Witcheye a fun side scrolling platformer published by Devolver Digital and developed by Moon Kid is a fun and tricky game that has been released for mobile phones, PC and the Nintendo Switch. Playing this copy on the Switch, you play as a witch who has had her spell ingredients stolen and must make her way through an array of obstacles to follow the knight who stole them.

Witcheye looks and plays like a traditional side scroller, only the witch, your character, transforms herself into an eyeball! As a bouncy eyeball, you must overcome enemies, time events and big bosses during your journey. It is an interesting concept, you have very little controls, you are able to move using the control stick and any other buttons cause your eye to stop moving, that’s all the controls you get. You are just a constantly moving orb that bounces and ricochets off the walls and enemies, definitely bizarre but entertaining.

Witcheye makes use of varying enemy types, the characters change as you progress from lizard like creatures to little Kirby looking monstrosities, armed with spears, throwing knives, flame balls and some just have spiky heads. With your five heart lives you must bounce and battle your way through these guys or die trying before you must restart the level if you lose all your health. Within the level you need to occasionally navigate through dangerous spikes but the scenery tends to be fairly safe unless you’re in the lava world as sometimes the lava rises and you have to be quick! This adds another layer of complexity which keeps it refreshing.

At the end of each area you battle a boss but you are then rewarded with one of your missing ingredients. Within each level you can collect three green crystals and one blue. Sometimes you get these by defeating an enemy, sometimes they are inside a block that you must open.

I found this game to be interesting and fun, unlike other games where you unlock moves and abilities Witcheye had none of this. You simply are what you are, which is a ball. The levels get progressively harder, the enemies more aggressive and powerful as do the challenges. You play through a series of levels before your scenery changes. The VERY vibrant, simple art style progresses through all sorts of landscapes; from forests to lava caves, to even a floating city in the skies, the graphics are simple, blocky and flat but everything stays traditional to the side scroller genre. The music has a different melody for each level, it was great that they did this, but I still found that I played my own music.

Overall, I enjoyed this game, I am not generally very good at side scrollers and Witcheye was no exception. I was slightly disappointed that you don’t develop extra powers but appreciate the idea that you are setup with all the skills of hand eye coordination that you need to play the game. If you lack this ability then this is not the game for you. The art was nice and the enemies different and challenging enough that I didn’t feel like I was just repeating the same thing over and over with a different background. Definitely an enjoyable experience.

Written by: Jordy Lowe