Though it looks gorgeous and is full of creativity, Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time stumbles over its unnecessarily complicated quests, simplistic combat, and confusing imagery.
Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time
Developer: Bandai Namco
Price: $49.99
Platforms: PS4 (reviewed), PC
MonsterVine was provided with a PS4 code for review.
An anime that revolves around a strange school of eccentric students isn’t exactly a rare thing. Whether its students are training to be heroes, assassins, witches, or warriors, the concept is tried and true for a reason. While Little Witch Academia as a show uses the concept of a magical school well enough, Chamber of Time is a bit too focused on the more boring “school” side of things.
Chamber of Time has the same basic premise as the anime it’s based on, which is recapped quite well at the start of the game. Akko is a young girl who decides to enroll in the legendary Luna Nova Magical Academy, a school for aspiring young witches. Hoping to be like her idol, the famous witch Shiny Chariot, Akko and her friends study different types of magic to become full-fledged witches. Chamber of Time itself revolves around Akko and her friends discovering a secret clock in the school library. This clock creates a time loop, forcing the girls to relive the same day over and over a la Groundhog Day. The young witches must find a way to fix the clock so that they can return to their normal lives. It’s a basic story that gets the job done while taking advantage of the eccentric characters that inhabit the world of Little Witch Academia.
The characters of Chamber of Time are indeed quite enjoyable to spend time with, which is impressive for such a large quest. While many of the young women embody a plethora of anime clichés, it works because of how charmingly written they are. Sure, there’s the shy nerd, the talented tsundere, the spunky underachiever, and every other trope, but these characters are self-aware enough to avoid becoming entirely two-dimensional. I personally liked Diana, Amanda, and Sucy the most, as they felt like the perfect mix of their character types with unique characteristics.
Chamber of Time is a side-scrolling brawler, and a simple one at that. While there are different special attacks and spells to learn, the majority of them don’t feel particularly varied. Outside of a couple AoE attacks, projectiles, and healing spells, there’s little variety to the available spells. The same goes for melee combat, as there are only two different attacks and a projectile move at your disposal. Battles quickly become repetitive, which is especially frustrating since you need to beat every enemy in a room before you can proceed. Exploring these rooms feels like a chore, as a result of this, especially since you have to complete each level multiple times before getting a new one.
The way that quests are laid out in Chamber of Time is nothing less than obtuse. To progress in the story, you’ll have to run (and eventually teleport) back and forth throughout the school and through different levels. Objectives like “Find This Character” or “Go to This Room” are a constant in Chamber of Time, making you run around the confusing school map for far longer than you should have to. Having to check an incredibly basic and unintuitive map to wander around a school to find an NPC is simply not fun, especially when the NPCs switch locations as the day progresses. There are just layers of needless frustration scattered throughout Chamber of Time, making it incredibly difficult to play for longer sessions.
Visually, Chamber of Time has a fantastic animated style that is reminiscent of Dragon Ball FighterZ. Character models and animations use varying framerates to give off the appearance of animation, which is done quite well. The framerate slows down immensely during battle, however, with the occasional freeze-up sprinkled in. This is because of the overwhelming effects that come from attacks, which make it difficult to see what’s happening. It doesn’t help that every character wears the same uniform (which is understandable from a narrative point of view), meaning you’ll likely lose track of your character among the flashes and explosions and frame drops that are almost constantly occurring.
Chamber of Time has an exceptional soundtrack and strong voice acting, though certain combat lines get run into the ground very quickly. The orchestral music is gorgeous, and gives off a feeling of wonderment that fits the world of Little Witch Academia quite well. The voice actresses definitely give it their all as well, giving their characters extra layers of personality.
The Final Word
There’s a lot of potential in Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time, the vast majority of which goes tragically unused. Though Chamber of Time looks and sounds gorgeous, the shallow gameplay, repetitive and needlessly complex missions, and framerate drops make it difficult to recommend to anyone who isn’t a diehard fan of the anime.
– MonsterVine Rating: 2.5 out of 5 – Mediocre
