Witching Tower is a game full of mystery, puzzles, some sorcery, and even a little bit of motion sickness. This game has everything top VR games has, but the idea was never fully developed. The game itself works great, has phenomenal ideas of how a game works, but ultimately falls short of what a full VR game should be. Although this game was incredibly interesting, it is nothing you are going to be running to tell your virtual friends about any time soon.
This game puts you in the perspective of a witch in training. Although throughout the training you are going to be forced to escape the bonds of the one that holds you captive, this game, for the most part, is going to train you in everything to be a successful witch at the next witching level. Inside of this in-depth
Getting Up and Running
This game has a file size of 10 GB, so if you are going to be connected to slower interet while downloading this game, you shouldn’t be waiting by your PC for it to finish. This game Ould take upward of an hour to finish with bad internet, but with the incredibly fast internet, you are looking at a download that could be finished in less than 10 short minutes. This game is available on the Steam Store, the PlayStation Store for VR, the Oculus Store, and of course, the Viveport store and is a part of the Infinity subscription.
If you choose to get this game through the Steam Store, you will need to choose where you store this file. Because it is so large in size, you are going to need to be careful where you locally place your file. If you download this game through Viveport or Oculus, it will be stored inside of the app, and is most accessible that way. The longest part of the setup process is just getting the file onto your computer. At that point, this game just starts the same way any other virtual reality game would.
Type of Game
Witching Tower is not a short game, and it feels like a full AAA title more than most inside of the Infinity subscription from Viveport. Right from the opening scene, you realize this game isn’t going to be a walk in the park, literally or figuratively. This game opens up with you inside of shackles inside of well that look strikingly similar to one that Batman once fell down. The only difference is that there are prisoners and rodents in this well, and not bats.
You will be inside of a magical horror adventure for your entire experience inside of this game, and it does a fantastic job of making you want to stay inside of the game to see and know what will be next. For $19.99, we think this game does everything in its price range to give you a game that is worth playing for the price you have payed.
Player Perspective
Just like many of the great virtual reality games, you are going to be playing inside of a first-person perspective. This means that you won’t see your face or the back of your head, but you will be seeing your hands as if they are yours inside of the virtual world. You don’t see anything other than your hands in this game, but the coloration of the them and the way they move convince you of being a witch very quickly into this game.
Theme and Story – Score: 8/10
Witching Tower has an incredible strong theme and story. It is going to be progressing right in front of you each and every level, so we won’t be giving too much away right here, as you will want the chance to experience it on your own. You will have a spirit guide throughout the game, and without it, this game would be beyond confusing. For a $20 game, you are going to get every dollars worth with just the theme and story.
Controls – Score: 6/10
There is a fair amount of controls in this game, and they are exactly what you would expect them to be. Interacting with the virtual world is fairly similar to the top virtual reality games out there right now. The grip will pick objects up, the trigger will shoot anything you are holding, and the joystick is going to manipulate anything you are holding with your little witch hands. If you have the Valve controllers, this game is going to work, but it does feel a bit choppy at points.
Music and Sound – Score: 8/10
The music in this game sounds like it was taken straight from Salem.
Player Movement – Score: 7/10
This game featured a teleportation mechanism that was used throughout all of the gameplay. It didn’t let you teleport and choose your direction like Robo Recall, but you were able to change your directions after you teleported with ease, and without causing too much motion sickness in the process. You are going to teleport with your right hand, and your left hand will be used for the rotating of your witch.
Kinetosis – Score: 7/10
The motion sickness in this game will be depending on your familiarity with virtual reality. Outside of the teleporting, which we found very helpful, there is nothing in this game that is going to be causing you to hover over the garbage can anytime soon. You aren’t going to be rolling down spiral stair cases, climbing swirly ladders, or anything of that sort. If you have your VR legs under you, this game will be fantastic. If not, this game could be a true nightmare for you.
Environment and Immersion – Score: 9/10
With each time you load into this game, you are going to be blown away by the detail and the immersion you experience inside of this game. With the crisp graphics and the clean sound and music, this game does a fantastic job of creating a welcoming, yet eery, environment. The guide helps you enough, but not too much, and there is a lot to like while you’re living the life of a witch.
Overall – Score: 7.5/10
The only weak spot of this game wasn’t even the developers fault. This game says it is optimized for the Valve controllers, which we used, but it really wasn’t. Had we played this game with our Rift S or Vive, then we would be seeing a different number with the controls. For just a small $19.99, this game is going to give you everything a full $60 game on a gaming console will give you. We highly recommend this game, and we suggest it even more if you are a part of the Viveport Infinity subscription.
