Recently, I can’t help but bump into a meme that keeps resurfacing – an altered Calvin and Hobbes comic categorizing all video games into either “parkour” or “menus.” This comic seems to be just the kindling for a witty, slightly sarcastic conversation. Interestingly enough, Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree, a platformer-cum-Soulslike I’ve been testing out, is striving hard to embody both these labels. As I delve deeper into this game, I find myself just as frequently navigating through landscapes by leaping, clinging, sliding, and rolling as I am sifting through menus, allocating points to level up, and mapping my progress on a sprawling skill tree.
In Mandragora’s game world, your personalized character serves as an inquisitor in a realm plagued by witches. A particularly troubling one is executed, but you intervene early with what appears as mercy killing, causing disapproval among the crowd and the king. As retribution for this act, you’re tasked with finding another witch to replace her, a mission that seems nearly impossible. Along your journey, you encounter a hidden power, start perceiving eerie whispers, and gradually amass strength to make the seemingly insurmountable task more manageable.
Initially, what struck me about Mandragora was its rich animation quality. Leaping across platforms or bursting through floors, observing my character grip an edge while their legs swayed from inertia, was enthralling. Engaging in typical 2.5D platform gameplay, yet with a boost that reminded me of Mega Man X and Prince of Persia, made the experience engaging.
The background details and depth in each level I traversed were also noteworthy. Upon finishing, I found myself impressed: “Wow, this game is visually appealing.” The visual aspects of Mandragora are particularly impressive, setting it apart noticeably.
In terms of gameplay, Mandragora combines elements from Soulslike and Diablo-style action RPGs, presented in a side-scrolling format. Your moves are governed by a stamina gauge, and you can perform a basic attack repeatedly, while more advanced skills have cooldown periods. As the combat mechanics unfold, it’s yet to be fully understood, but as a sword-and-board character, none of the actions I was asked to perform felt unnatural or contradictory to the playstyle.
When it comes to counters, I found the timeframe for deflecting attacks with my shield was more accommodating than expected. For now, it seems that while Mandragora adopts aspects from the Soulslike genre, it’s not solely focused on high difficulty. In fact, the game offers options to adjust the level of challenge when you first begin playing!
Beyond fighting and exploration, the game also emphasizes character customization as a key aspect. Unlike traditional Soulslike games where points are spent on stats, this game features an expansive skill tree that fills up as your character levels up. This skill tree isn’t quite as large as Path of Exile, but it’s still quite extensive and diverse. I observed several significant nodes offering impressive skills, and the ability to design builds based on side effects like bleeding. The time spent customizing your Mandragora character will significantly impact how you play the game, despite its initial simplicity.
To sum up, Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree appears to be precisely what its title suggests. It’s an intriguing video game that combines aspects from Soulslikes, action-RPGs, and platformers, focusing on providing a wealth of choices for players, including an expansive skill tree and adjustable difficulty levels. In this preliminary build, I merely scratched the surface, but it’s evident there’s much more to explore for those ready to jump in headfirst. If this genre blend appeals to you, the game is set to release on April 17, 2025, so the wait won’t be long!
Mandragora: The Whispers of the Witch Tree will be released on April 17, 2025, and can be played on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, with a Nintendo Switch version in development as well. In preparation for this article, I was given early access to a test build for the PC version by the publisher.
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2025-03-11 16:27