(Review contributed by Misya Danielle)

The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition is an enhanced re-release of the original Playstation 3 title, The Witch and the Hundred Knight. The Revival Edition was kept as a Sony console exclusive with its release to North America on February 2016 to the PS4 while the original was published two years earlier on the PS3 system. The Witch and the Hundred Knight along with its Revival Edition were both developed and published by Nippon Ichi Software. Unfortunately, while the original game had a lot of potential it had too many issues ranging from its repetitive gameplay to the severe lagging issues. The Revival Edition addresses and fixes many of the issues that prevented the original release from truly standing out as the exciting game it was meant to be.

The Witch and the Hundred Knight is the story of an ongoing battle of dominion between the swamp witch Metallia and the forest witch Malia. After hundreds of years of battle between these two powerful witches, the tides are finally turned when the swamp witch summons an incredibly powerful demon known as the “Hundred Knight”. She forms a contract with the Hundred Knight and sends him out to complete missions that are crucial to her goal of expanding her swamp across the entirety of Medea. Metallia must complete her goal of covering the world with swamp land before she perishes in exactly one hundred days. With help from the Hundred Knight her dreams may become reality. As the Hundred Knight continues to journey through Medea he begins to question why the swamp witch is so hated and feared. As you continue through the story you will discover the true power of the Hundred Knight and the secrets surrounding the swamp witch’s dark past.

 

In the Revival Edition you now have the option to play as either the Hundred Knight or the swamp witch Metallia by entering the new re-release exclusive dungeon “the Tower of Illusion” and collecting mana. The new dungeon requires the sacrifice of one of your weapons in order to enter it. The power of the chosen weapon determines the difficulty of the dungeon and influences the power of the enemies in the dungeon. The Tower of Illusion is the perfect dungeon to challenge your skills and power up in a fun new way. The Revival Edition also includes all of the dungeons and missions which fans are familiar with from the original release. Be prepared for a whole new gaming experience thanks to the game’s mix of old dungeons with an all new dungeon.

The game features the same action packed hack and slash battle system as the original release but it now runs at 60 FPS rather than 30 FPS. With the increase in frames per second the game now runs smoother than even during battle. Regrettably, the battle system is still rather repetitive and gets old fast but at least players don’t have to deal with the obnoxious lagging. The battle system includes the same exact features as it did in the original. One of the game’s most interesting and unique features is the ability to equip up to five different weapons to use in battle. Each of the five selected weapons will be placed into their own slot and during battle. You can change the weapon you use by pressing the square button to change the slot you are using. The most vital feature is the Gcal which allows you to recover after taking damage. The Gcal bar depletes faster as the Hundred Knight remains far from Metallia longer and also depletes as the Hundred Knight takes damage during battle. Many of the features of the game’s battle system are unique and make the game stand out from other similar games.

The original release of The Witch and the Hundred Knight unique and innovative for its time but is certainly not for people who are easily offended by over sexualization and crude humor. The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition addresses many of the issues which were presented in the gameplay mechanics of the original and it is a much stronger game. The combination of the game’s dark plot and unique battle system make the game stand out as truly the definitive version. Though the game is great, it still doesn’t quite live up to the quality that Nippon Ichi Software gave fans with the popular Disgaea series. Regardless, I would still recommend the Revival Edition to those who wanted to like the original but found that it fell short of their expectations.

Pros: Unique Characters, Extra Dungeon, Metallia (Playable Character)

Cons: Terrible Humor, Repetitive

SCORE – 75% 

This review is based on a digital copy of The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition on the PS4 provided by Nippon Ichi Software America.