on time during timed deliveries, you get a yellow or even a red sticker, which are not good, go unpaid and challenge the prospect of Mika’s employment.

In addition to deliveries, Mika is also tasked with collecting items from around the world that were reported lost by their owners, adding a sort of collection game mechanic and making the platforming more of a puzzle. The game is certainly what I would call a platformer, with you using different interactions with the broom’s mechanics to hop from platform to platform, catch boosts from gusts of wind, and find the best way to your clients without slamming their belongings into things.

The broom feels very drifty and flowy, in a really good way, but I do feel like it’s too hard to stop. If you ever feel like you’re going to crash, you can just hop off the broom and onto your feet, assuming you’re not high up in the air.

Mika and the Witch’s Mountain is still in Early Access, and the developers promise new side quests, dungeons, and mechanics after roughly six months of EA development.

In my opinion, Mika and the Witch’s Mountain feels pretty solid as it is now. I feel like there is a good balance of main gameplay and side features, and I really love the characters, especially Mika who is an immediately likable and interesting protagonist. Many of the things I would ask to add to the game are also promised in the development roadmap.

If anything, I do feel like the game could make the world feel more populated and lived in. At the moment, Mika and the Witch’s Mountain has you traveling across the island constantly to deliver packages to its inhabitants, and you can tell the game wants you to feel wowed by the environments and sights.

Unfortunately, I felt like many of these sights were underwhelming, and the environments felt pretty empty.

The game could really expand on this area by adding more scenery in the nature areas, perhaps some animals, and giving the town a more lived-in, bustling feeling. While it may seem like a minor criticism, I think it could go a long way to make Mika and the Witch’s Mountain a better game than it is now.

Pros:

• Fun gameplay that combines platforming, collection, and timed mechanics
• Gorgeous art, both 2D and 3D
• Great characters

Cons:

• Small, empty feeling map
• Lacking in features/side content at launch