What an improvement.
Like its predecessor, Dark Witch is a mix of Megaman and Gradius. You platform and shoot, whilst also gaining temporary upgrades that last the length of the stage for as long as you stay alive. Movement speed boost, increased damage output, expanded projectile trajectories, etc.
My issues with the first game were that the boss weapons used the same resource as your upgrades. So you had to decide whether to upgrade your character or use boss weaponry. That, and the upgrades were requirements rather than optional. So if you died at certain points you just made life that much harder.
Dark Witch 2 includes some simple changes that imrpove a lot. Weapons, including your basic buster, have their own separate ammo pool. This ammo pool constantly refills. Different weapons use different amounts of the pool, and all have a set requirement to shoot at least 1 bullet. So the beam uses the entire pool whilst your buster uses such a small amount it allows you to spam. It's ingenious and something all Megaman-like games should take note of.
There's some trade-offs in the stage design. The upgrades are no longer requirements to pass the stages, but that's because the stages are much simpler in design. There's barely any variety between them, with many being straight paths with the ocassional bottomless pit. It's a definite downgrade, even if it alleviates the upgrade issue. The bosses are like-wise much easier than before, even if they finally move (previously they stayed perfectly in place throughout the fight).
Outside of stages you can upgrade your abilities permanently. Just as before, you can upgrade for more health, increased base damage on your buster, and more lives. It makes the game much easier without altering the difficulty level. Dark Witch 2 expands the system, by allowing boss weapon upgrades and unlocking new abilities to upgrade in-stage. So instead of your temporary upgrade being a hover, you can replace it with a dash. Instead of the damage boost, you can replace it with a guard. So next time you're in-stage, the potential temp upgrade is now that.
The game is roughly twice as long as the first game. You can still speed through it, but it carries almost double the stages of the first one. My only problem is the grinding required for the permanent upgrades. The first few levels are easy enough, but later ones require grinding out either the boss rush or individual levels. It feels like artificial padding, but you can also argue that the upper tiers are harder to attain because they're optional and make the game easier. In other words, it shouldn't be too easy to make the game easy.
The first game had some issues in its game design that really dampened the entire package. Dark Witch 2 makes some simple changes that lift the entire package out of that pit. But the outcome is a game balanced more on the easier side. Whilst it may be a longer game, its easy enough that your playtime isn't drastically extended. Unless you grind out the permanent upgrades. Despite some of the trade-offs in difficulty its definitely a game that has improved over the first. So much so that I'd be willing to recommend it, unlike the first game.
Inside System (the developer) would go on to remake the first game with game mechanic alterations. Primarily, the ammo pool change introduced in Dark Witch 2. This obviously isn't a review of that, but it goes to show how crucial the change is. From my understanding, the third game has difficulties in making its way onto Steam due to it being developed in tandem with another company. Hopefully it can get out of limbo, because I'm definitely looking forward to it. I wouldn't call Dark Witch 2 a monumental game in platforming history, but its certainly working its way into a solid franchise.
