Recs.
Updated
Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time is an action role-playing game based on the Little Witch Academia anime. You play as Akko, a comically inept young girl attending an all-girls' magical academy, who accidentally traps her school in a time continuum.
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Great anime visuals
The 2.5D art style and animations during cutscenes are wonderful. Characters look amazing, animated in natural ways and drawn with bright colors that stand out from the backgrounds of the school corridors and classrooms. Everyone's personalities shine through in their designs as well, with calm, collected characters looking put-together and in control, and more gregarious characters like Akko gesturing wildly or making funny expressions. Chamber of Time is a lot like an anime ported to a game, pulling off a unique and charming visual style.
Pro Accessible to newcomers who haven't watched the anime
Even if you haven't watched the Little Witch Academia anime, you won't be lost. From the beginning, the game introduces you to Akko's friends by showing you key scenes from the anime that give context to each character. The slower pace at the start also goes a long way to introduce you to the world that you're in, making sure that you really know who everyone is and how the time and magic lore works. You don't have to spend hours catching up on the source material; you can jump right into Chamber of Time and understand what's going on.
Pro Fun and flashy beat 'em up-style combat
Combat is satisfyingly fun with lots of spectacle. Playing as Akko with her group of witch friends, you delve into dungeons within the magical academy. Sidescrolling your way through dungeons, you use your wand to fire off colorful magic abilities against the hordes of goblins, skeletons, and other monsters. Enemies are relentless, filling up the screen with their presence as you fight back with quick bursts of spells like a beat 'em up game. Everything looks and feels great, keeping things exciting for plenty of hours of dungeon crawling.
Pro Funny story premise of the protagonist trapping her academy in a time continuum
The basis of the story is entertaining in how silly it is. The main character, a young witch named Akko, is so clumsy and irresponsible that she manages to accidentally get her magic academy stuck in a time continuum. She tries to solve the problem with her friends, who seem to be the only other ones who don't notice that the school is stuck living out the exact same day over and over again. It's funny seeing the other NPCs act like all is well when things are clearly wrong, and it's even funnier seeing how hopeless Akko is at figuring out the whole conundrum. The game never takes itself too seriously, giving you the chance to laugh over Akko's antics and the absurdity of the situation.
Cons
Con Stiff controls for running and jumping
Running and jumping during combat isn't always intuitive. If you just run and stop, you have to watch your character skid to a halt before she decides to react to you controlling her to jump next. You have to chain the two actions together -- running and then transitioning to a jump -- to keep things smooth. Your character won't simply react in a timely way as she should, making things feel rigid.
Con Characters repeat the same combat lines over and over
The repetitive lines characters shout out during combat can easily get on your nerves. Each time you shoot your spells, everyone says the exact same line again and again, with little to no variation. It's so bad that you might want to consider turning off the voices altogether, and possibly turning the volume back up once you're finished dungeon crawling for the day.
Con Some of the dungeons are boring
Not all of the dungeons are that fun to play through. Some of them are designed well with lots of traps to dodge and mini-puzzles to figure out, but others are just a drag. They're not inventive or exciting at all, with samey designs and almost no challenge involved with the enemies and bosses. They really bring down the quality of the exploration and gameplay.