Reviewed on PS4

It’s cool to see games experiment with quirky ideas. Trigger Witch from Rainbite is a game that wears a few different hats, and it offers some pretty cool ideas. The game is essentially an isometric shoot ‘em up that borrows from the format of The Legend of Zelda. In addition, it’s super colorful and heavy on the pixels, which makes it incredibly charming. It doesn’t always succeed in delivering all of its ideas in the best ways possible, but there’s still some fun to be had here.

Who Needs a Magic Wand When You’re Packin’ Heat?

Colette is the star of Trigger Witch. At the start of the game, she’s undergoing a special test to join The Clip, a coven of gun-toting witches responsible for upholding peace in the land. Colette is a likable protagonist, and the premise is almost ‘70s exploitation movie levels of silly. The story never goes full-on bonkers, though, which would’ve probably made it stand out a bit more, but it’s a nice little deviation from the standard witch tale.

In simplest terms, the progression of Trigger Witch can kind of be described as “old school Legend of Zelda with guns.” You’ll roam an overworld, visit dungeons, and take down big, imposing bosses.

The action, however, is more in line with what you’d see in twin-stick shooters. You’ll arm yourself with a pistol, assault rifle, grenade launcher, and more as you take down enemies. Gunning down baddies is pretty simple to understand, and it works well for the most part. The aiming and shooting aren’t as smooth as they could be, but they get the job done.

Dungeons are heavily populated with enemies, many of which rush you and others that shoot projectiles of their own at you. Trigger Witch is at its most fun when it gets chaotic and resembles a bullet hell shooter. The problem is that it does get a bit repetitive. So even though there are some really exciting moments, the core action doesn’t evolve much over the course of the game.

Trigger Witch is a surprisingly beefy game. It’ll take you about 10 hours to get to the end. On the one hand, that’s a bit shorter for a Zelda-styled game. But on the other hand, these types of shoot ‘em ups are at their best when they don’t overstay their welcome. That said, because the gameplay doesn’t change things up much throughout, the last few hours do feel a bit long.

A Quirky Witch-Themed Shooter

Probably more so than the whole “Zelda-like with guns thing,” the one element that made me want to play Trigger Witch in the first place was the art style. The game just has a really nice look to it that’s rich with color — and pixelated blood all over the place! Some of the enemy and dungeon designs are a bit lacking, but overall, the visuals here are pretty good.

The music is fairly standard fantasy action game fare. It’s not bad, but it won’t stick with you after you turn the game off. It’s simply fitting for the type of fast-paced shooter this is.

Games like Trigger Witch are made with a specific audience in mind. The game is certainly ambitious, and it’s undoubtedly entertaining to a point, but I never felt like it sunk its hooks into me. Ultimately, this is a fun little distraction, and something kind of neat to play if you’re specifically looking for a shoot ‘em up with a fantasy flair. There are definitely worse shmups out there, and Trigger Witch is just charming enough that it might win you over.

Score: 6.0 out of 10

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