At first glace, many might think that Little Witch Academia is a game that’s jam packed full of action, but it’s actually focused more on its story, and introducing new players to a very popular franchise. While there are moments that truly turn things up a notch in the combat area, Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time is a title that paints a pretty picture that’s humorous and filled with adventure that both fans and newcomers will find enticing. For some reason, while playing, we had this vibe of those classic beat-em-ups like Streets of Rage or the Konami classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, and it certainly came across that way the more we experimented with the combat system. It’s not a robust system by any means, but it certainly gives players a chance to show off their magical skills to take out well animated enemies, and challenging bosses. It’s pretty much the Little Witch Academia version of your classic beat-em-up but with some added visual touches all thanks to the incredible team over at Studio Trigger. Anyone who loves the series can jump right in and immerse themselves in the exciting story while those looking for something fresh can just take in whatever they can, while learning more about the Little Witch Academia universe.

A lot of the gameplay in Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time revolves heavily around tackling various event quests which then take you to dungeons, where you’ll be able to take on a plethora of enemies along the way. Each dungeon comes with its own unique characteristics but nothing over the top that would throw you off. Much of the game is still simple and doesn’t try to mislead players in any way and so, you don’t really have to worry so much about anything. It’s a lot of running back and forth to gather important information that helps to further the story, while leveling up your witches in order to obtain stronger spells and skills to be optimized in battle. It’s great fan service and delivers highly in that area, but we’ll be honest that it may not necessarily attract everybody which is natural. It’s really a game where those who fancy the franchise can take their favorite witches on an adventure and relive their favorite moments whenever they desire. The story is fairly straightforward and doesn’t trail off in any way which makes it easy to follow even if you’re unfamiliar with things, but all the monotonous moments of running around can be a little taxing at times. Be that as it may, if you truly love Little Witch Academia, could care less about how the game performs, and just want that genuine anime experience, then you’ll find the game to be enlightening.

So much of the story takes place in Luna Nova Academy where Akko and her friends work together to unravel the mysteries behind the Seven Wonders, while coming to solve the shift in time that’s been taking place recently. A lot of the early portion of the game has you repeating the same steps numerous times and having to read the same lines over again, which came off as little dry. Of course, we can see the reason for that since time shifting plays a major role in the advancement of the game, but over time, it kind of felt repetitive after a while. A lot of the game has you exploring the whole Academy looking for clues to help solve the mystery behind the Seven Wonders, and you get a glimpse of just how well detailed the game actually is. All of the character animations are pristine and look like they’ve been extracted from the anime itself, while the voice acting stays true to the actual show using the same seiyuu to provide an authentic experience. That’s certainly one of the major perks of Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time and it’s that it maintains its integrity all the way through, while still giving players something new to experience regarding its action based moments.

The very simplistic RPG mechanics are a nice touch as it doesn’t overwhelm you with all sorts of unnecessary tools that most other anime RPGs tend to do, and so your time is spent having fun than having to memorize certain mechanics to move forward. It’s all about managing your spells, using your potions when necessary to utilize certain skills, and ensuring that you use attacks wisely to avoid dying. We will admit though that while playing, the AI felt a little too easy and they oftentime didn’t respond as quickly as we imagined. For example, during dungeon runs, you’d run into a group of enemies, but not all of them would try attacking you. Some would simply just stand in their designated area and will only do something if you’re close to them, which kind of felt a little dull. You could also easily avoid hitting enemies by just baiting them to walk into dangerous obstacles and let them take damage. We actually experienced a little bug while taking on a boss where we found ourselves stuck inside its body and simply won by mashing the attack button. We didn’t take any damage since the boss couldn’t hit us so we felt that was a little unfortunate.

Elaborating more on the battle system, you have certain attacks which are assigned to single and multiple buttons. So much like any beat-em-up you have your weak attack, normal attack and strong attack, while combining buttons allows you to do stronger magic based attacks. Combining these all together in battle is useful as it can help you to better space yourself and avoid taking damage. Just like in your classic beat-em-up, you’d need to be parallel to the enemy in order to hit them. What we mean by that is let’s say you’re below the enemy while they’re above you. Your attacks will miss them since you’re not on the same plane as them and so, in order to effectively hit them you’d need to position yourself correctly. Some players may see this as an issue but it’s part of the 2D action experience and so getting used to that may take a little adjusting. It’s by no means a hardcore action title and so don’t expect to be tested in any significant way.

Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time truly feels like a game catered to a specific audience with specific needs and so, a lot of the areas where players may find fault in may actually be of pleasure to the more casual and younger audience. The Little Witch Academia series is typically catered to the more younger demographic since Akko is one who many can relate to, and much of the cast are around the same age. That doesn’t mean older more experienced players can’t enjoy it; it simply means that the game will find its success with those who simply want to have a down to earth, simple and rewarding experience.

We enjoyed Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time because it took a lot of weight off our shoulders in some way. It’s very carefree approach to storytelling and bubbly cast of characters just make you want to become a witch yourself (or mage) and cast spells on enemies. It teaches you the art of friendship and working together to solve life’s problems, even when you don’t really understand it all. Solving mysteries as a team is more rewarding than trying to be the single hero and we found that to be very endearing, since most titles nowadays tend to focus primarily on one character doing all the work. It’s a family friendly type of game that still gives the passionate fans something to be happy about, and is long enough that it doesn’t feel drawn out. The battle system could, of course, use some work and perhaps expanding on the adventure elements would add in some flavor, but we think that the goal of this game wasn’t to over complicate things but more to give you something to enjoy and create a nice fantasy in the mind.

We hope that you found this review to be insightful and provides you with the information needed to make a conscious purchase decision. Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time was certainly a fun ordeal but came with its shortcomings that if fine tuned, would’ve made things a little more exciting. Be that as it may, fans will be jumping for joy to play as their favorite cast members and relish in the beautiful animation that Studio Trigger is revered for. Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Twitch to stay up date on all the latest gaming news, and join our Discord community to stay in touch with the Honey’s Gaming crew!

As always, for all things sweet, with news straight from Japan, be sure to keep it locked here on Honey’s Anime.