[Beyond PlayStation] Nine Witches: Family Disruption Review

Nine Witches: Family Disruption from Indiesruption and Blowfish Studios is a pretty out-there adventure game you should check out on Nintendo Switch. Find out why in our Nine Witches: Family Disruption review!

Nine Witches: Family Disruption from Indiesruption and Blowfish Studios takes place during the Second World War in the small town of Sundäe in Norway. As a dark moon hangs over the town, the Okkulte-55, a secret division of the Third Reich, arrives at Sundäe to unleash an ancient curse in a last-effort bid to try and change the course of the war. In order to stop the Okkulte-55, Alexei Krakovits, a paraplegic professor of occult science, and his assistant, Akiro Kagasawa, are sent to Sundäe by England’s Prime Minister, so that the plan from Friedrich von Darka and Rudolph Handloser.

In Nine Witches: Family Disruption, you’ll move with the left analog stick, switch between characters with the ZL and ZR buttons. You’ll be interacting with things with the A button, taking a closer look with the X button. Depending on who you’re controlling, you’ll be able to shoot or switch between the physical and the spiritual plane with the B button. The Y button will, once again, perform an action based on who you’re currently controlling, so you’ll be able to check your inventory, where you can select items to use with other items or use the power of perception to find points of interest while the Professor is in its astral form.

You’ll get a taste of all of this during the game’s Prologue, which along with setting up the game’s story and premise, also serves as an extended tutorial. I’ll talk about a handful of the puzzles you’ll find during this initial sequence to give you an idea of what to expect from the game, as to not spoil any of the game’s puzzles or story further up ahead. If you press the X button when playing as Akiro to look at all things, he’ll notice that the phone has once again been unplugged. When you reconnect it, a call comes in, with the person on the other end of the line mentioning that the Prime Minister is on his way.

Because of this, you have to use a bell in the study so that you can get the Professor’s attention since he’s currently in a trance. Once you inform him that the Prime Minister is on his way, he’ll ask that you please flame the fire in the living room since the Prime Minister is rather chilly. To do this, you first need to collect Akiro’s fan with the A button. Once you have it, move closer to the fire in the living room, press the Y button to access Akiro’s inventory, and then select to use the fan with the fire.

The Professor has a sensitivity to the supernatural, and he’ll let you know about this by way of the chills he gets, which will place an aura around him. When this happens, you should control Professor Alexei Krakovits and press the B button so that you can move into the supernatural plane by way of his astral projection. By doing this, you’ll be able to interact with the souls in each area, which can prove to be valuable for your mission. While using astral projection, you can press the Y button to use the Professor’s astral perception, which will reveal the parts of the environment you can interact with.

The other thing you’ll do during the Prologue is put your shooting skills to good use by taking control of Akiro during a short action sequence. After making use of an unexpected element to stop the vehicle transporting filmmaker Otto von Zelluloid, you will need to use Akiro’s gun to shoot at Günther, his driver, to defeat him before Akiro or the Professor run out of hit points. This is important because your two characters are going to end up impersonating Otto von Zelluloid and Günther to be able to get closer to Okkulte-55!

With a story and dialogue that doesn’t take itself too seriously, great pixel art, a classic point and click adventure, and enough twists and turns to keep you entertained from start to finish, Nine Witches: Family Disruption is an easy one to recommend on Nintendo Switch. Nine Witches: Family Disruption is out on Nintendo Switch with a $19.99 asking price.

Disclaimer
This Nine Witches: Family Disruption review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Blowfish Studios.