Mandragora: Whispers Of The Witch PS5 Review. One game genre that I tend to avoid is Souls-like games. Not for a lack of interest or that I think these games are not good, it’s simply down to the fact that I don’t think I would cope well with the frustration and end up not getting into the games at all. When the PS5 launched I purchased a physical copy of Demon’s Souls and the game has since remained sealed, taunting me to pluck up the gusto to tear off the cellophane wrapper and give it a bash.
When I first saw a trailer for Mandragora: Whispers Of The Witch Tree I got the feeling that this could be my ideal way to finally tackle the genre. Its 2D aesthetic and platforming might just be enough to keep me in my comfort zone while I got to grips with the punishing combat.
Mandragora: Whispers Of The Witch Tree Review (PS5) – Sinister Souls-like Action
Witch Hunt
Following a hand painted style opening cutscene that establishes the world, lore and the main characters in the tale ahead, you are given the opportunity to name and design the look of the inquisitor that you step into the shoes of.
Right off the bat the simple approach here fit with my gaming taste with light character customisation. The snappy choices from different pre-made options has you into the gameplay in a jiffy.
The most important choice you make in the beginning is your character class. There are six distinct classes to pick from – Vanguard, Flameweaver, Spellbinder, Nightshade, Wyldwarden and Vindicator. Each of the options comes with its own set of strengths, weaknesses, abilities and characteristics.
Furthermore, each of these base classes comes with its own unique skill tree. It is only when you open up the skill tree for the first time you realise how deep the progression goes. It’s so vast that it feels like looking at a star map in No Man’s Sky.
Dangled like a carrot on the end of a stick is that once you hit level 25 with your character, you open up access to all the skill trees of the different classes allowing for some very unique skill building.
World Draws You In
Mandragora excels in a number of areas, none more so than the atmospheric way the world is depicted. The attention to detail results in an incredible presentation with some of the best atmosphere I’ve ever experienced in a game.
Take for example a scene when talking to a Commander in his quarters. A roaring fire behind him pours a warm glow into the dimly lit room as it crackles and spits in the background. The flames of candles dance while streams of smoke flow upwards from them as they burn. This is just one tiny example but this level of love in the world building holds true across the game.
It’s a brilliantly crafted blend of lighting, particle and sound effects that paired with an oft haunting score that is a pure joy to behold. This is before even mentioning the voice acting which is great throughout. Tied to well written characters that have banter with you and accurately use slang in their dialogue to portray a world that is absolutely alive. All of this made it quite easy to get engrossed in this dark fantasy.
The bosses you fight will even taunt and goad you during your efforts to defeat them. It’s little subtle things like this that makes beating the bosses all that more enjoyable. There were definitely quite a few punch-the-air “in your face!” moments during my treks across Faelduum.
Genre Blend
Gameplay is a mix of platforming, combat and resource/loadout management. There are metroidvania elements with backtracking to reach areas previously inaccessible due to not having acquired the necessary abilities. The game doesn’t hand hold too much which is nice allowing for player agency over where to go and what to do. Quest goals will give you a general area of the map you need to get to but that is literally it. It is down to your own skills to figure out how to get there and how to find access to hidden areas.
Helpful with the wandering around the map is the fast travel points which once activated allow you to return to that point from any of the other active fast travel points. What’s also quite helpful with these points is they act also as a restore point allowing you to replenish your health and mana free of charge. So if you are clever you’ll definitely be seeking these out regularly.
The previously mentioned abilities you unlock to access areas are well spaced out meaning you never feel overwhelmed with too much to get the hang of at once.
Satisfying Combat
The combat in Mandragora is built upon a stamina system. This feeds into your choice of base archetype and the weapons you wield. The more effort the chosen weapon takes to use the bigger impact it has on draining your stamina. Draining it enough slows down your movement and you will be unable to dodge, as utilising the evasive manoeuvres also has a hit on the stamina bar. So depending on your build you may want to focus your skill tree progression on the paths that buff your stamina stats.
Boss fights are typical of your souls-like affairs with learning of attack patterns, attack tells, phases of battle and well timed dodges all being critical to success. Take a visit to Gerald back at your caravan and have a look at his useful Bestiary to give you the upper hand with different enemies.
Should you find yourself regularly frustrated and hitting your skill ceiling, then there’s no need to worry. From the options menu you can adjust some sliders in the accessibility tab where you can tweak things to make for a tailored experience to your needs.
Being Crafty
A major part of the journey is collecting, acquiring and crafting items. You can get items by picking them up as you traverse the areas of the map, pick them up from defeated enemies or as rewards for completing side quests for characters you meet. Some of the characters you meet can be recruited to join your caravan as artisan vendors giving you access to a blacksmith, explorer, tailor, alchemist, goldsmith, cook and scholar of the occult.
Once recruited each of these vendors can be upgraded to yield bonuses like cheaper crafting, increased effects of consumables or extra material drops. You can buy/sell items and materials, craft new gear or enhance the favoured gear you already have. Utilising the experience and skills of these characters are a key component of whether you fail or succeed in your travels.
An incredible amount of thought and work has been poured into every part of this game. While there is some room for improvement, it’s nice to see that since launch the dev team have been listening to feedback, continuing to enhance and further polish the experience for players with patches adding fixes, tweaks and quality-of-life improvements.
This is a talented team with some really great ideas presented here. I look forward to seeing how they evolve Mandragora further and i’m eager to see what games come from them in the future. I can now finally face Demon’s Souls now with a newfound souls-like prowess.
Mandragora: Whispers Of The Witch Tree is out now on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC.
Review code kindly provided by publisher.