Screenshot: Witch It
Hide and seek is something we’re all familiar with—it’s probably one of the games everyone plays at least once in their childhood.
Witch It doesn’t need much explanation in that way: it’s hide and seek, in video game form. But as a video game,
Witch It has its own take on the game.
Witch It! Is a multiplayer video game of hide and seek where you take the role of the sneaky witch, or the witch hunters. It’s a relatively simple game with a surprising amount of skill involved. You won't be able to rely on twitch-based skill, but rather—cleverness. In
Witch It the witches don’t hide inside or behind objects, they become the objects. As a hunter, you have to check every detail in the the cluttered arenas to try to sort out the mundane objects from the players.
Screenshot: Witch It
You’ll start each match either as a witch or a hunter. As a witch, you’ll have a set time before each match to find a suitable hiding space. Each of the levels are cluttered with props you can turn into. But you won’t be able to stay stationary for too long: hunters will close in on you. You can hope for the best, or try to sneak away while they have their back turned. Of course, an object that is moving on its own is a dead giveaway for a hiding witch. Witches don’t just hide, though. They can fly, drop decoys of themselves, throw toxic mushrooms to stun hunters and more. The more you play, the more skills unlock. If you are found and defeated, your game isn’t over—instead, you turn into a hunter to finish hunting down the remaining witches.
Playing as a hunter is not as fun as hiding as a witch, but it’s low pressure. They don’t have magic, but instead physical prowess. Hurl pumpkins as your default attack—and you’ll be doing it a lot, as you attack every item in search of pesky witches. You can also throw chickens that will alert you to nearby witches. The more you play, the more tools you’ll have at your disposal, like magic blockers that stop magic in a certain area, or the vacuum trap that sucks objects in—and exposes them as witches if they get sucked in. Hunters can also eventually roll around the arenas as balls, smashing through props.
Witch It is competitive multiplayer, but it feels like wholesome fun—mostly. Unfortunately, it does seem to have a cheater problem. I don’t like to say a game is ruined by cheaters, but I feel like
Witch It is compromised in some way. Either that, or some of the hunters are supernaturally good. I’ve hidden cleverly (or so I thought) amongst clutter, only for a single hunter to walk into the area and start shooting me specifically—without even checking other nearby items. It’s frustrating that every other game seems to end with a hunter zeroing in on me immediately. That may just be my saltiness talking, as I have no proof—but I’m not the only one making this accusation. Some of the reviews on the Steam store page mentioned this same phenomenon. Maybe hunters just get that good, and memorize prop locations—but there are just so many maps, I don’t find that believable.
There are over fifteen official maps to play on—which is a good amount. Each map is filled with props to hide in, and is differently themed. You’re not stuck hiding and seeking in spooky towns, but all sorts of colorful locations—like a desert island, or a winter-themed village. One of my most successful rounds was on an island—someone flung a large amount of props into the water and—playing as a witch—I transformed into flotsam and finished out the round.
Screenshot: Witch It
Witch It is an interesting game, with an active community. There aren’t many servers currently active in the US, but the EU servers are hoppin’, and have people playing on them every time I’m not. It’s not the most populated game, but there are at least three or four full servers every time I looked. These types of games live and die by an active community, and it’s good to see that this one has remained so.
I enjoyed my time with
Witch It. It doesn’t have the staying power as some other multiplayer titles I’ve played recently, but it’s definitely a fun game. Finding the perfect hiding place, and dynamically adjusting yourself to be away from hunters is thrilling. Playing as a hunter is a little less thrilling, but it was never boring—especially since rounds end quickly, and you can just jump into the next game of hide and seek if you don’t like the current one.
Witch It is available now on Steam.
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