Little Witch Nobeta is a paid adventure game from Pupuya Games. Don’t let this indie anime fool you, though, for despite its cute character design for the titular character, it actually features extremely challenging content enough to consider it Souls-like. As the little witch, you’ll explore ancient locations and use your magic to fend off monsters and other creatures from the Soul.

With a visual style similar to Genshin Impact and Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds, it’s not hard for fans of this subgenre to like Little Witch Nobeta. Meanwhile, expect a watered-down Dark Souls II in terms of difficulty.

Full of fun, contrasting elements

Aside from the games mentioned above, one can also think of Little Witch Nobeta as a 3D reimagining of Little Witch In The Woods. The two share a similar premise, a stereotypical anime witch design, but trade relaxing 2D JRPG for intense 3D RPG action. With that said, it features a generally fun combination of cute and frustrating—with the Souls-like quality shining through.

Quick spellcasting times are required as much as precise timing, with failure to do so being immediately punishable. On the contrary, it has accurate hitboxes, which should make it immediately endearing to experienced players of the genre. However, expect the game to remain open-ended, with a short playthrough available. There are only a couple of bosses available, although you can definitely expect more to come.

Additionally, the controls cannot be remapped at this stage, leaving players with an additional burden of adapting to its arrow keys instead of the common WASD-based controls. Some players have also reported hitching during supposedly fast-paced scenes, which hints at a lack of optimization for the game. These issues, according to the developers, should be resolved through updates in the future.

Cute Dark Souls

Essentially, Little Witch Nobeta does a good job of taking notes from the Dark Souls series and slapped massive amounts of cuteness on top of it. Learn magic adorably, chase vegetables in bright forests, and get smashed by quick and precise boss attacks. However, it suffers from a number of setbacks, being at the stage it is, but thrill-seekers can at least revel in its accurate combat hitboxes and timings.