Witching Hour, a 2022 first-person indie horror game, deals with a subject that, through no fault of my own, I have little video game experience with: witchcraft. I’m dead serious. Maybe I’m stupider-er(?) than I think, but I have not played many games where witchcraft is the primary focus, even though I’m always jonesin’ for a spell-slingin’ dame to sorcel me up a good time. I’ve slain zombies and vampires a-plenty, but very few witches have encountered the business end of my sawed-off shotgun due to my apparent inability to find any games having to do with this flavor of horror. Lucky for the witches, I suppose. Despite my confusticating blindspot for all things witchcraft, somehow Witching Hour came up on my radar, and I’m so glad it did. For all its technical flaws, lackluster writing, and contrived, repetitive puzzle solving, this game is an indie horror diamond in the rough.
The setup is as simple as it is insufficient – you, your father, and your sister all move out to your family’s house in the woods to live an honest life of farming and other bucolic, back-breaking labor. Why, you ask? Because your sick and dying father decided that the city you had been living in is just an awful, awful place, and he would much rather stop going to the doctor and live out what little of his life is left in the peace and quiet of his childhood homestead. That’s a fine reason for getting us out there in the first place, but the pacing on all of this and how it develops just leaves a lot to be desired. And that’s actually quite the trend in this game. There’s a lot this game wants to say narrative-wise, and I feel like, time and again, we get the frail husk of an actual, believable justification in lieu of something more fleshed out. And interestingly enough, this is paralleled in the world through which we navigate. Ridiculous load times and herculean amounts of graphical rendering aside, the maps were way too big for the actual scope of the game. Instead of making me feel like there was so much to explore as I delved deeper into the central mystery, the world just felt stripped bare.
Similarly, the story, inclusive of characters, setting, and purpose, is pretty lackluster with the exception of one key element – the antagonist and resident witch Lucilia. The writing there really shines, and I was so fascinated with Lucilia’s backstory and the coven she forms with the sole purpose of resurrecting her son. And here’s where I want to harp a little bit. It’s not hard to make witches interesting characters. For people like myself who are already drawn in by the occult, you don’t have to do very much heavy lifting at all to keep our attention. But no matter how fascinating your antagonist is, you’ve got to give us a protagonist and a supporting cast of characters we feel like caring about. Characters do not exist in vacuums. The real magic that brings characters to life happens when you put in the work to create compelling dynamics between them. That just didn’t happen here.
So let’s talk about our protagonist. You play as Rose Weatherby, a young woman with very little personality or defining characteristics of her own but, what she lacks in individuality, she makes up for in a massively unjustified amount of fascination with witchcraft and the occult! Seriously, upon entering your bedroom for the first time, you happen upon a grimoire filled to the leather-bound brim with withcrafty goodness – or badness, depending on your perspective, I suppose. And instead of not touching it with a ten-foot pole or simply picking it up and leaving it to gather dust on a shelf, our heroine chooses this grimoire to be her nightly bedtime reading. Still scratching my head about that personal choice, but different strokes, eh? As she delves further into the volume of forbidden knowledge, she gains a stronger spiritual connection with the game’s main antagonist and resident witch Lucilia. As her hold over both Rose and Emma deepens, Rose experiences more visions of what in the actual hell took place in the town and Emma becomes bewitched by Lucilia and taken away to finish Lucilia’s dark work. You’ll have to think about your choices carefully as you solve puzzles and uncover more of the mystery in order to save your sister and yourself!
With that intro out of the way, let’s talk about the good and the bad in that order. First, the atmosphere is very strong. Honestly, that’s probably the best part of this game. Again, second only to ghosts, I find the horror potential of witches to be so strong. And the devs clearly did some research if their name-dropping the Clavicula of Solomon is any indication. The amount of detail and symbolism that permeated the environment and, more importantly, Rose’s perception of the environment through visions that broke through reality was equal parts compelling and creepy. And, of course, I always have to say something about the soundscape. The devs did some excellent work here with both the sound effects and the sound track, the latter if I’m not mistaken taking inspiration from the Silent Hill franchise, which is never a bad thing.
Arguably most importantly, though, I found this game to be a delight to play. I absolutely loved the dream/vision sequences and how eerie they were, as well as the exploration and puzzle-solving parts. These offered a satisfying challenge, although the puzzles could become a bit repetitive due to a lack of variety. Finally, the Witching Hour has a solid amount of jump scares and creepy encounters that made me feel so unsafe. Well done.
I’ve already touched on the bulk of my criticisms with this game, so I won’t repeat any I’ve already listed. In addition to those previously mentioned, movement is a little clunky. Probably the worst part is the push and pull mechanic for doors and cupboards. And, again, I’ll say this as often as it needs to be repeated – just cut that sh*t out. Realism be damned. Just give us a simple button input for opening and closing doors. You’re just not going to get it right. It’s always going to feel comically unrealistic and clunky, unless I hate myself enough to play the game in VR.
Other than that, my only other big criticism has to do with an entire section of the game toward the end. I’m going to attempt to be vague. Just know it involves Rose using a shotgun. It was just bad. Aiming the gun, firing it, and trying to avoid enemies all just felt off in this one. The frustrations of that section actually proved to be a significant obstacle in keeping the fire of urgency alive in the final section of the game.
Although I kinda had a lot to criticize this game for, I still honestly think it’s worth playing. There are a few moments where the writing really shines and the story is so engrossing. If nothing else, the game offers a few nice thrills, though I might wait till it goes on sale again before taking the plunge.
